The Life of Moses Gaster in 10 objects

As part of the Connected Curriculum, UCL Geography students have the opportunity to research and write about objects from UCL Special Collections. Last year, one student, Gabriel Pogrund, selected some items from the vast Gaster Archive, the papers of Rabbi Dr Moses Gaster (1856-1939), an important Jewish and Zionist leader and scholar.

Gabriel went on to present a session with Hebrew & Jewish Studies Librarian Vanessa Freedman at the Limmud Conference – a festival of Jewish learning and culture that takes place every December. He came up with the inventive idea of using ten objects to illustrate the many facets of Gaster’s long life and work. For the conference we had to make do with digitised images, but we gave the talk again here at UCL, with the original objects on display.

We chose a range of objects, including a commemorative coin, a pin, a photograph, a menu, a visiting card, some letters, and a book review. The UCL talk proved popular, and the room was packed with academic and library staff, students and members of the public, and feedback was very positive. This is just one example of how we use our rich and varied Special Collections as a resource for both teaching and public engagement.
You can see some objects from the Gaster archive in our Digital Gallery. If you would like to discuss using any of our material in your teaching, research or for public engagement activities, then contact our Rare Books Librarian.