TABLE OF CONTENTS


Introduction

Biographical Sketch

Scope and Content Note

Arrangement Note

Restrictions

Related Material

Administrative Information

Search Terms

Box Folder Listing

Series A. Correspondence. 1950-2003.

Series B. Writings. Undated.

Series C. General. 1957-2001.

A Finding Aid to the Ben Zion Wacholder Papers. 1950-2003. (bulk 1960-1980).

Manuscript Collection No. 829

NHPRCFunding, in part, for the arrangement and description of this collection was provided by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission.

Introduction

Repository: The Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives
Creator: Wacholder, Ben Zion, 1924-2011
Title: Ben Zion Wacholder Papers
Dates: 1950-2003
Bulk Dates: 1960-1980
Quantity: 3.0 linear feet (3 record cartons)
Abstract: Writings, notes, and correspondence of Ben Zion Wacholder covering his years as a student and professor.
Collection Number: MS-829
Language: Collection material in English, German, and Hebrew.

Biographical Sketch

Ben Zion Wacholder was born in Zarow, Poland in 1924. He was a Holocaust survivor who immigrated to the United States in 1947. Wacholder completed a bachelor’s degree at Yeshiva University in 1951 and received his doctorate at UCLA in 1960. He became the first librarian at the Los Angeles campus of the Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion in 1956. After serving as librarian for six years, Wacholder moved to Cincinnati in 1963 where he served as professor of Talmud and Rabbinics and the Solomon B. Freehof Professor of Jewish Law and Practice. After publishing works on Nicolaus of Damascus, Eupolemus, and Jewish chronology, among other subjects, Wacholder turned his attention to the Dead Sea Scrolls. His work in this area is notable not only for his pioneering publications, but also for his critical role in the opening up of the Scrolls to the general community of scholars. Wacholder’s scholarly contributions are especially notable given his deteriorating vision. Upon his seventieth birthday, he was presented with a festschrift that includes a full bibliography of his writings. See, Pursuing the Text: Studies in Honor of Ben Zion Wacholder on the Occasion of his Seventieth Birthday (1996). His last book, The New Damascus Document: The Midrash on the Eschatological Torah of the Dead Sea Scrolls: Reconstruction, Translation, and Commentary, appeared in 2007. For more on the life and work of Ben Zion Wacholder, see Jason Kalman, “Optimistic, Even With the Negatives: HUC-JIR and the Dead Sea Scrolls, 1948–1993,” The American Jewish Archives Journal LXI, no. 1 (2009): 1–114.

Adapted from the H-Judaic posting (March 30, 2011) of Wacholder’s death.


Scope and Content Note

Correspondence, drafts of manuscripts, newsclippings, and research notes of Ben Zion Wacholder, scholar of Talmud and Rabbinics. Correspondence relates to manuscript proposals and publications, recommendation letters, and personal matters. Manuscript drafts include Nicolaus of Damascus and Eupolemus as well as over 30 short writings.


Arrangement Note

This collection is arranged in three (3) series:

Series A. Correspondence. 1950-2003.
Series B. Writings. Undated.
Series C. General. 1957-2001.

Conditions of Access and Use

Terms of Access and Use

This collection is open to all users. The original manuscript collection is available in the Barrows-Loebelson Reading Room of the Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives.

Property and Literary Rights

Ben Zion Wacholder, by the act of donating the Ben Zion Wacholder Papers to the American Jewish Archives, assigned all property rights to the American Jewish Archives. Literary rights are retained by the heirs of Ben Zion Wacholder. Literary rights may also be retained by specific creators of materials.

Questions concerning rights should be addressed to the Executive Director of the American Jewish Archives. For more information see the American Jewish Archives copyright information webpage.


Related Material

Wacholder, Ben Zion. "Dr. Wacholder Remembers." February 11, 1998. C-3560.

"Secrets of the Dead Sea Scrolls." December 19, 1991. VT-795.


Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Footnotes and bibliographic references should refer to the Ben Zion Wacholder Papers and the American Jewish Archives. A suggestion for at least the first citation is as follows:

[Description], [Date], Box #, Folder #. MS-829. Ben Zion Wacholder Papers. American Jewish Archives, Cincinnati, Ohio.

Provenance

The Ben Zion Wacholder Papers were received from Ben Zion Wacholder, Cincinnati, Ohio in October 2003 and the Wacholder family in 2011.

Processing Information

Processed by Elisa Ho, October 2011.

This collection was arranged and described according to minimal-processing standards. Funding, in part, for the arrangement and description of this collection was provided by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission.


Box Folder Listing

Series A. Correspondence. 1950-2003.
Scope and Content Note: Correspondence mostly relating to publishing articles and manuscripts.
Arrangement Note: Chronological by decade.
Box
1 Correspondence. 1950-2003. [19 folders]
Series B. Writings. Undated.
Scope and Content Note: Over 30 essays and drafts of publications arranged alphabetically.
Box
2 Writings. Undated. [34 folders]
Box
3 Writings. Undated. [13 folders]
Series C. General. 1957-2001.
Scope and Content Note: Hebrew Union College teaching material, Dead Sea Scrolls litigation against Elisha Qimrom, and other academic notes arranged alphabetically by subject.
Box
3 General. 1957-2001. [33 folders]

Search Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the American Jewish Archives's online catalog.

Persons and Families

Wacholder, Ben Zion, 1924-2011

Institutions

Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion
United States. National Historical Publications and Records Commission

Associated Titles

Dead Sea Scrolls

Subjects

Historiography