Comments for opensource

Comment on The Passion of Things by Wilde Hunt

Wilde Hunt — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 23:11:21 +0000

I loved your blog post, what a great story. I was researching Turkish embroidery when I found it. I hope you don’t mind, I linked to your post in my own blog post about Turkish embroidery.

Thanks,
Larissa

Comment on Spanish Work: Translating the Magnes Collection by Francesco Spagnolo

Francesco Spagnolo — Fri, 28 Dec 2012 19:33:53 +0000

Thank you, Jeremy Potash, for reading this post. Especially this week, when we all mourn Ruth Eis, who passed away just a few days ago. A page on the Magnes webside includes some video of her reminiscing about collecting for the Magnes, and is available here. Ruth’s legacy remains an essential building block of The Magnes Collection, to whom she and her family continued to contribute until the very last day, as my blog post .

Let me reassure you immediately, though: you do not need to be concerned about the changing descriptors. The expression, “Spanish work,” was a pun (also on my own last name, “Spagnolo”–not “Espagnola”–which means “Spanish” in Italian…) used in the title of the post, and not the suggestion that “Spanier Arbeit” would be changed into “Spanish work.” Quite the opposite! Updated catalog descriptions will now include both “Spanier Arbeit” and the more accurate “shpanyer arbet.” The latter, which is the more commonly used Yiddish equivalent, was missing altogether from previous descriptions (along with “Spanier Arbeit”), and will now be included in all relevant records, placing the catalog of The Magnes in the excellent company of YIVO, the Israel Museum, and others.

Bringing the catalog records back to Ruth’s descriptor (the German “Spanier Arbeit”), adding the Yiddish (“shpanyer arbet”) and eliminating the confusion generated by “Spanier work” is in fact a way to ensure that Ruth Eis’ scholarship continues to benefit the community of scholars that is now working with The Magnes Collection at UC Berkeley and beyond. (Follow the activities of the faculty and graduate student working group here).

Sincerely,
Francesco Spagnolo

Comment on Spanish Work: Translating the Magnes Collection by Jeremy Potash

Jeremy Potash — Fri, 28 Dec 2012 19:10:07 +0000

I am concerned by Mr. Espagnola’s effort here (and perhaps elsewhere) to translate a well established Jewish object descriptor into what he describes as more ecumenical language because it is Germanic. In this case: the style of weaving described in the past at the Magnes and elsewhere as Spanier Arbeit. A simple translation of this as “Spanish work” does not suggest the nuances / characteristics of this particular style of uniquely Jewish weaving, long described as “spanier arbeit” or Yiddish equivalents. For example, please see http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1191&context=tsaconf (she also wrote the Yivo description with a somewhat conflicted tenor) or http://www.jewishpressads.com/pageroute.do/17496/ (the correct address for the Ita Aber article). I am certainly not a German or Yiddish expert or an expert in museum descriptors, but I watched and learned from Ruth Eis for four decades, observing her prodigious scholarship, her care to check and cross check and cross reference using international resources before she committed to the language of description. And when she didn’t know, she was the first to admit it.

Finally, as this post suggests that spanier arbeit is difficult to find on line (viz. “In 1996, The Magnes devoted an exhibition to “Spanier Arbeit” weavings (see here). A quick online search for these words will immediately show that this is a unique case.”) and my own quick online research finds that there remains a lot of uncertainty about the craft — and a lot to learn for scholars — perhaps it would be useful to cover all bases:
Spanier Arbeit/Shpanyer Macher/shpanyer arbet/“Spanish Work”.

Comment on The Passion of Things by Textile [86.42]: Wedding Dress (Rhodes, 19th Century) | ourjewishlife.com

Textile [86.42]: Wedding Dress (Rhodes, 19th Century) | ourjewishlife.com — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 07:12:00 +0000

[...] To read more about this dress and Sara’s story, please read this blog post about it here [...]

Comment on The joys (and power) of cataloging by daniela

daniela — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 20:49:29 +0000

Dear Mr Fred are you really grandson of Mr Allan? Wow!
I have just been in paris visiting the Stein Collection exposed in Grand Palais … wonderful, no words to describe it!

Comment on A Jewish Wedding? by Claire

Claire — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 08:32:17 +0000

Nice post! I really enjoyed reading it. It's quite awesome to delve in deeper into the history of those amazing paintings! Finding the artist, the origin and etc. are such puzzles especially if there weren't a lot of recorded information about it.

Comment on The joys (and power) of cataloging by Fred D. STEIN

Fred D. STEIN — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 22:21:44 +0000

I am very interested in this picture. Being the grand son of Allan STEIN.
Is there any way to ascertain its date? Because I know that they were married in 1924, not 22…
I am struck by the stern look on everyone’s face! Is this really wedding photo?

Comment on Twitter Weekly Updates for 2011-06-19 by Dr. Ofra Keinan

Dr. Ofra Keinan — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 09:03:55 +0000

My name is Dr. Ofra Keinan, an Isreli curator. I engaged in making the virtual museums to display collections online. I was very impressed of your collections and want to cooperate with you.

Thanks in advance,
Sincerely,
Dr. Ofra Keinan

Comment on My Dear Parents… by Pink Muslimah

Pink Muslimah — Sat, 16 Apr 2011 19:06:04 +0000

Lara, has Rabbi Magnes’s bar mitzvah speech been posted anywhere online? I cannot find it in simple Google searches.

Comment on The joys (and power) of cataloging by Sybella Daunt Blencowe

Sybella Daunt Blencowe — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 22:05:18 +0000

was delighted to see this photo. Yvonne Daunt was my aunt and I have very few photos of her, and none of her mother (my grandmother), so am very interested. I recently commissioned a choreographer to make and perform a dance work in tribute to Yvonne Daunt who was an Etoile of the Paris Opera Ballet from 1918 to the early 1920s. If anyone is interested more details are on my website: http://www.yvonnedaunt.webs.com