Author Talk | Books Commemorating Lost Jewish Communities

Jane Ziegelman, author of the new book Once There Was a Town: The Memory Books of a Lost Jewish World, will explore a little known body of Jewish folk literature known as yizkor books. Written by Holocaust survivors, yizkor books were privately published to memorialize the towns--shtetls, in Yiddish--once strewn across Eastern Europe. Yizkor books document both the day-to-day culture characteristic of these towns and their destruction during World War II. Ziegelman will discuss the history and substance of these remarkable books, testaments to the power of remembering and to the resilience of people who refused to be forgotten.

Brooklyn-based Jane Ziegelman is also the author of 97 Orchard: An Edible History of Five Immigrant Families in One New York Tenement and the James Beard Award-winning, A Square Meal.

Registration

If you are a Grolier Club member, please register yourself and your guests via the Club website. Do not register via Eventbrite.

Support

We appreciate your interest in the Grolier Club’s programming on the art and history of the book. For over 130 years we have offered our exhibitions and lectures to the public, free of charge. If you have enjoyed these offerings, and would like to support that tradition, and help ensure that it continues, please consider making a tax-deductible donation to the Grolier Club.

Accessibility

An ADA-compliant lift from street level to the lobby is available to anyone with mobility issues. All desk staff should be ready and able to assist you in operating the lift, with or without advance notice.

A “T-Coil” assisted listening system is available to anyone attending a lecture in the Exhibition Hall. Visitors with hearing aids should turn their devices to the “T” setting in order to access the system; visitors without hearing aids may request a “loop receiver” with earphones.

Environment

The temperature and humidity in the exhibition hall are tightly controlled for the sake of the valuable items on display, and this may cause the room to feel chilly, particularly in warmer weather, to those coming in from outside. Members and visitors are advised to bring a light wrap when visiting an exhibition, or attending an event in the hall.

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

Get App

Host or Publisher The Grolier Club