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 ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).