Every May we celebrate Jewish American Heritage Month. The Jewish experience has long been a cornerstone of the Toledo experience. The Library has a working relationship to provide information about the history of the Jewish community with the Jewish Historical Society and the Jewish Federation of Greater Toledo. Through the Jewish population’s generous donations and lending of materials related to the community, the Library has a collection of items such as oral histories, documents, books, photographs, and more. Many of these materials are available on the digital collections section of our website.

One of the items is the book, A History of the Toledo Jewish Community, 1895-2006 which provides a rich history of the Jewish population as a whole in Toledo. The item is also available digitally.

Women also play an important part in the local Jewish community and that is celebrated with many of the items on the Library’s Digital Collections page.

The collection also includes oral and videos histories, such as this interview from 2002 with prominent Judiciary & Elected Official, Arlene Singer:

And photos such as this one of Jewish community women volunteers from about 1950:

And this photo of the Toledo Jewish Community Center and USO welcoming home World War II soldiers, from around 1944:

If you have questions about our collection, contact the Local History and Genealogy Department at Main Library at 419-259-5233. If you have memorabilia, books, photographs, or documents showing the Jewish community in all its richness that you would like to donate to us or lend us for digitization purposes please contact the us at the same number.