Judaica at the Smithsonian: Cultural Politics as Cultural Model
Grossman, Grace Cohen, and Richard Eighme Ahlborn. Judaica at the Smithsonian: Cultural Politics as Cultural Model. Smithsonian Studies in History and Technology, number 52, 252 pages, 142 figures, 1997.—This study surveys the history of the Smithsonian Institution's ethnographic Judaica collection from its beginnings in the late nineteenth century to the present. It investigates how the particular cultural perspective of the curators and collectors plays a significant role in shaping acquisitions policy and interpretation of the collection through exhibitions and publications. In large measure, the analysis focuses on the period from 1887 to 1927, during which time the collection was substantially formed. The establishment of the Smithsonian's Judaica collection is framed in the context of the contemporaneous development of the field of Jewish cultural history, the general museum world as represented by the United States National Museum, and the study of Semitics in the academic realm. Special emphasis is given to Cyrus Adler, the founding curator, and to Ephraim Deinard, whose personal collection forms the majority of the Smithsonian's current Judaica holdings. This volume represents the culmination of the Smithsonian Judaica Project, a decade-long effort to document the entire collection, and the essay is followed by an illustrated catalog of selected objects and a comprehensive database. There is also a basic glossary of Judaica terms and a bibliography. It is projected that this presentation of technical and cultural information regarding the Smithsonian's Judaica will provide a reference source and a model for additional typological and social studies. OFFICIAL PUBLICATION DATE is handstamped in a limited number of initial copies and is recorded in the Institution's annual report, Annals of the Smithsonian Institution. COVER DESIGN: "Star-Spangled Banner" scroll, catalog number NMAH-PH 31842. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Grossman, Grace Cohen Judaica at the Smithsonian : cultural politics as cultural model / Grace Cohen Grossman with Richard Eighme Ahlborn. p. cm.—(Smithsonian studies in history and technology : no. 52) Includes an illustrated catalog of selected objects from the Smithsonian Judaica collection and a comprehensive database. Includes bibliographical references. 1. Judaism—Liturgical objects—Catalogs. 2. Judaism—Liturgical objects—Pictorial works. 3. Smithsonian Institution—Catalogs. 4. Jewish museums—History. 5. Jewish art and symbolism. I. Ahlborn, Richard E. II. Smithsonian Institution. III. Title. IV. Series. NK1672.G766 1997 296'.074'753—dc21 96-45219 ® The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials Z39.48—1984.
The Smithsonian's History of America in 101 Objects
ONLINE BIBLIOGRAPHY Records for almost eight million items in the Smithsonian’s collections are found online at http://collections.si.edu/search/, and have been used in the research for each of the objects in this volume. Wikipedia was also generally used for many of the entries and for information on the people and places related to the objects and is not referenced repeatedly below. Those Web sites that are listed were accessed between August 2012 and July 2013. Citations for direct quotes save from Smithsonian sources and where obvious in the text are noted in the appendix of the published book. The following are sources used in the research for and writing of the book.
The Death and Rebirth of Old Testament Theology
IN THE first part of this essay, published in the preceding issue of this Journal, the course was sketched which led Old Testament studies from a concern with theology to a determined and careful avoidance of it, until at the close of the nineteenth century the discipline of Old Testament theology had practically died out and its place had been taken by a purely historical discipline, of which the highest aim was to depict the various stages of Israelite religion. In the present article the course to be traced leads, inversely, from the history of Israelite religion back to an Old Testament theology-or perhaps it would be truer to say, forward to a new Old Testament theology. It is no mere reversion to the mind and method of a former day which is taking place. There is no disposition to ignore the valuable contributions which have been made and are being made by historical science. There can be no turning of the clock back to find security in the forms of an earlier time. Neither is this movement toward an Old Testament theology to be regarded as an invasion of the Old Testament field by a new dogmatic theology. The forces which have led to a new in-