To celebrate Jewish American Heritage Month, UC Irvine Libraries have gathered a partial list of available resources, media (both fiction and nonfiction), and books within the Libraries that help document and honor the works of Jewish Americans.

Although some materials are only accessible to faculty, staff, and students with a valid UCInetID, many of these resources are open to the public and all are available throughout the year as part of UC Irvine Libraries’ ongoing effort to foster learning and increase access to a wide variety of scholarship.

For research help with Jewish American studies, contact Research Librarian for Interdisciplinary Studies Melissa Beuoy at mbeuoy@uci.edu or explore our complete list of Research Guides.

Orange County Holocaust Oral History Project

As part of a UC Irvine Libraries collaboration with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM), a complete set of more than 150 firsthand accounts of Orange County residents who experienced the Holocaust is now available and searchable online. Between 1992 and 1995, the Orange County / Long Beach Chapter of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) recorded the oral histories in this collection. Most of the interviewees are Jewish survivors whose experiences included forced and voluntary emigration, death camps, forced labor, hiding, and resistance. The interviews also include five “liberators” (American military who witnessed the concentration camps following liberation) and three “rescuers” (who risked their lives to protect Jews during the war).

View the Libraries’ online catalog records for a complete list of interviews. Additional information is available in the project's Collection Guide.

Online Resources

• Jewish studies documentary collection on Docuseek (requires UCInetID login)
• Judaism documentary collection on Docuseek (requires UCInetID login)
• Jewish American film collection on Kanopy (requires UCInetID login)
• Jewish cinema film collection on Kanopy (requires UCInetID login)
• Americans and the Holocaust traveling exhibit and related resources: Hosted by UC Irvine Libraries in 2022, this USHMM traveling exhibition examined the motives, pressures, and fears that shaped Americans’ responses to Nazism, war and genocide in Europe during the 1930s and 1940s. Online resources include recorded online discussions with author and anti-Semitism expert Deborah Lipstadt, Holocaust survivor Solange Pullman-Fisch, and other national figures as well as the Snapshots of Orange County in the 1940s: Spaces, Places, Faces companion online exhibit, which explores the cultural, economic, and political landscape of Orange County from its inception through World War II.
• Index to Jewish Periodicals: An index on Jewish history, activity and thought, this database provides a guide to English-language articles, book reviews, and feature stories in journals devoted to Jewish affairs.

Recent Book Acquisitions

• Bob Dylan: Jewish Roots, American Soil, 2025, by Harry Freedman, traces the heady atmosphere of the 1960s and the folk-rock revolution spearheaded by Dylan, exploring how his musical decisions, genius for reinvention and his Jewishness go inescapably hand in hand.
• Broadway Nation: How Immigrant, Jewish, Queer, and Black Artists Invented the Broadway Musical, 2025, by David Armstrong, celebrates the remarkable artistry and craftsmanship of key figures who have left an indelible mark on an extraordinary cultural phenomenon.
• Devoted Resistance: Jewish Feminist Art in the US and Israel, 2025, by David Sperber, examines the contribution of the feminist art movement that has developed in traditional Jewish spheres since the late 1990s in the United States and Israel.
• Fear No Pharoah: American Jews, the Civil War, and the Fight to End Slavery, 2025, by Richard Kreitner, tells the intertwined stories of six American Jews who helped to shape a tumultuous time and illuminates the shifting dynamics of Jewish life in America ― and the debates about religion, morality, and politics that endure to this day.
• The Jewish Legal Tradition, 2025, edited by Ari Mermelstein, Suzanne Last Stone, and Yair Lorberbaum, provides an in-depth exploration of the Jewish legal tradition, or halakhah, through the lens of modern legal philosophy.
• Jewish Philosophy: The Basics, 2026, by T.M. Rudavsky, introduces students and interested readers to 2,000 years of Jewish philosophy, from its earliest inception to the current era.
• A Lingering Legacy: The Afterlife of Yiddish in German-Jewish Culture, 1818–1938, 2026, by Aya Elyada, explores a unique and under-researched chapter in German-Jewish cultural history: the engagement of German-speaking Jewish authors, scholars, and intellectuals with their Yiddish literary heritage. 
• Place Envy: Essays in Search of Orientation, 2026, by Michael Lowenthal, describes the journey of a queer Jewish writer, searching for belonging across countries, identities, and histories in a moving collection of essays about orientation and home.
• Playmakers: The Jewish Entrepreneurs Who Created the Toy Industry in America, 2026, by Michael Kimmel, reveals how the toy industry created the idealized American childhood: an enchanted world of wild creatures and eternal struggles between good and evil.
• Sisters in Science: How Four Women Physicists Escaped Nazi Germany and Made Scientific History, 2026, by Olivia Campbell, brings four trailblazing women to life and shows us how sisterhood and scientific curiosity can transcend borders and persist in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds.

Diversity of UC Irvine Libraries’ Collections

UC Irvine Libraries collect materials in all formats to support the university’s research, teaching, and public service mission.

We believe it is crucial that our collections reflect the diversity of our students, faculty, staff, and larger Orange County community. Thus, we are making an effort to collect materials that consider the needs and perspectives of historically underrepresented, marginalized, and oppressed groups. For more information, please refer to our Diversity Statement and Plan.

For additional information about UC Irvine Libraries’ efforts to celebrate diversity in its users, staff, collections, and resources, visit the UC Irvine Libraries Diversity webpage.