As of today, about 50 manuscripts from the Columbia Hebrew manuscript collection are now available digitally, through a project with the new National Library of Israel and the Institute for Microfilmed Hebrew Manuscripts (IMHM).

The IMHM started in the 1960s, with the goal of microfilming all Hebrew manuscripts in existence.  It has succeeded tremendously, and now contains over 90% Hebrew manuscripts from around the world.  This incredible project has benefited scholars in all fields of Jewish Studies and far beyond.  Its catalog allows users one destination for searching nearly all manuscripts, and users in Jerusalem can view all of the manuscripts, be they in Moscow or New York, in Parma or Johannesburg, at the Institute.

In the 21st century, the IMHM has now moved to a new format for access: digitization.  We are proud to be able to be part of this project.

To find Columbia’s digital manuscripts, go to the IMHM catalog, choose Advanced search, and type “ny colum” as “Mss Location” and “digitized” as subject.  You can even find one of the manuscripts we’ve discussed on this blog: Indian manuscript.