Who We Are
The Jewish Public Library Archives and Special Collections span over 600 linear meters of records. Their contents have been collected with the help of the community and carefully preserved over decades by staff and volunteers alike.
Complimenting the Library's circulating collections are its Archives and Special Collections. They span over 600 linear meters of rare secondary sources and original primary sources from the Montreal Jewish community. The collections are comprised of over 400 archival fonds, 30,000 photographs, 200 rare posters, as well as correspondence, programs, flyers, manuscripts, textiles, artifacts, audio-visual materials, rare books dating from the 15th century, and more.
The department collects, preserves, and makes its materials accessible to the public. In turn, the public may request permission and be permitted to use the materials in books, films, audio tours, and exhibits.
Nellie Lowy, 1959. JPL Photograph Collection, PR011702
Chaya Pereira, 1966, JPL Photograph Collection, PR001762.
The Archive was formally founded in 1984, though its collecting activities long predate this. Its contents speak to the historical contributions of individuals (eg. artists, poets, community leaders, sportsmen and women), institutions, associations, and schools (eg. United Talmud Torahs, Jewish Peoples’ School and Jewish Peretz School). Subject areas include educational history, the labour movement, women’s rights movement, Yiddish literature and poetry, Canadian art, politics, music and entertainment, religion and much more.
The Special Collections reflect the singular collecting habits of a community library. Its collections include rare ephemera depicting the socio-cultural lives of Canadian and global Jewry, two sizeable miniature book collections, 1500 rare books that were seized back from the Nazis in 1947, and more.
