Welcome to the Museum Archives of the Cofeld Judaic Museum!
The Cofeld Judaic Museum has a substantive archives. It is divided into two main areas.
WNY Jewish Archives
These archives include the papers and organizational records of Jewish individuals and Jewish organizations that were a part of, or connected to, the rich American Jewish heritage of the WNY region. There are multiple small collections and these are the processing priority for 2023.
Temple Beth Zion multi-series Documentary and Photographic Archives
This large collection consists of materials that have been transferred from the synagogue into the Museum archives as part of maintaining a permanent record of the synagogues development. It also includes items collected independently by museum staff, notably Mortimer Spiller and the current curator. These include architectural drawings, images and documents. The holdings include member donated materials and provide additional resources produced in a member-based organization. In addition, the collections includes materials compiled by volunteers and donated by professional photographers who have given copyright to Temple Beth Zion.
A substantial and separate, Temple Beth Zion archives is maintained at the University at Buffalo, University Archives: https://findingaids.lib.buffalo.edu/repositories/2/resources/632
The Temple Beth Zion Museum collection housed at the Cofeld Judaic Museum consist of unique historical materials relating to the history of the temple as well as copies that occur at the University at Buffalo (UB) along with other original materials. This Museum based archives was independently maintained by the museum, and predates, overlaps and postdates the University at Buffalo collection. Some duplicate records exist within both the Cofeld Judaic Museum and the University at Buffalo, typical of a predominately twentieth century archives. The Temple Beth Zion collection within the Cofeld Judaic Museum archival collection dates from 1863, slightly earlier than the collection at the University, and continues to accumulate through to the current day.
It is composed of books, documentary and photographic materials, and small artifacts which may be part of the core collection. Historically, documents and photographs may have been accessioned into the museum core collection and the museum archives. These holdings also include minutes, reproduced speeches, programs, fliers, compilations, manuscripts, reports, audio and video recordings, among other items.
For many of the photographs, rights have been transferred to the museum or a non-exclusive license has been granted. These include the work of photographers Paul Pasquarello and Nancy Parisi, among others. All images on this website are owned by Temple Beth Zion, and their use requires written permission of the museum curator, CEO and President. Some restrictions many apply.
