Research at NYPL
NYPL Researcher Spotlight: Ariel Paige Cohen
Meet Ariel Paige Cohen, a Fordham-NYPL Research Fellow in Jewish Studies for 2020-21, and author of the forthcoming book Playing With Power: Jewish Women in American Culture, 1921-1968.
Learn more by attending Ariel’s lecture: “Feminine Power in the History of American Jewish Museums” Thursday, September 24, 2020, at 4:00 PM EST. A recording of the lecture is available here.
Ariel Paige Cohen is a doctoral candidate at the University of Virginia. She completed her Masters' degrees at Columbia University in Art History and at the Jewish Theological Seminary in Modern Jewish Studies. Her work has been supported by the Mellon Foundation, Jefferson Scholars, the Center for Jewish History and the American Academy for Jewish Research.
Tell us about your research project.
Before I explain my research, I want to give a shoutout to Magda Teter, Chair of Judaic Studies at Fordham, whose leadership in organizing this fellowship program made my participation possible. Thank you Magda! I also want to thank Amanda Seigel, the librarian of the Dorot Jewish Division at the NYPL, and Sarit Kattan Gribbetz at Fordham, whose work has inspired my own. My book, entitled Playing With Power: Jewish Women in American Culture, 1921-1968, will show how American Jewish women started a quiet revolution in objects and words by founding Jewish museums. By creating a new kind of artistic institution in American Jewish life, the four female figures in this book contested the preexisting balances of power between men and women, Jews and Christians, and hard (political) and soft (cultural) power. Their work resulted in the foundation of some of our country’s first culturally-specific museums, ones that attempted to combat anti-Semitism before and directly after World War II by narrating Jewish history as part of the American story.
When did you first get the idea for your research project?
In the summer of 2017 when I stumbled upon Frieda Schiff Warburg’s writings in the Jewish Theological Seminary archives.
What brought you to the Library?
Several of the collections at the NYPL, including the papers of the New York World’s Fair of 1939 and 1940.
How have you continued/adapted your research habits due to the pandemic?
Many people were slowed down by the pandemic because they were unable to access their archives. I got SUPER lucky because I finished all my in-person archival research just in time for COVID to hit. My biggest change is that instead of working at the NYPL or the Center for Jewish History every day, I’m writing remotely and looking through pictures of my archives at home.
What online library resources have been most helpful to you, given that so much now has to be done online?
The New York Times archives, Ancestry.com, Geni.com, ProQuest, and the New York Public Library’s many searchable Jewish databases, especially the Boston Jewish Advocate. This resource has basically written my Rebbetzin Mignon Rubenovitz chapter for me. Her story would be impossible to tell without articles from this resource, which comprise some of her few instances of publicizing her narrative voice!
What tabs do you currently have open on your computer?
Emails, Google books (with a bunch of different books open at once), a note-taking app, and fellowship applications for next year.
Have you discovered a great online resource you've never used before?
I recently discovered that the Boston Jewish Advocate is available through the New York Public Library online from home, not just on-site. This changed during COVID.
What research tools could you not live without?
Zotero!
What's your favorite distraction or snack when working from home?
Favorite snack: a big green smoothie
Favorite distraction: a call to a family member or friend
What’s the most unexpected item you encountered in your research?
I was excited to discover Mignon Rubenovitz’s writing about Elsa Einstein, Albert Einstein’s wife, who visited her Jewish Museum in Boston. Rubenovitz is one of the women featured in my book.
What’s the most interesting thing you learned from a book recently?
Lilac Girls taught me that authors can make history exciting and accessible through historical fiction. Great book!
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