Portrait of Matityahu Strashun (1817-1885)

Last librarian of the Strashun Library, Khaykl Lunski.

The reading room of the Strashun Library in Vilna (Wilno), Poland.

Butterside Downwas a play written and mounted in 1936 by the experimental Yiddish puppet theater called Khad Gadyo (founded in 1922). Moyshe Broderzon wrote the macaronic script (of Polish, Yiddish, and Hebrew) and the artist Yitskhok Broiner created…

Mordkhe Mazo was born in Borisov in Minsk Province to a traditional family. He attended yeshiva in Mir and, as an extern, earned a diploma to be a tutor. He dabbled in both Zionism and Bundism and, upon moving to Vilna, became a community activist.…

The Warsaw Yiddish Art Theater was acritically acclaimed Yiddish dramatic company active in interwar Polandfrom 1924–1925, 1926–1928, and 1938–1939. The extraordinary success of The Vilner Troupe with The Dybbukmadeclear that a considerable audience…

Like her mother, Ida Kaminska sought out powerful women’s roles. And, in 1932, Ida Kaminska translated a work by one of Poland's radical feminist thinkers, Maria Morozowicz-Szczepkowska, into Yiddish and adapted it for the Yiddish stage.…

Set designer for Yiddish theater in interwar Poland. V. was born Lyuvitsh Poland to Hasidic parents. From a young age, he was drawn to sketching and painting. A Polish art critic Tortshinksi recognized his early talents and the Polish artist,…

Photo from Shtudyes vegn yidisher folksshafung, by Y. L. Cahan, published in 1952 by YIVO, NY.