William Milwitzky Ladino Collection
Singer sewing machine manual, 1894. (YIVO
Library, William Milwitzky Collection)
The YIVO Library has a small but important collection of books in Ladino (also known as Judezmo, or Judeo-Spanish), the language of Sephardic Jews.
This collection, some 400 volumes, which also includes books in Western European languages on Jews in the Iberian peninsula and their descendants throughout the Mediterranean basin, was donated to YIVO by the family of YIVO supporter Dr. William Milwitzky after his death in 1956.
The Milwitzky Collection includes classic religious texts, such as the Me'am Lo'ez commentary; Ladino translations of foreign novels and dramas; and curiosities such as a Ladino Singer Sewing manual. This rare and fragile collection was cataloged and microfilmed in 1993, with the support of a grant from the Lucius N. Littauer Foundation.