Book, Artifact & Archival Donations

Do you have books, archival materials, or artifacts to donate, from organizational or personal collections, which you believe would be of use to our center and students? Are you seeking to preserve the records, artifacts, and library of a similar center or institution, which is in the process closing or downsizing?

Ramapo’s Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at wants to help!

Books from Individuals

We when we have capacity, we accept donations of books, which we then sort. We integrate some into our resource library. Others we make available for Ramapo students to take for free. (You should see how excited they!) Other books must be recycled, which we can help with as well.

When we lack capacity, we recommend contacting Book Smiles. This wonderful organization donates age-appropriate books to underserved schools. It sells select adult books to support its mission. What cannot be sold is recycled.

We currently lack capacity to receive new books from private individuals.

Archival Materials and Artifacts

The CHGS has a growing archival collection, which we use in our courses and exhibitions. Our primary interest is in materials that relate (one way or another) to our region, as our students, visitors, and partners can connect with them more deeply and with greater empathy. This includes materials from survivors or perpetrators of genocide who have spent significant time in our area. We also collect objects and documents that may be relatively common but sell for more than we can afford, such as propaganda books from Nazi Germany. Finally, we love odd and obscure materials. If you would like to discuss donating such (and other) materials, please email: holgen@ramapo.edu.

If you are in possession of larger caches of texts and artifacts or if your materials come from other regions, we encourage you to contact the US Holocaust Memorial Museum to discuss a donation. Alternatives include the Museum of Jewish Heritage and the Center for Jewish History, both of which are in NYC.

If your materials do not relate to the Holocaust, please contact us and we will work with you to find an appropriate home for your cherished materials of historical importance. Please email: holgen@ramapo.edu.

Institutional Libraries

Please contact us for a brief discussion to determine whether it would be mutually beneficial for a representative from our center to make a site visit. We would be delighted to work with you, given the right conditions and offerings. Please email: holgen@ramapo.edu.

Holocaust and Genocide Centers

Memorial and educational centers proliferated in the last decades of the twentieth century. Many are now closing as a result of shifting population centers, the loss of financial capacity, and even a decline in general interest. This can be a painful process, especially for people who have devoted their time and treasure to building something special and for families which educated generations of children in these spaces.

The records and materials you kept tell an important story about your community and how you have wrestled with the legacies and traumas of genocide. We want to help you secure their preservation.

Centers devoted to Jewish history and the Holocaust should contact the American Jewish Archives. If they cannot provide the assistance you require, contact the American Jewish Historical Society. (The US Holocaust Memorial Museum does not usually accept such materials, as their collections focus squarely on the Holocaust. They may, however, be able to provide informational assistance, should the above organizations decline your request.)