The collection is comprised of photographs of various provenances related to the lives of Jewish displaced persons (DPs) in the period immediately following the Second World War, from 1945 to 1952. The photographs pertain to DP camps and communities in the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Austria, and Italy, primarily those established by the American and British military, and administered by the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, and, later, the International Refugee Organization. Diverse aspects of daily life among the DPs are depicted, such as school, work, recreation, and vocational training, including many activities sponsored by Jewish voluntary organizations, especially World ORT and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. Also depicted are cultural activities such as theater, children’s performances, Jewish holiday celebrations and parades, and commemorative events honoring those who died in the Holocaust. The photographs capture leaders of the Jewish DP zonal and camp committees, DP police, and Zionist living collectives (kibbutzim), as well as notable military, political, and cultural personalities of the period, such as Lucius D. Clay, Fiorello LaGuardia, David Ben-Gurion, Yitzhak Gruenbaum, and H. Leivick. The photographs also reflect political and historical developments, including the major congresses of the DP leaderships in Germany, Austria, and Italy; protest demonstrations concerning British policies regulating immigration to Palestine; and events held upon the founding of the state of Israel in 1948.

This collection of posters includes approximately 1,000 rare or unique items pertaining to over 100 displaced persons (DP) camps and centers in Germany, Austria, and Italy, dating primarily from 1946 to 1952. Comprised of approximately 60% handpainted and 40% printed items, it includes posters produced by diverse Jewish groups within individual camps, such as administrative and cultural committees, sports clubs, Zionist and religious groups, and landsmanshaftn; as well as organizations active throughout the camps, including the Jewish central committees in the respective countries, the World ORT Union, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, the Jewish National Fund, and the Jewish Agency. A small number of items also document activities of the revived Jewish communities in the city centers of Munich and Vienna. Many of the posters use not only language but also color, graphic design, and pictorial and figurative elements to engage their audience with calls to entertainment, lectures, protests, and commemorations.

Family papers of the American Sephardic Solis and Cohen families, composed of materials created through circa. 19860, through to the 1930s, with some additional materials prior to and after the time period. Contains correspondence, diaries, journals, medical papers, and eulogies of the family; materials relating to Zionist and Jewish organizations in the United States and abroad; genealogical research and correspondence of several famous Jewish personas; and artifacts, art work and other ephemera.

The Vilna Collection represents fragmentary materials that were part of the original YIVO collection in Vilna before WWII. The collection includes a wide array of materials dealing with a great variety of aspects of Jewish life in the Pre-revolutionary Russian Empire and post-revolutionary Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, and Soviet Russia.

The Collection consists of personal correspondence, official correspondence with organizations and governmental institutions, financial and statistical reports, minutes of meetings of Jewish communal and political organizations, bibliographic materials, including card catalogues and bibliographies. Also included here are vital documents, such as birth certificates and birth registers, affidavits, certificates, diplomas, and travel documents. Additionally, there are petitions, resolutions, appeals, printed materials, manuscripts, lists, and questionnaires. There is a wealth of materials dealing with various aspects of the Jewish book trade and publishing. There are materials on Jewish booksellers and Jewish libraries, most notably Leon Lipschutz. These materials consist of correspondence, lists, bibliographic and printed materials, financial documents, and manuscripts. A large portion of the collection deals with Jewish publishers, such as Rosekranc and Schriftsetzer Publishers, Romm Publishing House, Krejnes Printing House, and other smaller publishing houses across Europe. These materials consist of correspondence, financial documents such as receipts, contracts, bills, lists, manuscripts, and printed materials, including lists of publications and catalogues. Materials pertaining to Jewish youth and sports organizations mostly deal with the Zionist Blau Weiss youth movement, Jutrzenka w Tarnowe, and many local Maccabi Sports Societies. These materials consist of correspondence, statutes, minutes of meetings, lists, clippings, statistical tables, reports, printed materials, appeals to members, field trips materials, financial documents, newsletters, questionnaires, diplomas, and invitations.

Another aspect of Jewish life that is well represented in this collection is Jewish education. These materials pertain to private and state schools, both, secular, religious. There are also materials dealing with technical and vocational schools, as well as institutions of higher education, such as YIVO Vilna Aspirantur. Materials on Jewish education consist of lists, certificates, statutes, diplomas, correspondence, minutes of meetings, resolutions, lists of teachers, student ID cards, school newspapers, certificates, diplomas, teaching materials, and reports and evaluations. There are materials dealing with schools as well as educational and vocational institutions such as ORT, Tarbut Hebrew Teachers Seminary, Chojrev, and Technikum Wilenskie. Furthermore, there are materials pertaining to the Jewish Teachers' Union and Union of Mutual Aid to Assist Jewish Teachers. Materials concerning local Jewish communities pertain to a variety of subjects including everyday activity of Jewish Communal Councils, WWI, pogroms, charitable work, and political activities. These materials consist of correspondence, minutes of meetings, lists, petitions, registries, and financial documents. The Vilna Collection also includes materials on Jewish cultural, social, and political organizations. There are materials pertaining to the Jewish Folks Congress in Poland and Czernowitz Conference, with the original materials from Dovid Pinski and Max Weinreich, materials dealing with Folkspartei, Frayland-lige, Keren Hayesod in Vilna, Kultur Lige, Mizrachi Party, HIAS, OZE, and professional unions. The Yiddish intellectual scene is represented by leading figures such as Elye Spivak from the Institute for Yiddish Proletarian Culture, Herman Krug, Alfred Landau, Y. Lichtenstein, Janus Korczak, Jacob Shatzky, YIVO’s Max Weinreich, Nochum Shtif, Zalmen Reyzen, Elias Tcherikower, and many others. There is correspondence, manuscripts, printed and conference materials that shed light on the leading figures of the Yiddish renaissance.