The YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, right here in Chelsea in New York City, has the largest collection of Yiddish-language materials in the world!

Founded in 1925 in Vilna, Poland, it relocated to New York City 15 years later. Its mission is “to preserve, study and teach the cultural history of Jewish life throughout Eastern Europe, Germany and Russia.” The staff I have met are friendly, welcoming, and dedicated to the organization and its mission.

YIVO is very central to Yiddish studies in the world. I know this just three days into my Yiddish unit, because my various non-YIVO materials keep referring to it.