If you can get to New York,  check out the bookstore of The Jewish Museum.
They have many catalogues from their own exhibitions, as well as some
significant
catalogues from the Israel Museum in Jerusalem for sale.

Alfred Rubens' book on Jewish costume is a classic, East and West,
documenting what Jews wore in different historical time periods and different
places.   The works of the late Yedida Stillman on Moroccan Jewish costume
are also very good.

Don't forget the plethora of photographic documentary books.  Every few
years, someone produces a new one.   Start with Roman Vishniac's work in the
1920s and 1930s in Eastern Europe and work up to Ed Serotta's powerful
photographs from the early 1990s, as well as Lorenzo and Ayse Salman's work
in Roumania and Turkey on the Jewish communities in those countries.

Somewhere is my disorganized and vast library, I have a little volume on
Jewish Symbols.   It's a great resource for identifying folkloric symbols on
artifacts and their meanings.    I don't remember the author.   I bought it
from a Jewish bookseller in Seattle.

Call Vivian Mann at The Jewish Museum in New York.   She teaches a course
at the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) in this area.   She is a great
reource person and the books she has written and/or edited are wonderful,
particularly her work on Turkish and Italian Jewish synagogues and objects.
There was an exhibit back in the 1980s called something like, "A Tale of Two
Cities:  Franfurt and Istanbul" -- the catalogue I think is still in print
and available at The Jewish Museum bookstore in New York.

If you're in New York, try the public library, the Leo Baeck Institute,  and
the JTS libraries, too.   Don't forget the Hebrew Union College's library and
archive in Cincinnati -- great stuff, there.   If you are interested in
French Jewry,  Freddy Raphael is the expert on Alsacian Jewry.  He wrote a
wonderful volume on the history and folklore of Alsacian Jewry.  Emory
University Library in Atlanta has a copy; it's in French.   Dr. Raphael is
head of the Sociology Department at the University of Strasbourg.

Don't forget the work of Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett.   Around 1976 or so,
she produced a very interesting exhibit in Indianapolis on Torah binders --
there's a catalogue for it.   She's based in New York.   She's done lots of
other exhibits and research on Ashkenazic Jewish objects and folklore, too.
I think she's still at NYU.

If you have time and money,  go to the Israel Museum in Jerusalem and meet
the curators.   Get a tour of the museum storage behind the scenes.   They
have everything anyone could possible imagine from the history of all Jewish
communities everywhere!   It's amazing!   Get a grant and make the time.
You'll never forget it.

If you're interested in Greek Jewry, Annette Fromm is the person to talk to.
She's at the Ziff Museum in Miami, Florida.   She knows all about the special
silver work
tradition of the Jews of Ioannina, and many other things as well.  She was
once director of the Fenster Museum of Jewish Art in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Check out the website of the National Jewish Museum in Philadelphia.  They
have incredible images, including historic postcards of synagogues throughout
the United States.   Check the CAJM (Council on American Jewish Museums)
website which is something like jewishmuseums.org.    Do a search on Jewish
Museums.   Many of the sites have useful information in this area.

Don't forget the Sotheby's catalogues on Judaica -- they are always
interesting.
The Smithsonian has a great catelogue on their Judaica holdings (a good part
of which are now at The Jewish Museum in New York) that was distributed free
about 3 years ago.

The Skirball Museums, particularly the branches in Los Angeles and Cincinnati
are a great resource.  I believe the one in Cincinnati at the HUC did some of
kind of directory of Judaica objects in private collections in the MidWest.

Hope these suggestions help.

Pamela Sezgin
Georgia Mountains HIstory Museum
Gainesville, Georgia

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