Research the Collection
Research within the Spertus Museum collection is by appointment only. Please contact Arielle Weininger, Collections Manager, at 312.322.1789 or aweininger@spertus.edu.
Acquisition Proposals
For information regarding proposing works for acquisition to the Spertus Museum Collection please click here.
Requests for Images
Please direct all requests for images of works in the Spertus Museum colletion to Arielle Weininger at 312.322.1789 or aweininger@spertus.edu. There is a fee for this service.
If you are a journalist and need information or images, please visit our online Spertus Press Room, or contact Susan Baum at sbaum@spertus.edu or 312.322.1724.
Spertus Museum Collections
Spertus Museum (originally called The Maurice Spertus Museum of Judaica), opened to the public in 1968. Through our exhibitions and collections we honor the intent and spirit of Maurice Spertus who wanted to use his collection "to sharpen the memory of an incredibly rich and varied heritage in the minds of students, teachers, and the general public." Today, Spertus Museum houses one of the most important collections of Jewish art in North America, with over 18,000 artifacts and artworks spanning 3,500 years of Jewish history, religious tradition, art and ethnography.
Judaica in the Spertus Museum collection includes Jewish ritual objects and textiles from the 17th to the 21st century, from Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, the former Soviet Union, and the United States. Of particular note are:
• exemplary pieces from leading 20th-century artists and designers including Friedrich Adler, Jacob Greenvurcel, Arie Ofir, Ludwig Wolpert and Moshe Zabari
• a masterwork of the Bezalel School of Arts and Crafts—the Torah ark created by students under the direction of Ze’ev Raban
• a one-of-a-kind German Torah Ark textile set created for the three Jewish festival holidays
Fine Art in the Spertus Museum collection includes a number of pieces from the 18th century and before, but the true strength of the collection is in pieces from the 19th and 20th centuries including paintings, drawings, prints, graphics, photographs and sculptures by American, Israeli, Mexican and European artists such as Todros Geller, Leon Golub, Adolf Gottlieb, Milton Horn, Maryan S. Maryan, Leroy Nieman, Leonardo Nierman, Irving Petlin, Abraham Rattner, Milton Resnick, Reuven Rubin, Boris Schatz, Ben Shahn, Shalom of Safed, Raphael Soyer, Jacob Steinhardt, Igael Tumarkin and many others.
Ethnography and Decorative Arts compose a significant portion of the collection. Spertus Museum holds one of the finest groupings of Middle Eastern costumes and jewelry in the United States including complete bride and groom costumes from Yemen, 19th- and early 20th-century wedding dresses and a large collection of Yiddish theater costumes. Decorative textiles and rugs for domestic use from Greece, Turkey, North Africa, Europe and the United States are also featured prominently along with fine silver and porcelain objects from Europe, Asia and the Americas.
Manuscripts and Books in the Spertus Museum collection includes prayer books, Passover Haggadot, and illuminated manuscripts from throughout the Jewish world.
Historical Documents and Ephemera in the Spertus Museum collection illustrate the history of the Jews during World War II and the Holocaust, including documentary photographs, items from concentration camps, diaries, letters, passports, legal papers and anti-Semitica. Other areas of the collection document time periods and movements in Jewish culture. Of special note is an extensive collection of Yiddish cultural items including objects of the Yiddish theater, Yiddish song sheets, and Yiddish postcards and greetings cards. The archive of the Chicago Jewish artist, Todros Geller, is also included.
Coins, Medals, Seals, Weights and Stamps in the Spertus Museum collection includes an extensive grouping of 19th- and 20th-century medals, coins, stamps and plaques commemorating events and honoring individuals in Jewish and Israeli history.
Archaeology in the Spertus Museum collection is primarily from the Middle East and includes lamps, vessels, coins, cosmetic items and funerary objects dating from the early Bronze Age through the Byzantine period.
Architecture and its Decoration in the Spertus Museum collection includes architectural elements and decorations executed by famous Jewish architects such as Denkmar Adler, architectural drawings, plans of synagogue buildings and interiors, and sukkah models created by well-known Chicago architects.
Audiovisual Material collected in cooperation with exhibition programs includes Yiddish albums and other Jewish recordings.
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