I. Edward Kiev Judaica Collection

I. Edward Kiev, chief librarian of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion from 1942 to 1975, amassed a personal collection of more than 22,000 books, pamphlets, periodicals, manuscripts, graphic art, and artifacts related to Jewish history and culture. Donated to The George Washington Unversity in 1996 by I. Edward Kiev's son and daughter-in-law, Dr. Ari and Phyllis Kiev, the collection is now housed in its own reading room at the Gelman Library. Expanded to 22,000 volumes and including additional collections of Jewish graphic art, the I. Edward Kiev Judaica Collection contains works in many languages and encompasses such subjects as biblical exegesis and archaeology, Jewish law and liturgy, American Jewish history, Hebrew literature and Judaic bibliography.

In 2008 the Gelman Library appointed Brad Sabin Hill as Curator of the Kiev Judaica Collection. The author of a number of books and articles in the field of Hebrew bibliography and booklore, Hill has wide-ranging experience of Judaica librarianship. He has held curatorial and senior positions in the Hebrew Section of the British Library, the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies, the National Library of Canada, and the YIVO Institute in New York. Formerly a member of the Oriental Faculty of the University of Oxford, Hill is a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society and a Senior Associate of the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies. .

The I. Edward Kiev Judaica Collection is supported by the Kiev Circle of Friends. To learn how you can support this and other collections at Gelman Library, visit our Collection Stewardship page.