Education

The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life

As one of the preeminent Jewish collections in the world, the Magnes connects students of all backgrounds with the vibrancy and diversity of Jewish life in the global diaspora and the American West through its holdings of art, objects, texts, and music.

The founding of the museum paralleled the establishment of Jewish studies as an academic field. The Magnes Collection joined UC Berkeley’s College of Letters and Science within the Division of Arts and Humanities. Along with Berkeley’s Center for Jewish Studies and the Helen Diller Institute for Jewish Law and Israel Studies, The Magnes is part of a robust center of Jewish research, scholarship, and teaching.

Memory Project

Saved by The Bay

The stories of scholars, writers and artists – many of them Jewish, related to Jews, or political dissidents – who escaped the rise of Nazism and fascism in Europe in the 1930s and ‘40s and brought their talents and dreams with them to UC Berkeley.

Memory Project

Magazine Cover Art

Digital reproductions of the front and back cover art from World Over, a bi-weekly children’s periodical focused on the intersections between American and Jewish cultures and published between 1946 and 1973.

Shenson's Kosher Meat Market

Jewish American Heritage Month

May is Jewish American Heritage Month, an opportunity for all Americans to connect with the vibrant and varied American Jewish experience.

Digital Media

Torah Pointer, Morocco

The Magnes on Flickr

Discover digital images of the material culture and objects found in the Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life.

Roman Vishniac. In Focus: 1922-2022 Panel 1 Video "ishniac’s Workshop: The Polish Republic and Weimar Germany"

The Magnes on Youtube

Find video footage, interviews, lectures, and  programming  that showcase scholarship and stories from the collection.

Shenson's Kosher Meat Market

Collections at the Magnes

Explore the Magnes’s holdings through its museum, archives, and library collections.