Judaica Sound Archives

History of the JSA

In Spring 2002 FAU Libraries initiated the "Judaica Music Rescue Project" with Nathan Tinanoff as its part-time director. The goal was to rescue all Judaica sound recordings and bring them to a modern center where technology would be used to organized and preserve this valuable, yet endangered cultural heritage.

One of Tinanoff’s first calls was to Aaron Lansky at the National Yiddish Book Center (NYBC) in Amherst, MA. Lansky had been working to rescue Yiddish books and literature. In January 2003 Nat Tinanoff left sunny Florida to meet Lansky in person. He returned from Amherst with over 4,000 phonograph records donated by the NYBC. "We want to do for Jewish recordings what Lansky has been doing for Yiddish books," he said. By the following December the size of FAU’s sound collection had mushroomed to over 15,000 records.

Building a world class collection

In January 2005, the "Judaica Music Rescue Project" became officially

Dr. Maxine Schackman, Assistant Director and Nathan Tinanoff, Founder and Director of Judaica Sound Archives at FAU Libraries.

known as the Judaica Sound Archives® at Florida Atlantic University Libraries (JSA). Tinanoff became its full-time Director and in April of that year Dr. Maxine Schackman was hired as the part-time Assistant Director. Under their leadership the JSA has grown into a major center for the collection, preservation, digitization and study of Judaica sound recordings.

JSA staff members: (l-r)

front: Shi Guan (web group), Ellin Washington (digitization), Ben Roth (sound engineer), Jennifer Ohnstad (office assistant)

back: Trushal Thaker (web group), Bill King (web group), Bob Vollmer (webmaster), Ronak Chaudhari (web group)

In addition to a loyal corps of volunteers who give their time and efforts to helping out in whatever ways they can, the JSA has a dedicated team of professionals who maintain accurate databases about the sound recordings, digitize sound recordings, scan album covers and record labels, and work hard to make our website as informative and useful as possible.

The JSA seeks out collaboration with other Judaica sound collections, such as the Robert and Molly Freedman Jewish Sound Archive at the University of Pennsylvania Library. This particular collaboration brings to the JSA the wealth of information that Robert Freedman has amassed over the past 50 years. It also allows visitors to Freedman’s website to have the ability to hear JSA’s digital recordings.

The JSA has also welcomed input from respected cantors and scholars in the field of Judaica music who regularly provide guidance and relevant historical, cultural, linguistic, and religious information.