Sephardic Trajectories – Archives, Objects, and the Ottoman Jewish Past in the United States

Sephardic Trajectories brings together scholars of Ottoman history and Jewish studies to discuss how family heirlooms, papers, and memorabilia help us conceptualize the complex process of migration from the Ottoman Empire to the United States. To consider the shared significance of family archives in both the United States and in Ottoman lands, the volume takes as starting point the formation of the Sephardic Studies Digital Collection at the University of Washington, a community-led archive and the world’s first major digital repository of archival documents and recordings related to the Sephardic Jews of the Mediterranean world. Contributors reflect on the role of private collections and material objects in studying the Sephardi past, presenting case studies of Sephardic music and literature alongside discussions of the role of new media, digitization projects, investigative podcasts, and family memorabilia in preserving Ottoman Sephardic culture. 

Table of Contents:
Introduction (Oscar Aguirre-Mandujano, UPenn; Kerem Tinaz, Koç University) Part I Histories: The Formation of a Community-Led Archive Ottoman Imprints and Erasures among Seattle’s Sephardic Jews (Devin Naar, UW) “The Seeds for a New Judaeo-Spanish Culture on the Shores of Puget Sound?” (Ty Alhadeff, UW) Part II Studies: Reading the Past through the Seattle Sephardic Studies Collection From the Aegean to the Pacific: Ottoman Legacies in Seattle Sephardi Synagogues (Maureen Jackson) Walking Through a Library: Notes on the Ladino Novel and Some Other Books (Laurent Mignon, Oxford U.) Sephardic Soldiers in the Late Ottoman Army (Özgür Özkan, UW) Part III Reflections: Ottoman Pasts, Private Collections, and Family Memories Artifacts and their Aftermath: The Imperial and Post-Imperial Trajectories of Late Ottoman Material Objects (Benjamin Fortna, U. Arizona) Deporting Ottoman Americans (Chris Gratien, UVA; Sam Negri) Amid Galanti’s Private Documents: Reflections on the Legacy, Trajectory, and Preservation of a Sephardi Intellectual’s Past (Kerem Tinaz, Koç U.) Galante’s Daughter: Crafting an Archival Family Memoir (Hannah Pressman)

About the Author :
Kerem Tinaz is assistant professor in the Department of History at Koç University in Istanbul. Oscar Aguirre-Mandujano is assistant professor in the Department of History at the University of Pennsylvania. 

Review :
"Sephardic Trajectories is a landmark demonstration of international collaboration between Turkey and the United States, advancing Jewish historiography by integrating the latest digital technology to copy, itemize, and disseminate Ladino literature. Sephardic Trajectories is not a sole beneficiary of state or foundational backing, but a collective labor of love involving over 80 community members from organizations as diverse as Koç University’s Research Center for Anatolian Civilizations (ANAMED) in downtown Istanbul and the Sephardic congregation of Bikur Holim in Seattle. The collections of Sephardic material, largely originating from printers and manufacturers in the Ottoman Empire, currently housed at the University of Washington, exemplifies the potential of community-led archives." "Sephardic Trajectories represents an exemplary mix of sources and creative thematic structure....there is no doubt that this volume and the novel sources that it introduces will inspire future works in Sephardic studies. Researchers who are interested in the Sephardim will certainly find value in this book. The large swath of materials from the UWSSC and the revisionist approaches of the authors will become an invaluable tool for Sephardic scholars, in general, and historians of Ottoman Jews, in particular." "This volume spotlights a tremendous achievement: the amassing of a collection of private and communally held documents and objects that reflect what the coeditors term Seattle’s Ottoman Jewish 'afterlife' (p. 19). . . . The result is a community-driven archive that, as the coeditors note, assembles 'objects and documents that would otherwise be scattered, and sometimes lost' (p. 22). . . . Sephardic Trajectories is an implicit critique of the 'advanced civilization' approach to the Ottoman Jewish past. It seeks not the 'preeminence' of a population group, but rather new knowledge embedded within previously unknown primary source materials and their aggregate, the kind of collection that lends itself to scholarly innovation."