Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Exhibition
Gained in Translation: Jews, Germany, California circa 1849
Inaugural exhibition of The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life
The Bancroft Library Gallery, University of California, Berkeley
March 1 - July 1 2011 (open Monday-Friday 10am-4pm)
With the establishment of The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life in July 2010, the unique archives
documenting the Jewish experience in Northern California were gifted to The Bancroft Library by the
former Judah L. Magnes Museum in Berkeley. The Magnes archives of Western Jewish Americana have
served as an important source for several foundational studies of Jewish life in California. Researchers
often relied on the combination of Magnes and Bancroft collections in their work. Now, the physically
integrated collections of both institutions bring unique resources under one roof, making them even more
accessible for teaching and research.
The inaugural exhibition, Gained in Translation: Jews, Germany, California circa 1849, draws on art,
artifacts, books, and archival materials from The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life, The Bancroft
Library, and the Levi-Strauss Archives to stretch the historical and geographic boundaries of San
Francisco Jewish history, connecting the history of the Jews in Germany before 1849 to the establishment
of the Jewish community in the San Francisco Bay in the second half of the 19th century.
The focal point of the exhibition is the renowned painting by Moritz Daniel Oppenheim Lavater and
Lessing Visit Moses Mendelssohn (1856), one of the most reproduced works in the Magnes Collection,
often used to illustrate the cultural dialogue framing the social and cultural emancipation of the Jews in
Germany. The decade in which this work appeared was pivotal for German Jews: their hopes for
emancipation were challenged by the failed revolution of 1848-49, which also spurred emigration to the
United States, including to San Francisco, where the Gold Rush provided new opportunities of social
success and civic engagement.
Curators
Alla Efimova, Jacques and Esther Reutlinger Director
Francesco Spagnolo, Curator of Collections
Opening Program
Wednesday, March 2, 2011, 5 pm
Morrison Library, in Doe Library
Speakers:
John Efron, Koret Professor of Jewish History, University of California, Berkeley
Marc Dollinger, Richard and Rhoda Goldman Chair in Jewish Studies and Social Responsibility, San
Francisco State University
Opening Reception
Wednesday, March 2, 6 pm
The Bancroft Library
The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life is supported by Koret Foundation, Taube Philanthropies,
Hellman Family Foundation, Magnes Museum Foundation, Friends of the Magnes, Jewish Community
Federation of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin and Sonoma Counties, Walter and Elise Haas Fund,
and Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund.