Ethnography played a central role in the development of Jewish studies in the early twentieth century, and the resources in this collection reflect the importance of the subject in the eyes of YIVO scholars and the many zamlers, or collectors, who assembled these materials on a voluntary basis. In 1891, Shimon Dubnow called for increased efforts in understanding and preserving the history of Eastern European Jewry, and S. Ansky demonstrated the practice of ethnography in his famous Expedition of 1912-1914 and incorporation of folkloric ideas in his immensely popular play, The Dybbuk. Ethnography had long been a preoccupation in Yiddish culture, playing a major role in maskilic literature, but during this period it became institutionalized and incorporated contemporary scientific practices.

YIVO Ethnographic Committee

YIVO – the Yiddish Scientific Institute – was founded in Vilna in 1925. It was organized in four permanent sections: Philology, History, Economics and Statistics, and Psychology and Education; the Ethnographic Committee was a sub-section of the Philological Section. At its inception in 1925, the Ethnographic Committee was established in cooperation with the S. Ansky Jewish Historical Ethnographic Society, with both organizations sharing in its financial support. The work of the Ethnographic Committee consisted of preparing and analyzing folklore questionnaires, correspondence with a network of hundreds of voluntary collectors throughout Europe, the United States, Canada, South America and other parts of the world, issuing instructions to collectors, acknowledging receipt of materials, organizing special circles of collectors in various towns and cities, arranging contests for the best folklore collections. It was a popular success, attracting hundreds of people to participate in its mission of documenting their communities. The Committee also maintained a museum and presented special exhibits. Members of the Ethnographic Committee included Shloyme Bastomski, folklorist and teacher, Dr. Max Weinreich, philologist, member of the Executive Committee of YIVO, N. Weinig, folklorist, Nekhama Epstein, folklorist, and Zalman Reisen, lexicographer, member of the Executive Committee of YIVO. N. Khayes, folklorist, served as secretary of the Committee. In 1930, the name of the Ethnographic Committee was changed to Folklore Committee. Throughout the history of its existence, the Ethnographic Committee was a flashpoint for tensions between YIVO and the S. Ansky Jewish Historical Ethnographic Society, which competed for influence and increasingly scarce resources for ethnographic work. The two organizations eventually parted ways, with the Ethnographic Society focusing more on material culture and the maintenance of a museum, while YIVO focused on written documents and scholarly materials.

Ansky Jewish Historical Ethnographic Society

The S. Ansky Jewish Historical Ethnographic Society was the successor of the Society of Friends of Jewish Antiquity founded in 1913 by L.V. Frenkel and the Historic Commission, founded by the Hevrah Mefitsei Haskalah to document the effects of the first World War on Jewish communities. It is a separate entity from the Historic-Ethnographic Commission, which was founded by the Hevrah Mefitsei Haskalah in 1892. After 1908 it became known as the Jewish Historic-Ethnographic Society of St. Petersburg. This society published Evreiskaia starina (The Jewish Past) from 1909-1918 and sponsored Ansky’s expeditions in 1912-1914. It was shut down by the Bolshevik government in 1917. In 1919, following World War I, S. Ansky renewed the work of the Society of Friends of Jewish Antiquity, now called the Jewish Historical Ethnographic Society of Lithuania and White Russia. After Ansky’s death, in 1920, the Society and its Museum were named after him, and drew partial support from Ansky’s bequest of one sixth of his estate. The society found itself at odds with YIVO from time to time, but also involved some of the same people, notably Max Weinreich, Zalmen Reyzin, and Tsemakh Shabad. After 1939 the ethnographic materials of the S. Ansky Society were merged with YIVO. The society comprised an Executive Committee and the following sections: Music, Folklore, History, Art and Museum, Ansky, Catalogue, Literary, and Pinkes (Town Chronicles). The Society also maintained a museum, library and archive.

Invayskult

Invayskult was the department of what would now be known as Jewish Studies at the Belorussian Academy of Sciences, located in Minsk. It was founded at the same time as the Academy of Sciences itself, in 1924. Invayskult was also known as the Jewish Division, or Yidopteil. They published the scholarly journal Tsaytshrift, which attracted contributions from notable Yiddish scholars such as Max Weinreich. In the early years, Invayskult frequently corresponded with YIVO, and oriented their research toward Eastern European, and especially Lithuanian Jews, who were considered "Lithuanian-Belorussian." Invayskult was dissolved in the 1930s.

Reference

Cecile E. Kuznitz, “An-sky’s Legacy: The Vilna Historic-Ethnographic Society and the Shaping of Modern Jewish Culture” in The Worlds of S. Ansky (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2006), 320-345.