Past Exhibits
Lillian Goldman Reading Room
Mon-Thu: 9:30am-4:30pm
Fri: 10:00am-2:00pm by appointment only
Ackman & Ziff Family Genealogy Institute
Mon-Thu: 9:30am-4:30pm
Free Exhibit Spaces
Mon – Wed: 9:30am – 4:30pm
Thu: 9:30am – 8:00pm
Fri: 10:00am – 2:00pm
Sat: Closed
Sun: 11:00am – 5:00pm
Ruth's Bookstore
Mon – Wed: 9:30am – 4:30pm
Thu: 9:30am – 8:00pm
Fri: 10:00am – 2:00pm
Sat: Closed
Sun: 11am – 5pm
Make sure to check our holiday closures prior to visiting.
Last entry to the Center for Jewish History Exhibitions, Reading Room, and the Genealogy Institute is 1 hour before closing. The last call to page items in the Reading Room and Genealogy Institute is 3pm.
Russ & Daughters regulars know to take a number immediately upon entering the store. That ticket is the order imposed on what could otherwise become, very quickly, a chaotic mass of hungry and demanding customers. The ticket promises a multi-sensory experience—not just the sight of the fish, bagels, dried fruit, babka, and halvah, but the briny, smoky smells one inhales even before any food hits the tongue. The ticket also opens the door to conversation and community.
Most archives focus on paper as a form of transmission: AJHS alone has 30 million pages of documents. But a store, led by four overlapping generations of a family, is also a vessel of history, capturing century-old practices. The Russ family members relay stories of herring sellers and customers for more than a century. Knowing how to slice lox thin is important; just as important is knowing when to innovate, what to preserve, and staying attuned to customers past, present and future.
This exhibit closed on
Thursday, August 25, 2022