New online museum
of YIVO Institute for Jewish Research
A broad-ranging educational initiative, the YIVO Cernia Slovin Online Museum’s inaugural interactive exhibition Beba Epstein: The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Girl explores East European Jewish life in the 20th and 21st centuries through the true story of one teenage girl.
The exhibition, developed by YIVO in consultation with scholars and Beba Epstein’s family, delivers an exciting leap forward for digital museums in an experiential format. Karolina Ziulkoski, the museum’s Chief Curator and a Webby award-winning interactive designer, has combined innovative technology with engaging storytelling to showcase rare materials from YIVO’s archive of more than 23 million documents and artifacts. This is the first public presentation of Beba’s own childhood autobiography from the 1930s.
“The launch of the YIVO Bruce and Francesca Cernia Slovin Online Museum initiates an exciting new chapter in YIVO’s history by dramatically expanding our ability to fulfill YIVO’s historic mission through digital means,” said Jonathan Brent, Executive Director and CEO, YIVO Institute for Jewish Research.
“YIVO is increasingly using digital technologies and online learning to provide wide-spread public access to the treasures in our collections. The YIVO Cernia Slovin Online Museum will transform the ways audiences of all ages and backgrounds think about and connect with Jewish history. Much of this priceless original material had never before been available to the general public.”
The YIVO Institute for Jewish Research announces the inauguration of its landmark YIVO Bruce and Francesca Cernia Slovin Online Museum, which is being made available free of charge to the global public at museum.yivo.org.