The World of Kiselgof & Makonovetsky
Online lecture series
Aug 3-7 5:00-6:15 PM @Courtyard of the Volkshochschule Weimar

Free admission. Donations gratefully accepted.

The early 20th century saw a historic frenzy of ethnographic collecting and creative work based on traditional Yiddish art and culture. Largely done with a goal of contributing to the creation of a new Yiddish or new Soviet folk culture, this work left us a significant amount of transcriptions, audio recordings, photographs and more which allow us glimpses into the lives of the past. To appreciate these materials it is necessary to understand the "who, what, when, where and why" that places both the collectors and the people and culture they documented in their historical context.

This is also the framework for understanding the very special topic and guest of YSW21, the Kiselgof-Makonovetsky Digital Manuscript Project (KMDMP). Therefore we launch this lecture series, curated by YSW Faculty Craig Judelman, with a presentation by the KMDMP Executive Director, Christina Crowder, followed by contributions from other renowned experts from around the world. The lectures will be of great interest not just to musicians and historians, but to everyone who appreciates Yiddish and Eastern European culture.

*All lectures will take place from 5:00-6:15 Central European time and be streamed online and also shown on screens outdoors in Weimar, weather permitting. The Lecture series is free but donations are encouraged and appreciated.

Lecture series speakers

August 3 Christina Crowder – Digital An-ski: A Community Expedition more

August 4 Lyudmila Sholokhova – The Jewish collections in the Vernadsky Library more

August 5 Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett – Journey of a Thousand Years: A Curatorial Tour a POLiN Museum of the History of Polish Jews more

August 6 Valery Dymshits – Jewish Ethnomusicology in Russia and the USSR in the First Half of the Twentieth century more

August 7 Michael Steinlauf – Hope and Fear: Y. L. Peretz and the Rise of Modern Yiddish Culture more