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 June 5th Dedication of Edwin A. Malloy Education Bldg. Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati Sunday, June 5 at 10 am CINCINNATI, OH The new Edwin A. Malloy Education Building at The Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives will be formally dedicated in ceremonies on Sunday, June 5, 2005. The dedication will begin at 10:00 a.m. at The Marcus Center at the Cincinnati campus of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) at 3101 Clifton Avenue. Guest speakers will include Dr. David Ellenson, HUC-JIR President; Dr. Gary P. Zola, Executive Director of The Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives and Associate Professor of the American Jewish Experience at HUC-JIR; and best-selling author and historian, Eli Evans ("The Provincials"). The ceremony is free and open to the public. The American Jewish Archives at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion is the world's largest catalogued collection of documentary evidence on the history of North American Jewry. The completion of this new educational complex, containing a state-of-the-art distance learning facilities, is the culmination of a six-year major physical renovation and expansion project. The Marcus Center is now a vast complex of three interconnected buildings, which makes the facility the world's largest free-standing archival research center dedicated exclusively to the study of the American Jewish experience. "The Edwin A. Malloy Education Building provides the American Jewish Archives and the College-Institute with a world class educational facility that will enable us to share the preserved historical treasures with a worldwide audience," said Dr. Gary P. Zola. "With spaces designed specifically for historical exhibitions, programming, and distance learning, the opening of the Edwin A. Malloy Education Building signals the dawn of a new and exciting era for The Marcus Center and for our school." The facility memorializes the late Edwin A. Malloy who was a devoted member of the HUC-JIR Board of Governors for many years. Malloy was an admirer and friend of Dr. Jacob Rader Marcus, who founded the American Jewish Archives in 1947. The Malloy Family's Sun Hill Foundation provided a $2 million naming gift to a project that embodied Mr. Malloy's lifelong love of the College-Institute, of higher Jewish learning, books, libraries and the American Jewish Archives. "The Edwin A. Malloy Education building will enhance The Marcus Center's ability to welcome the hundreds of scholars and students who visit the American Jewish Archives annually," said Rabbi David Ellenson, HUC-JIR President. "The building will also house The Marcus Center's Fellowship Seminars as well as lectures for the public, compelling historical exhibits, and distance learning study programs." "This wonderful gift from the Malloy family foundation, Sun Hill, constitutes a philanthropic landmark for the American Jewish Archives," commented Dr. Zola. "The Edwin A. Malloy Education Building will literally transform this institution, enabling us to bypass the hindrances of limited space and overcome the impediments of outmoded facilities." The Edwin A. Malloy Education Building will feature a large gallery which will accommodate new archival exhibits; the Jewish Foundation of Cincinnati International Learning Center for the Study of the American Jewish Experience-a technologically advanced lecture and learning facility unique to The Marcus Center which will increase learning opportunities and access to rare historical documents through state-of-the art technology; and expanded research facilities which will welcome the hundreds of scholars, researchers and students who visit the American Jewish Archives annually. The Jewish Foundation of Cincinnati International Learning Center The Jewish Foundation of Cincinnati awarded The Marcus Center a generous grant to create The Jewish Foundation of Cincinnati International Learning Center in the Edwin A. Malloy Education Building. The new facility consists of two integrated electronic components: a lecture hall, and a graduate seminar room. The lecture hall is an electronic classroom capable of accommodating up to 100 participants on-site and thousands more throughout the world. The classroom is equipped to handle satellite transmission and receiving capabilities, enhanced interactive video projection and sound systems, a large video monitor, telephone, fax line, and high-speed internet access. "It is expected that regional universities, Jewish day schools, synagogue-based religious schools and Jewish organizations will also seek to utilize this outstanding venue for education and outreach programming," noted Zola. "The existence of The Jewish Foundation of Cincinnati International Learning Center makes it possible for us to bring our unique holdings to local, national and even international audiences in exciting new ways. This access to the vast, rich resources of The Marcus Center - a living history of American Jewish life - means that more people than ever before will be able to gain a greater appreciation for the remarkable story of the Jewish experience in America." PHOTO/VIDEO