The library has an abundance of resources available for the study of Jewish American history and contemporary life. A catalog search for the term “Jewish” brings up nearly a thousand items in our physical collection. A search of our website’s Research page brings up a variety of other resources from our collection of book lists, the library blog, as well as past exhibitions and programs. Our database, American History Online, offers a large collection of resources covering the important people, events, legislation and issues relevant to the study of Jewish American history in the United States, including primary source documents. Fold3 Library Edition by Ancestry provides “convenient access to U.S. military records, including the stories, photos, and documents of the men and women who served.” Kanopy offers streaming video, audio and film on a broad variety of topics and themes in Jewish American life. Starting in June, our Museum Pass Program will feature circulating passes for the Jewish Museum in New York City. Areas within the library’s nonfiction neighborhoods containing books relevant to Jewish American heritage include History, Philosophy & Religion, Biography and Collective Biography.
This guide brings together a curated collection of books, articles, primary source materials, websites, films and educator resources in one convenient resource.
#learn
Learn about the Jewish American Experience
See below for lists of nonfiction and fiction, geared toward adult readers and centered around the experiences and perspectives of Jewish Americans.
For teens, kids and the youngest readers, below are lists of books that highlight varied narratives and perspectives of Jewish Americans.
Highlighted resources available at the library
Family History & Genealogy: A Resource Guide created by our librarians offers tools and tips for family research
Jewish Americans is a topic guide from American History Online, an Infobase database
Kanopy’s Streaming Video Database contains award-winning documentaries and feature films about Jewish American history and culture
Voices of Princeton partnered with the Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Mercer County to preserve oral stories about the Jewish community in Princeton.
The library’s Museum Pass Program recently added the Jewish Museum to its collection of circulating museum passes. This institution, according to its mission, is “committed to illuminating the complexity and vibrancy of Jewish culture for a global audience.” Be sure to to sign up for and check our weekly newsletter for an announcement that this pass has become available to borrow.
Online resources
- Building Jewish Life in the United States is an online exhibit from The New York Public Library’s Dorot Jewish Division
- The Center for Jewish History offers a variety of online exhibits
- From Haven to Home: 350 Years of Jewish Life in America features more than two hundred treasures of American Judaica from the collections of the Library of Congress
- Jewish American History from the National Archives offers an array of articles, videos and artifacts detailing the Jewish American experience
- How Jewish Americans influenced and changed the shape of worker solidarity and the labor movement (NEA)
- The Jewish Legacy in American History Gilder Lehrman Institute for American History
- Timeline in American Jewish History from The Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives
- Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History provides virtual tours of the museum’s core exhibitions
#educator
Resources for Educators
See the materials below for potential starting points for engaging learners. You’ll find lesson plans, primary source materials, curricula and more.
- Downloadable curriculum materials for K-12 teachers from the Jewish Museum
- Educators’ guide: Jewish American Heritage lesson plans from the Antidefamation League
- Emma Lazarus Project: Curriculum from the American Jewish Historical Society (Smithsonian Affiliate)
- Jewish Immigration, Popular Culture, and the Birth of the Comic Book from Gilder Lehrman Institute for American History
- The Jewish Americans: A heritage curriculum created by PBS
- Lesson plans from the National Education Association
- Teacher’s guide and lesson plans from the National Endowment for the Humanities EDSITEment initiative
- Teacher Guides & Student Workbooks from the Museum of Jewish Heritage
#programs
Past Programs
Past library programs relevant to Jewish American identity and culture are available on our YouTube channel. Featured below are some notable recent programs.
Peter Lighte’s conversation with Gil Steinlauf, presented in partnership by the library and Labyrinth Books, explored his book, “Straight Through The Labyrinth: Becoming a Gay Father in China.” Though the program was offered in association with National Adoption Month, “Straight Through the Labyrinth” not only chronicles the true story of a gay Jewish scholar of China caught in the crosshairs of the very history he has studied, but also sheds light on the unfolding life of a leader in Princeton’s Jewish community.
Julian Zelizer’s conversation with Sean Wilentz examines the life of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, who became a symbol of the marriage between religion and social justice. Heschel, who spoke with a fiery moralistic fervor, dedicated his career to the struggle to improve the human condition through faith. In this new biography, author Julian Zelizer tracks Heschel’s early years and foundational influences—his childhood in Warsaw and early education in Hasidism, his studies in late 1920s and early 1930s Berlin, and the fortuitous opportunity, which brought him to the United States and saved him from the Holocaust, to teach at Hebrew Union College and the Jewish Theological Seminary. This deep and complex portrait places Heschel at the crucial intersection of religion and progressive politics in mid-twentieth-century America. To this day Heschel remains a symbol of the fight to make progressive Jewish values relevant in the secular world.
#month
Jewish American Heritage Month
Jewish American Heritage Month, celebrated each May, offers an opportunity to explore the stories, history, and cultural perspectives of Jewish Americans, past and present.
On April 20, 2006, President George W. Bush proclaimed May as Jewish American Heritage Month to recognize over 350 years of Jewish contributions to American culture. This followed a successful campaign led by the Jewish Museum of Florida and South Florida Jewish leaders, with bipartisan support from Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Sen. Arlen Specter. May was chosen in part due to the successful 350th Anniversary celebration of American Jewish history held in May, 2004, by a coalition that included the Library of Congress and the National Archives. The Jewish American Heritage Month Coalition, created in 2007, now leads the annual observance.
The Law Library of Congress has created resources on commemorative events, offering a detailed collection of Public Laws, Presidential Proclamations and congressional resolutions associated with Jewish American Heritage Month.
Content made possible with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this programming do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.