Original Broadcast Date: Wednesday, May 11, 2022, 8:00pm – 9:00pm ET
Click Below to Watch on Demand  – $10 donation suggested

Join us for a fascinating conversation on uncovering world-class Jewish collections at public institutions across America. Featuring three leading experts in the field, the conversation will explore Jewish collections at New York Public Library and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. The conversation will feature Simona Di Nepi, Charles and Lynn Schusterman Curator of Judaica at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Dr. Lyudmila Sholokhova, Curator of the Dorot Jewish Collection at New York Public Library; and will be moderated by Michelle Margolis Chesner,  the Norman E. Alexander for Jewish Studies at Columbia University and President-Elect of the Association of Jewish Libraries.

About the Panelists

Michelle Margolis Chesner is the Norman E. Alexander Librarian for Jewish Studies at Columbia University. She co-directs Footprints: Jewish Books Through Time and Place, is the creator of “Codex Conquest: Jewish Edition,” and has curated various library exhibitions, both physical and virtual. She presently serves as the Vice President/President-Elect at the Association of Jewish Libraries. Michelle‘s research includes early Jewish printing and the history of Judaic collecting and collections, as well as the intersection of Jewish  Studies and the digital humanities.

Dr. Lyudmila Sholokhova is a Curator of the Dorot Jewish Collection at the New York Public Library.  She was the Director of the YIVO Library and Associate Director for External Relations in Eastern Europe and Russia from 2019 till January 2020. She was Head Librarian at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research from 2011-2016, Acting Chief Archivist from 2013-2016, and Director of the YIVO Archives and Library from 2016 – 2019. From 1994 to 2001, she was a Research Associate at the Judaica Division of the Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine. Dr. Sholokhova is the author of numerous publications on the history of Jewish music and Jewish bibliography.

Simona Di Nepi is the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Curator of Judaica at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, where she is responsible for building and displaying the collection of Jewish Art. Originally from Rome,  Simona has also studied and worked in London and Tel Aviv for 25 years. She has filled curatorial roles—in both decorative arts and Old Masters—at the Victoria and Albert Museum, The National Gallery, and the Royal Academy of Arts in London, where she cared for permanent collections and curated exhibitions. In Israel, she worked as curator at Anu: the Museum of the Jewish People, Lecturer in Italian Renaissance art at Reichman University(IDC Herzelyia), and Educator at the Nachum Gutman Museum of Art. Simona has published both in the fields of Old Masters and Judaica.

An official program of Jewish American Heritage Month and co-sponsored by the Association of Jewish Libraries