Yiddish Microfilm Library Established by Cahan Fund at Hebrew U.

The largest collection of Yiddish literature in the world, including every type of writing from poetry, fiction, history and science to journalism and memoirs, has been established in microfilm in the Abraham Cahan Study Center at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, as a memorial to the late founder and years-long editor of the Jewish Daily Forward, it was announced here by Adolph Held, manager of The Forward and chairman of the Abraham Cahan Memorial Fund.

Mr. Held made the announcement at a meeting at the headquarters of Yivo, the Jewish Institute of Research, attended by many leaders in Jewish cultural affairs. With the help of Yivo, Mr. Held said, microfilms of thousands of rare printed and manuscript works have been gathered for filing in the new Abraham Cahan Study Center.

Included are countless works from hundreds of cities and towns in 54 countries, among them writings rescued from European centers of Jewish culture destroyed during the Nazi holocaust. There are also microfilms of Yiddish newspapers and publications, including those published in the Soviet Union and now no longer issued, due to the USSR’s drive against perpetuation of Jewish culture in the Soviet Union.