Title: A Bintel Brief – Love and Longing in Old New York
Author/Illustrator: Liana Finck
Year of Publication: 2014
Publisher: HarperCollins
Why I Borrowed It/Bought It: I borrowed A Bintel Brief from my local public library because I am falling down a rabbit hole of Yiddish-related topics. This book is in graphic novel format and I had zero idea what it was about when I placed it on hold. It’s so fascinating that now I’ll be falling down another Yiddishkeit rabbit hole…The Forward.
Two Sentence Summary: The author/illustrator sets adaptations of real letters (Bintel Briefs) that were submitted in the early 1900s to The Forward, a large Yiddish newspaper in New York City, to art. The narrator has a conversation with Abraham Cahan, editor of The Forward, that sets these letters (and the responses) in quite a contemporary context. Highly recommended.
You may know Liana Finck from: her website.
“In the main branch of the New York Public Library, I found early issues of The Forward preserved on microfilm.”
A Bintel Brief – Love and Longing in Old New York
It’s fascinating to discover early issues of The Forward preserved on microfilm. Such historical archives offer a unique glimpse into the past. The New York Public Library must be a treasure trove for researchers and history enthusiasts. I wonder how these materials are maintained and accessed by the public. Do they digitize these microfilms for easier access? It would be interesting to know more about the process of preserving such delicate records. How does the library decide which documents to preserve in this format? I’d love to visit and explore these archives myself someday.