YIVO's 2025 Roundup
We are most grateful to our members and supporters, whose generous financial support ensured that YIVO was able to continue in its mission to provide enriching content to our global audience. Here are a few highlights from our Centennial celebrations in 2025:
YIVO Learning and Media Center
The YIVO Learning and Media opened its doors in the summer of 2025. The new YLMC has a dedicated classroom space, an audio/visual station, and a poster-making corner. The space features archival objects from YIVO’s collections, a cozy library nook with Yiddish and English books, and a rotating exhibition space that is currently hosting The Door Slams Shut: Jews and Immigration in the Face of American Reaction. In the months since its opening in June 2025, we have been happy to host 19 group visits with a total of 300 visitors.
YIVO at 100 Exhibitions
In honor of its centennial, YIVO presented three landmark exhibitions, Hail to the Zamlers! YIVO’s Collections at 100, The Paper Brigade: Smuggling Jewish Treasures in Nazi-Occupied Vilna, and The Strashun Library: Rare Books Rescued from the Ashes of Vilna—collectively titled YIVO at 100—that illuminate the extraordinary stories preserved in its world-renowned collections. These exhibitions highlight the passion, courage, and dedication that built the world’s foremost archive of Eastern European Jewish life. Delve deeper into these exhibitions with our digital guide on Bloomberg Connects, the free arts and culture app.
100 Objects from the Collections of the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research
In celebration of its centennial year, YIVO published 100 Objects from the Collections of the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, a beautifully illustrated book offering a captivating journey through Jewish history and presenting 100 remarkable objects drawn from the YIVO Archives and Library. The book has since received a number of awards, including 2025 Best Book Awards History: General, Gold Medal 2025 North American Book Awards: Cover Illustration, 2025 Literary Global Book Awards Nonfiction – Best Cover Design, 2025 Literary Global Book Awards Nonfiction – History, 2025 Royal Dragonfly Book Award Best Interior Design, Coffee Table & Gift Books, 2025 Royal Dragonfly Book Award Best History Non-Fiction, 2026 Independent Press Award, Coffee Table Book, and 2025 Best Book Award Finalist for Best Interior Design / Illustrations.
Treasures from the Collections
Every Friday throughout 2025, YIVO released a new video highlighting a book, object, or artifact from its collections. Each short video featured a YIVO staff member discussing an item and explaining its historical significance. Artifacts ranged from a political cartoon by Zuni Maud published in "Der groyser kundes" in 1924 and an early issue of the "Forverts" from 1897 to a Bukhari wedding outfit from the late 1800s and a 1906 wax cylinder recording of a parody of "In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree."
Public Programs
In 2025, we hosted 77 public programs, which had over 24,000 registrations. Recordings of programs and other videos on our YouTube channel had over 640,000 views. Taking place in person and on Zoom, these programs covered a range of Jewish life, history, and culture. A particular highlight was the world premiere of The Great Dictionary of the Yiddish Language, an original chamber opera featuring music by Pulitzer Prize finalist Alex Weiser and libretto by Ben Kaplan. This moving, 50-minute work tells the true story of Yiddish linguist Yudel Mark and his unfinished quest to create a comprehensive Yiddish dictionary. Featuring an acclaimed cast of five singers and an ensemble led by David Bloom, the production—directed by Rebecca Miller Kratzer—brought Yiddish language and culture to life through music, mysticism, and history. The Great Dictionary of the Yiddish Language sold out all three of its showings.
Jewish Labor and Political Archives
The Jewish Labor and Political Archives (JLPA) forms the world’s most comprehensive body of material pertaining to Jewish social and political activism in Europe and the United States. YIVO is in the midst of an 8-year project to make these unparalleled materials available for free access online. Of the approximately 3.5 million pages in the collection, 80% were conserved, 54% were processed, and 27% were digitized and made available online.
YIVO Archives and Library
The YIVO Archives added 55 new record groups this year. YIVO’s digital lab digitized 500,000 pages. YIVO’s digital assets were viewed over 1 million times. YIVO’s reference archivist corresponded with 1,000 individuals who had questions about our materials. About 3,000 items were paged for researchers in 2025.
Education at YIVO
876 students from 21 countries signed up for 85 classes taught in person or on Zoom by our incredible faculty. The Uriel Weinreich Summer Program took place both in person and online, enabling 75 students from 11 countries around the world and 16 states to participate.
2026 promises to be another exciting year as we continue developing landmark projects, diverse public programs, and unique educational initiatives.