The Kressel Collection

The basis of the library was laid in 1974, when the Kressel Collection was acquired for the library by Lord Young of Graffham and David Lewis, Chairman of the Library Committee. The Collection, which consists of a Library of more than 25,000 volumes and pamphlets, is the work of Getzel Kressel, a Polish-born Jewish writer and journalist (1911-1986), who spent over 40 years assembling it as a comprehensive record and reference library to great figures of modern Jewish history.


The collection is divided into the following main sections: Zionism, State of Israel, Labour Movement, Modern Hebrew Literature, Bibliography, Biography.



Issue of Moznayim the literary organ of the Hebrew writers association in Israel, founded in 1929

Qumran

Between 1988 and 1990 the library acquired a complete photographic record of the Dead Sea Scrolls, from which The Dead Sea Scrolls Electronic Reference Library was produced (published by Oxford University Press and Brill Academic Publishers). The photographic collection and the CD-ROMs together with a reference collection in this field are kept in the library.


1QIsaiah, col. VI (Isaiah 6, 8-12)

The Elkoshi Collection

A significant addition to the holdings was the library of Gedalyah Elkoshi (1910 - 1988), which was acquired in 1991. The collection contains some 17,000 books and is particularly strong in Hebrew Literature. The section on Rabbinic Literature has been updated in recent years.

Centrum Bibliographicum

Building on the already substantial holdings in the Kressel collection, the library with the assistance of the Catherine Lewis foundation has supplemented its reference and bibliographic literature in all areas of Hebrew and Jewish studies. As a Bibliographic Centre the Leopold Muller Memorial Library provides an unparalleled resource for bio-bibliographic and literary-historical research.

Over the years the library has been expanded through a focussed acquisition policy.
The main sections are:

The main sections of the library are:

  • Bible, Qumran and Rabbinic Literature
  • History of the Jewish people
  • Yizkor Books and Holocaust
  • Israel and Zionism
  • Yiddish
  • Modern Hebrew literature
  • Biography and bibliography