Other Projects
Crusaders Sculpture in the Land of Israel
The Carmel Forest Guest Book (in Heb.)
Other Projects
Crusaders Sculpture in the Land of Israel
The collection of Crusader sculpture in the land of Israel is the fruit of research conducted by Dr. Zehava Jacoby, of blessed memory. In recognition of its importance, the collection was donated by the family of the late researcher to the Younes and Soraya Nazarian Library, University of Haifa Library in June 2005.Dr. Jacoby was a senior lecturer in the Department of Art History at the University of Haifa from 1973 to 1999. She specialized in the history of Romanesque and Crusader sculpture, devoting her time primarily to sculptures in Israel. She died suddenly in December 1999, without completing her life's work: writing a book identifying and documenting the remains of Crusader sculpture in Israel, for which 800 photographs had been made. Most of the photographs were by the photographer Ze'ev Radovan.
The University of Haifa Library set to work to preserve the original photographic collection and make it accessible. This collection joins a number of others that have been deposited with the Library in recent years, in an attempt to preserve the cultural heritage of the Land of Israel. The Library preserves these distinctive collections by creating a suitable infrastructure and enabling remote access for retrieval of material by various segments of the population involved in different areas of research.
The original photograph collection is currently located in the Library, and has been organized into albums. Each album is dedicated to a specific site, findings from museums, private collections, research institutes, religious buildings (churches, monasteries and mosques), etc., as they were photographed according to Dr Jacoby’s instructions. The Internet site is organized according to the original arrangement of the photographs in the albums.
Most of the collection has appeared as illustrative material accompanying publications of Dr. Jacoby and other researchers. Some photographs have never been published.
In Memoriam of Dr. Zehava Jacoby 1940-1999
Zehava (Sophia) Jacoby was born on 24 January 1940 in the Polish city of Lvov (Lemberg) to Yosef Feigenbaum, who perished in the Holocaust, and his wife Ella (nee Fabian).
During the war years she was hidden in the home of a Polish woman. She was baptized, and her name was changed to Barbara.
Her mother escaped from a train carrying people to an extermination camp, and joined the partisans.
From 1945 until her immigration to Israel in 1949, Zehava wandered with her mother from Poland to Germany, Italy and South America. In 1949, she was orphaned of her mother. Later, she married David Jacoby, and bore two daughters, Ella and Avital.
In 1964 she completed her B.A. in English Literature and Hebrew Literature at the Hebrew University. She studied in the Art History department for her M.A., which she completed in 1972.
In 1976 she received her doctorate from the Hebrew University, following approval of her thesis "The Sculpture of the Church and Monastery of Anzy-le-Duc: In the Framework of Romanesque Art in Burgundy"
In 1970 she began teaching at the University of Haifa in the Art History department. In the course of her academic work, she served as head of the department from 1978 to 1982. At the time of her death in 1999, she was a senior lecturer. A Symposium on "Medieval Art and Architecture" in memory of Dr. Zehava Jacoby was held by the Department of Art History of the University of Haifa on 12.12.2005.
Zehava Jacoby z"l Publications
About Abba Khoushy
Abba Khoushy (Schneller) was born in 1898 in the town of Turka in Galicia, a region in Eastern Europe with a mixed population of Ukrainians, Jews and Poles. The Schneller family lived on a farm, and the father, who was Liba's (the mother) second husband, was a farmer. Abba was an outstanding student and athlete and was admired by his teachers. In 1920, Abba Hushi immigrated to Israel and worked in the first kibbutz of Hashomer Hatzair, paving the Haifa-Jeddah road, draining swamps in Nahalal and in agriculture at Beit Alpha.During 1927, he worked for some time in Jerusalem in a public service office. Abba Hushi then moved to Haifa and devoted himself to the port carriers' organization. On his own initiative, 500 Jewish workers of the port of Salonika, Greece were brought to Israel in 1933, and he arranged their employment. He was briefly the director of a labor office in Haifa. From 1931 to 1951, he was secretary of the Haifa Workers' Party (Mapach), and served as a member of the Executive Committee of the Haifa Workers' Council, as member of the Executive Committee of the General Federation of Workers (Arab and Druze workers - Hushi was always in close relations with them). He served as a delegate on the Histadrut's Zionist congresses in the years 1935 and 1937. In 1941 Abba Hushi appeared on the list of "very important people". In 1947 he left for the United States at the head of the Histadrut labor federation delegation, and between 1949-1951 he was a member of the first Knesset on behalf of Mapai.
