Generating New Knowledge: Student Discoveries at the Magnes

At the Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life, our mission is to actively engage with our holdings to generate new knowledge and understanding of Jewish cultures. Nowhere is this more evident than in our Undergraduate Research Apprentice Program (URAP), which empowers UC Berkeley students to become active partners in our curatorial scholarship.

This past semester, the Magnes URAP cohort immersed themselves in three projects, each yielding new insights into the collection and showcasing the rigor of student-led research. Their work—which they shared at their fall 2025 presentation, UC Berkeley Undergraduate Research at the Magnes, on Sunday, December 7—demonstrates the power of bringing fresh, academic perspectives to one of the world’s preeminent collections of Jewish art and material culture.

Contextualizing Roman Vishniac’s Photography Archive

One team of apprentices dedicated the semester to researching images in the Roman Vishniac Archive. Working with digitized negatives, students reviewed historical details in Vishniac’s 20th-century photographs of communities in Europe and the United States to identify people and places, uncover the story behind the image, and group them for future research.

This work led to compelling discoveries. Drawing on his interest in Eastern European Jewish history, Spencer Browning (History and Slavic Languages & Literatures ’27) shared one of his most powerful finds: a number of photographs of Yitzhak Gitterman (1889-1943), who was appointed in 1921 as director of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee in Poland and served as a member of the Jewish Fighting Organization in the Warsaw Ghetto. “When I researched him online I struggled to find many photos, so I think Vishniac’s shots of him are especially valuable,” Spencer noted, underscoring the importance of these archival discoveries.

For Milka Grenier (Anthropology and Art History ’26), the project provided a unique scholarly connection, allowing her to understand Vishniac’s work through the lens of an ethnographer documenting Jewish communities. She shared how the research led to an “unexpected familiarity with ‘vanished places’,” as she pieced together the history of streets and monuments lost to time through the intensive study of the images and Vishniac’s publications.

“Surprisingly, as I immersed myself in Vishniac’s work… I started to recognize the man through his pictures, whether through his choice of subject matter, the framing, or the few words attached to the images. I also became familiar with ‘vanished’ places, lost to the tragedies of history. These places became strangely familiar as we studied every inch of a photograph to research or confirm its location, and I found myself starting to recognize streets, signs, monuments in cities and countries I have never visited.” — Milka Grenier, Magnes URAP student, Anthropology & Art History major, UC Berkeley ’26

The Jewish Timeline Exhibition Research Project

The second URAP project tackled a cornerstone of museum work: exhibition development. Students conducted preliminary research for an exhibition slated for 2027, identifying objects in the collection that correlate with a timeline of key events in Jewish history and religion, and investigating how material culture shapes collective memory.

With a focus on the curatorial process, the student team analyzed how curators chose objects to represent complex historical narratives and how those choices resonate with modern audiences. Moving from a broad search of hundreds of items down to a small, powerful selection, their final presentation showcased the historical context of events in Jewish history/memory; in-depth object analysis of provenance, original usage, and current significance; and the ethical considerations involved in selecting objects for public display.

Researching materials related to the Maccabean revolt against Greek rule in the second century BCE, one of the objects URAP student Dena Aryeh (Pre-Law and Art History ‘27) presented was The Story of Hanukkah by Ori Sherman (1934-1988). The illustration acts as a visual guide to the holiday’s lore, depicting moments of battle, celebration, and the rededication of the Temple. By incorporating familiar ritual objects from contemporary observance, Sherman’s artwork effectively bridges the gap between the historical event as it was originally recorded and the way the narrative has been reshaped into the modern celebration we recognize today.

Audio Guide for Time Capsules

Dominic Vitz (English ‘26) studied the collections on view in Time Capsules: Exploring the Permanent Collection to develop an audiotour for the exhibition. He reflected, “Personal history shapes how one experiences a museum. Each of us will find ourselves drawn to different objects, and this will change the stories that we walk away from the museum with.” His tour reflects his understanding of visitor experience as he invites guests to look closely, reflect, and engage with the materials in the show to help them make connections between the collections and their own lives. Dominic’s audiotour will launch in the spring.

“As a history major, I am very passionate about the preservation of and increased accessibility to historical content. I am interested in pursuing a career in archiving or historical preservation, so working at the Magnes has provided me with useful hands-on experience in my desired field.” — Spencer Browning, Magnes URAP student, History and Slavic Languages & Literatures major, UC Berkeley ’27

Associate Curator and URAP mentor, Achinoam Aldouby, describes working with this year’s cohort as “absolutely joyful,” specifically praising the students’ commitment and original ideas. She highlights that the URAP program is vital to the Magnes mission, as it allows students from diverse backgrounds to provide fresh perspectives on the meanings of museum holdings while gathering essential information on objects. For the apprentices, Aldouby notes that the program offers a “great opportunity to gain more experience in researching different materials and develop critical thinking,” while fostering professional growth in teamwork, project management, and responsibility.

The contributions of the fall 2025 URAP apprentices have generated vital metadata for the Roman Vishniac Archive, laid the foundation for future exhibitions at the Magnes, and will help visitors connect with the collections and the stories they represent. We celebrate their success and look forward to the continued impact of student research on our museum and the broader academic community.