Living Yiddish in New York at the Jewish Theological Seminary Library introduces visitors to rare archival materials that provide a snapshot of New York City as an important center of modern Yiddish culture. Between 1880 and 1924 approximately 2 million Eastern European Jews immigrated to the US. Many of them settled in New York City, which by 1914 was home to 1.4 million Jews, among them the world’s largest urban population of Yiddish speakers. Materials on display include examples of the ways Yiddish-speaking Jews responded to the challenges of their new home, while also ensuring the continuity of Yiddish culture.

Most of the documents in the exhibition were black and white or sepia-toned. I wanted to bring in some color and life but in a tasteful way. With the benefit of a big wall to work with, I was able to add energize to the space with a blowup of a street-scene from the Lower East Side, and pulled some bright oranges and yellows to serve as accent colors. For the typeface I used Filson Pro which has become a favorite of mine. It’s a highly readable sans-serif with just a touch of whimsy, particularly in the letter “k.” The other major challenge was in determining how to arrange a large number of documents (and their labels) in a limited space.