In 1951, Abba Khoushy received the position of mayor of Haifa and thus replaced his predecessor, Shabtai Levi. Upon his election, Abba Hushi resigned from the Knesset in order to be entirely free to run the city. Abba Hushi was the driving force behind the establishment of Haifa University, which opened in 1967 as "The University Institute of Haifa". After his death, the university became an independent university. Abba Hushi transferred the water projects to municipal ownership, initiated the development of the chemical and petrochemical industries, initiated the construction of the municipal theatre, the Carmelit subway station, the symphony orchestra and museums, youth clubs and community centers. He initiated educational and cultural projects such as the establishment of the Faculty of Medicine in Haifa, Kfar Galim, brought writers and poets to Haifa and more. He also initiated a series of various activities to raise the quality of life for Haifa residents, the creation playgrounds, "Gan Ha'Em" on Mount Carmel and the establishment of Mother's Day on Hanukkah - on the birthday of Liba Schneller, Abba Hushi's mother.
Abba Khoushy passed away in March 1969 at the Rothschild Hospital in Haifa, as a result of a heart attack. David Ben-Gurion's eulogy included the following: "He was one of the few people who understood an important truth: that in order for a person to succeed in his work, he should concentrate on matters that were imposed on him. He was not interested only in Haifa. He was proficient in all aspects of the labor party as well as in national and international affairs, and relations with our neighbor Arabs, Druze, and Christians. The entire city affairs were on his mind as mind as mayor. There has not been another mayor who identified so much with this city. "
About the Archive
The Abba Khoushy Archive contains documents from 1919 to 1969 that were collected during the period of Abba Khoushy’s activities in Israel as a public and political figure, as chairperson of the Haifa Workers’ Council and as the Mayor of Haifa during the years 1951-1969.This is a historical-documentary archive that includes, along with Abba Khoushy’s personal collection, personal collections of institutions, organizations and companies. Some of the documents deal with security, industry, culture, education, city planning and construction, shipping and the sea, strikes, trade union, workers’ rights, relations with Arabs and Druzes, international relations, and more. Many of the documents include speeches, memos, lectures and articles for the press written by Abba Khoushy himself.
The Abba Khoushy Archive began in 1970 as a result of a joint initiative of Abba Khoushy's family, the Haifa Municipality and the University of Haifa. The archive was established in the university within the Faculty of Humanities at the intitiative of the university management.
The purpose of establishing the archive was to centralize archival materials relevant to research on the past and current history of Haifa from different aspects and on various subjects. With the growth and expansion of the archive, it was decided to make the Abba Khoushy Archive the location for archival material on the history of all the cities in northern Israel. The purpose was to prevent the destruction of valuable archival material so that researchers, university and high school students, and anyone interested in the field, could use the materials in the archives.
Eventually part of the archive was transferred to the Haifa Municipality, and in 2005 the archive was returned to the University of Haifa Library, where it currently resides in the Rare Book Room. A project to computerize the archive is under way: in the first stage all the files will be cataloged in the library's Aleph catalog, and in the second stage data will be entered on individual documents in the files. The cataloging will be alongside the physical processing of the material, establishment of preservation policies and creation of a thesaurus. In the future, we hope to digitize the documents for viewing on the archive's website.
Spinoza Archive and Safed Archive
Spinoza Archive
On July 2, 1950, the late Georg Hertz Shamkuni founded the Spinozaeum in Carmel in Haifa. The Spinozaeum was the life-long activity of Shkimoni who was a great admirer of Spinoza and endlessly tried to remove the boycott that was set upon him in order to pronounce his greatness as a Jew. The Spinoza House Library (which includes nearly 400 books) was donated to our library and is now an integral part of our archival collections. The Spinoza House materials arrived at our library in two containers: letters, press clippings, various documents, photos, postcards and more. The Spinoza Archive file cataloging process and material scanning has been completed. The pictures from the Spinoza archive have been scanned and cataloged as well. Click to the digital collection
Safed Archive
Safed archives include documents from the early 1950s to the late 1970s dealing with city development, culture, education, art, finance, military, religion and more.
As many as 161 files from the Safed catalog are cataloged. Of these, 18 are scanned and some are ready to be scanned.
Library Services
Order a Scan of an Article or Chapter from a Book
Reference Services within the Library & Remote Assistance
Computers and Technological Equipment for Loan
