Yiddish poetry

The Abraham Sutzkever-Szmerke Kaczerginski Historical Collection contains letters, manuscripts, and historical documents which were saved by the Yiddish poets Avraham Sutzkever and Szmerke Kaczerginski in the Vilna Ghetto. Sutzkever, Kaczerginski, and other members of the Paper Brigade, conscripted Jewish workers who were forced to work under the Einsatzstab Rosenberg, saved thousands of books, manuscripts and documents at great risk to their lives by hiding them in various places in the Vilna Ghetto. After the war the surviving members recovered many of the hidden items. Sutzkever sent many of these rescued materials to the YIVO Institute in New York from the period 1947 to 1956. The collection consists of 8 series and includes correspondence of writers, intellectuals, communal leaders, rabbinical figures; manuscripts of Yiddish and Hebrew writers; theater documents; folklore materials; rabbinical responsa and writings; historical and legal documents; pinkasim and Jewish communal records.

The papers of Yiddish poet Aliza Greenblatt include copies of published and unpublished songs, poems and articles in both typed and handwritten manuscript form, newsletters, newspaper clippings, programs, scrapbook pages, and sheet music. There are also drafts and correspondence regarding her autobiography, including original letters sent to her from her husband Isidore when he visited Palestine in 1920, which form a portion of her autobiography. The collection also contains correspondence and legal documents from Greenblatt’s family, documents relating to her Zionist and charitable activities, and correspondence from other Yiddish writers and poets.

Photocopy of original manuscript notebook containing the Yiddish poetry of an immigrant from Vilna to the United States, composed between 1917 to 1920.

This collection contains manuscripts of novels, short stories, poems, essays, lectures, speeches, translations, and other writings, correspondence, photographs, and personal documents and materials of Yiddish writer Chaim Grade and his wife Inna Hecker Grade. The collection helps to illustrate Grade’s literary development and impact on Yiddish literature over time, from his earliest poetic works written in Vilna and the Soviet Union, to his prolific and accomplished prose work composed mainly in the United States. The collection illuminates Inna Grade's intellectual and academic prowess, as well as the integral role that she played in the editorial and logistical aspects of Grade's literary output.

This collection contains correspondence between painter, poet, and essayist Jennings Yehudah Tofel and various artists and writers, as well as family correspondence, diaries, journals, manuscripts relating to Tofel’s artistic career, newspaper clippings on Tofel and his art, and manuscripts of Tofel’s essays, poems, dramas, and autobiographical works. The collection illustrates Tofel’s wide range of artistic and literary activities and his role in American modern art.

This collection is made up of Moshe Starkman’s correspondence with many well-known literary and political figures, as well as with various New York and international organizations. There are also biographical sketches written by several of the authors that Starkman included in the Anthology of American-Jewish Poetry and the Lexicon of Modern Yiddish Literature, of which he was an editor.

This collection consists of Naftali Herz Kon's personal and official documents, personal correspondence, and correspondence with literary editors and organizations, as well as manuscripts, typescripts, drafts, fragments, and notes for both literary work (prose and poetry) and historical and biographical essays and reports. The Kon papers confiscated by the Polish government in 1961 and reclaimed by Kon's daughters in 2013 make up the final portion of the collection, and include personal correspondence, published and unpublished poetry, and historical essays.

This collection describes the professional life of the writer Salamon Dembitzer, who is best known as a Yiddish poet and the author of Visas for America, a novel on the situation of Jewish refugees during World War II. Included in these papers are manuscripts of his poetry, newspaper articles, and novels as well as reviews of his work, correspondence, and biographical information on him.