“The Jewish Museum of New York in a Global Context,” by Visiting Assistant Professor of Art History Michael Feinberg, was recently published in the Oxford Research Encyclopedia on Religion.
The article focuses on the development of the museum in the early 20th century, exploring how the museum’s first leaders were influenced by a history of using exhibitions to reduce anti-semitism and preserve Jewish heritage. Created with items from the collections of the Jewish Theological Seminary, and expanded to incorporate art to reconnect American Jews to a shared cultural heritage, the museum struggled to balance its support of art while maintaining its Judaica collection. Feinberg says it “helps define Jewish museums as institutions that highlight the evolving complexity and contradicting understandings of what actually constitutes Jewish heritage.”
According to the Oxford University Press website, the Oxford Research Encyclopedias were created to help students and researchers identify what is “trustworthy, what’s up-to-date, and what’s accurate” as they navigate through “today’s overabundance of information, and misinformation.” New subject areas continue to be added to .
Posted June 16, 2025
