The Florida Jewish Newspaper Project
The Isser and Rae Price Library of Judaica at the University of Florida (UF), in partnership with the Jewish Museum of Florida and three Florida public library systems (Broward County, Miami-Dade, Palm Beach County), is working to highlight “hidden” local and ethnic Florida newspapers focusing on Florida's first ethnic newspaper of note, the long-standing Florida Jewish newspaper, The Jewish Floridian. Prior to the creation of this database, The Jewish Floridian was only accessible on microfilm and available for consultation at the Price Library of Judaica or at the Jewish Museum of Florida where it is also held in hard copy.
The Jewish Floridian was founded in 1927 by J. Louis Shochet, and its editorship was taken over by his son Fred K. Shochet until the paper was disbanded in 1990. The newspaper's headquarters were in Miami, but by the late 1970s The Jewish Floridian was being published weekly around the state under additional titles such as The Jewish Floridian: The Voice of the Jewish Community in Palm Beach County -1970-1990, The Jewish Floridian of Pinellas County - 1980-1986, The Jewish Floridian of North Broward - 1971-1975, The Jewish Floridian of South Broward - 1984-1987, The Jewish Floridian of Tampa - 1979- 1988, The Jewish Floridian of Greater Ft. Lauderdale - 1974-1990, The Jewish Floridian and Shofar of Greater Hollywood - 1970-1983, The Jewish Floridian of South County - 1979-1990.
Jewish people have been present in Florida since the 18th century; they have played a significant role in shaping the state legislature and have engaged in all levels of state life, and yet no comprehensive history of this vibrant ethnic community has been written. The Jewish Floridian newspaper will prove a vital component of this type of research and will be a key resource for historians and genealogists as well as for teachers and students.
The Florida Jewish Newspaper Project database also includes rare publications such as the Jacobean (a Miami Beach based newsletter from 1931) and the Jewish Unity a short-lived newspaper from 1933, as well as the more modern local student newsletter,The Shpiel. More Florida Jewish newspapers will be added to the database over time.
The Florida Jewish Newspaper Project database is located within the Ethnic Newspapers from Florida database, which aims to provide free access to media produced by and for immigrant communities, ethnic, racial, and linguistic minorities, as well as indigenous groups living in Florida.
Price Library of Judaica
The Isser and Rae Price Library of Judaica is currently located in the northwest corner of the ground floor of the George A. Smathers Libraries' 2006 Library West Addition, and it is built on the core collection of Rabbi Leonard C. Mishkin of Chicago. At the time of its acquisition by the Libraries in 1977, the Mishkin collection was the largest personal library of Judaica and Hebraica in the United States. Formally dedicated in March 1981 to support the teaching and research missions of the Center for Jewish Studies at the University of Florida, the Library is named for Isser and Rae Price, whose sons, Jack and Samuel Price of Jacksonville, Florida, established a fund to support sustained development of its collections. Users of the Library will find a Jewish studies collection of notable depth and scope. Its diversified holdings of uncommon research materials in English, Hebrew, and other languages support scholarship in virtually every aspect of the Jewish experience. Materials relevant to the ancient, medieval and modern periods are available to students and researchers alike, as they are to any reader who possesses a curiosity about the Jewish People, whose cultures, societies, and influences span over 3,000 years of recorded history.