OPPORTUNITY: Both the Marcus Center's new exterior clock (with distinctive Hebrew "numbers" atop the new tower) and the new electronic carillon will be activated for the first time at noon on Sunday, June 5, 2005. MEDIA: For more information or to schedule an interview, please contact Joyce Kamen at 513.543.8109. Media is invited to document the dedication ceremonies. PHOTOS AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST The Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives, founded in 1947 by its namesake on the Cincinnati, Ohio, campus of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, is committed to preserving a documentary heritage of the religious, organizational, economic, cultural, personal, social and family life of American Jewry. The Marcus Center contains over 10,000 linear feet of archives, manuscripts, nearprint materials, photographs, audio and video tapes, microfilm, and genealogical materials. Founded in 1875, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion is the nation's oldest institution of higher Jewish education and the academic, spiritual, and professional leadership development center of Reform Judaism. HUC-JIR educates men and women for service to American and world Jewry as rabbis, cantors, educators, and communal service professionals, and offers graduate and post-graduate programs to scholars of all faiths. With centers of learning in Cincinnati, Jerusalem, Los Angeles, and New York, HUC-JIR's scholarly resources comprise renowned library, archive and museum collections, biblical archaeology excavations, research institutes and centers, and academic publications. HUC-JIR invites the community to an array of cultural and educational programs which illuminate Jewish history, identity, and contemporary creativity and which foster interfaith and multiethnic understanding. Please click here to visit us at www.huc.edu Dr. Jacob Rader Marcus In the first sobering years following the Holocaust, Dr. Jacob Rader Marcus---esteemed scholar, rabbi and teacher-had a vision to document, collect and preserve the history of Jews and Jewish communities in the Western Hemisphere. His vision was shaped by the realization that preserving the continuity of Jewish life and learning in the aftermath of World War II was the urgent responsibility of the Jews of America----which had suddenly become the largest and most influential community in the world. With a focus on the American Jewish experience, Dr. Marcus dreamed that the new center---the American Jewish Archives--- would one day become one of the world's largest repositories of materials documenting the history and experience of the Jewish community of a country. And it has. View an online exhibit of the life and work of Dr. Jacob Rader Marcus at: www.americanjewisharchives.org/aja/exhibits/gv/index3.html Edwin A. Malloy Edwin A. Malloy's leadership and impact on the College-Institute will resonate for generations. A Reform Jew, Malloy looked to the College to provide a foundation for his faith in Judaism and to satisfy his perennial thirst for Jewish knowledge and learning. He was unfailing in his support of the College-Institute, and exhorted others tirelessly to this same ideal. As chairman of the Building Committee for the construction of the New York school, he carefully steered his hard-working committee through a maze of difficult decisions. The new building gradually took shape under his quiet, but forceful leadership. His service on the Board of Governors was characterized by the unselfish giving of his time, knowledge and experience. The Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives (www.americanjewisharchives.org) The Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives was established in 1947 on the Cincinnati campus of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. From its inception, the primary mission of the American Jewish Archives (AJA) has been to collect, preserve, and make available for research materials on the history of Jews and Jewish communities in the Western Hemisphere---with its primary interest being the history of United States Jewry. Today, The Marcus Center is home to some of the Jewish world's most extraordinary collections including rabbinical papers (including those of Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, the founder of Reform Judaism in America); synagogue collections and the historic papers of national and local organizations. The Marcus Center is also home to the papers of the World Jewish Congress (WJC)-a remarkable collection that includes sound recordings, correspondence, minutes, reports, articles, publications, research materials, cables, press releases, memos, artifacts, and photographs amassed from 1918 to 1982. (The WJC collection contains the famous "Reigner telegram"-a cable sent to several world leaders on August 29, 1942 by Gerhardt Reigner, a WJC official in Geneva-and considered by scholars to be the first official notification from Europe that Hitler had begun his oft-threatened "Final Solution." The WJC was formally established in August 1936 to strengthen Jewish political influence, ensure the survival of the Jewish people and to spearhead the creation of a Jewish State.) |
