The collections of the Judah L. Magnes Museum, one of the world’s top collections on Jewish life and history, is moving to the University of California, Berkeley.
The 10,000-piece collection, including music, art, rare books and historical archives, will move to the university over the summer and open in a renovated building in downtown Berkeley in the fall, according to the UC Berkeley News.
The museum, which was founded in 1961, announced the move Monday.
Five years of gifts totaling $2.5 million from philanthropists Warren Hellman, Tad Taube and the Koret Foundation is financing the move, the university said.
The museum’s name will change to the Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life at the Bancroft Library.
The Magnes’ Western Jewish History Archives, the world’s largest collection of letters, diaries, photographs and other archival documents relating to the Jewish settlement of the West, will move into the Bancroft Library, according to the university. Musical manuscripts and sheet music will be housed at the Jean Gray Hargrove Music Library.
A building in Berkeley’s arts and commerce district also will be renovated for the collection to include a lecture room, seminar rooms and exhibition space for the museum’s prints, paintings, photographs, costumes and Jewish ceremonial objects.
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