Lorin Sklamberg, Sound Archivist at YIVO writes:

We [YIVO] have indeed begun the work of digitizing Ruth Rubin’s collection of field recordings. A large portion of the materials were transferred and databased by Bay Area singer/instrumentalist Jeanette Lewicki over the summer with the support of New York’s Center for Traditional Music and Dance. Though far from completed, the tracks that have been processed are currently being prepared for on-site use in the not-too-distant future by YIVO Sound Archives consultant Matt Temkin.

Renewed interest in these treasures can be partially attributed to the posthumous publication of Yiddish Folksongs from the Ruth Rubin Archives edited by Chana Mlotek and Mark Slobin (Wayne University Press, 2007). Recent projects that utilize the songs include my own Saints and Tzadiks (songs from the Irish and Yiddish traditions developed together with Susan McKeown), Voices of Ashkenaz (German-Jewish song connections explored by Andreas Schmitges, Deborah Strauss, Svetlana Kundish and Thomas Fritze) and Alpen Klezmer (Bavarian and Yiddish songs with Andrea Pancur and Ilya Shneyveys).…
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January 30, 2013?The Library of The Jewish Theological Seminary
(JTS) has received a $175,300 Cataloging Hidden Special Collections
and Archives grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, through a
program administered by the Council on Library Resources (CLIR). The
grant will make the archives of Dr. Johanna Spector, a major
repository of rare materials related to the dwindling Jewish
communities of Africa, the Middle East, and Asia available for
research and to the public for the first time. The collection will
now be cataloged for use, and rehoused in order to prevent
deterioration of its materials.

The Library of The Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) is currently searching for a full-time Project Manager/Archivist. This is a sixteen-month grant-funded position that reports to the Administrative Librarian for Technical Services. The position is available immediately.

About The Library of The Jewish Theological Seminary:
The Library of The Jewish Theological Seminary holds the foremost collection of Judaica and Hebraica in the Western Hemisphere, including manuscripts, rare printed books, periodicals, ephemeral materials, musical scores, sound recordings, moving images, graphic arts, and archives. It provides access to subscription databases and to its digital collections. The JTS Library serves the students and faculty of the institution in addition to the international community of scholars in Jewish studies and related areas. Please visit our web site at www.jtsa.edu/library.xml

Position Summary:

The full-time Project Manager/Archivist will be responsible for the processing of a complex archive in the area of Jewish Ethnomusicology.…
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