Foundation Donates $1.5 M to Library

The Judaica Division of the Harvard College Library has received a $1.5 million grant from the New York-based Lucius N. Littauer Foundation, University officials announced last week.

The Littauer Foundation established the endowment in order to create a new position in the library's Judaica Division, said Charles Berlin '58, Friedman bibliographer in Judaica and head of the division.

Berlin--who received the world's first endowed Judaica library position in 1962--said the position will be called the Littauer Hebraica Technical and Research Services Librarianship, and will consist of adapting new technology to the needs of the library.

'Strategic Plan'

The grant for the new librarianship will further the "strategic plan of the College library" by increasing accessibility to the College's Hebraica collection, Berlin said.

Harvard's Judaica Division is distinguished by its possession of the only fully computerized Hebraica and Yiddish library catalogs in the world.

Foundation President William L. Frost '48 pointed to the Division's technological resources, as well as to "the Judaica Department's experience and accomplishments" and its "great Hebraica resources," as factors in the choice of Harvard for the grant.

'Long Relationship'

Foundation Program Officer Pamela W. Brumberg said that "the Littauer Foundation has had a long relationship with Harvard, which began when Lucius Littauer, who established the Foundation, attended Harvard College." Littauer was a member of the Class of 1878.

The Foundation has focused on supporting Jewish scholarship and providing funds for the establishment and maintenance of Judaica book collections.

However, as much as 25 percent of its funding has gone to non-Jewish projects in past years, officials said.

Gifts from the Foundation to Harvard date back to 1925, with an endowment establishing the Littauer Professorship of Jewish History and Philosophy.

Other Grants

According to Brumberg, recent grants the Foundation has awarded to Harvard include a gift to the Divinity School for scholarship in Judaica and grants to the Semitic Museum.

Berlin did not indicate whether a search to fill the newly created position was underway.