Library of Congress: Yiddish, Jewish folksongs

The Canada Collection in the Archive of Folk Culture at Library of Congress (Washington, DC) includes the three parts of the famous Ruth Rubin Collection of Yiddish Folksong and Folklore.


The collections include song title, singer and recording location.

Part I (AFS 13,504-13,553) includes 50 7-inch tapes (about 25 hours) with Chassidic, children's games and songs, ballads, humorous, lullabies, Zionist, and other types of songs recorded primarily in Montreal, Toronto and New York by Rubin with additional recordings in London, England and Tel Aviv.

Part II (AFS 14,516-14,555) runs about 20 hours, primarily recorded 1947-67 in New York City, Montreal, Toronto, London and Tel Aviv.

This part offers songs created inside and outside of America, mixed language songs, dancing and drinking songs, love songs, ballads, soldiers and wars, Hebrew, Yiddish, World War II, Yiddish art songs; songs from Europe, USSR and the US.

Part III includes 31 7-inch tapes recorded 1950s-1960s by Rubin in New York, Canada and Israel, and by Norman Cazden in Connecticut 1954-1956.

Read more detailed information about the recordings here.