Thank you for sharing this, Jonathan. Barukh dayan ha-emet. Ilana was such a force in our world in so many ways, including in her amazing efforts to bring the British Library's collections to the world. She will be sorely missed. Is there shiva or condolence information?
My best, Michelle On Wed, Jul 10, 2024 at 1:03 PM Jonathan Fishburn via Hasafran < hasafran@lists.osu.edu> wrote: > Hi I just wanted to let people on Hasafran know if they haven't already > heard that sadly Ilana Tahan has passed away. She did attend and present > at, at least one AJL conference and must have been known to many members of > the AJLThis is from > Hi > > I just wanted to let people on Hasafran know if they haven't already heard > that sadly Ilana Tahan has passed away. She did attend and present at, at > least one AJL conference and must have been known to many members of the AJL > > This is from the British Library > > I’m writing to pass on some very sad news about our lead curator for > Hebrew and Christian Orient collections, Ilana Tahan, who passed away > peacefully last Saturday. > > > > Ilana Tahan joined the British Library as the Curator of Hebrew > Collections in 1989. She soon began to collaborate with colleagues across > the UK on organizing and systematizing Hebrew librarianship and curation. > In 2004, the British Library published her book *Memorial volumes to > Jewish communities destroyed in the Holocaust : a bibliography of British > Library holdings.* Ilana was part of the curatorial team behind the > Library's flagship exhibition *Sacred* in 2007. In 2008, she published > her guide to the British Library's Hebrew collection, *Hebrew > Manuscripts: The Power of Word and Image*. In 2009, she was awarded the > Order of the British Empire for her scholarship and work in making the > collection more accessible. > > > > Ilana became the Lead Curator for Hebrew and Christian Orient Collections > in 2012, overseeing the Library's holdings of Armenian, Coptic, Ethiopian, > Hebrew, Jewish language, and Syriac manuscripts and printed books. In this > role, she was exceptionally active in reaching out to communities and > scholars. She published many articles and chapters on the Hebrew > collections and undertook dozens of public workshops and presentations to > bring the manuscripts closer to audiences. Her work on the Samaritan > manuscripts in particular prompted the Samaritan Community to award her the > Samaritan Medal in 2020. > > > > Funded by the Polonsky Foundation and many others (including Rothschild > Foundation Hanadiv Europe), Ilana led the Catalogue of Hebrew manuscripts > digitisation project between 2013 and 2016, with a second phase, in > partnership with the National Library of Israel following on, resulting in > the entirety of the BL’s Hebrew manuscripts collection being made freely > available online to all, with a curated site further opening up the > collection for non-specialists. More recently, Ilana curated the very > successful exhibition *Hebrew Manuscripts – Journey of the Written Word. *She > worked tirelessly on this project, collaborating with several colleagues at > the Library and keeping a close dialogue with academics and key religious > figures in the Jewish community. Due to the pandemic, the exhibition was > open in St Pancras only for a very short period of time, but Ilana was able > to find alternative ways to promote the items in the exhibition. She > contributed to the development of a virtual tour of the display, which now > stands out as a wonderful legacy of her work on the project, and promoted > the exhibition online through high profile events, public lectures and > private views. > > > > Throughout her career Ilana was fully committed to her work at the Library > and passionate about promoting the Hebrew collections to specialists and > the wider audience through social media channels. She regularly posted > blogs on the Asian and African Studies blog, and offered an engaging series > of threads on the AAS and Hebrew Manuscripts Twitter/X accounts. > > > > Ilana leaves behind her husband, son, daughter, and two grandchildren. > > Best regards > > Jonathan > > > Jonathan Fishburn Fishburn Books 43 Ridge Hill Golders Green London NW11 > 8PR United Kingdom > https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.fishburnbooks.com__;!!KGKeukY!zDiN4ViEgvgeh0IioOzUbtqtQIoVEPCn6HIDhAQwV9q0dWEHPyJ9vAlAMpyTbwjGGQlGBUKO-jmse_0$ > > <https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.fishburnbooks.com__;!!KGKeukY!wWxN8q6fcKLlZLVMOQmLWeHvGD8HHTylL4vvY0dC4BvpxceXmZJmpAydy19wF0TMDTugL5vrfaMqsnN4hXpL339s$> > Tel +44 (0) 208 455 9139 Fax +44 (0) 208 922 5008 > __ > Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual > author > and are not necessarily endorsed by the Association of Jewish Libraries > (AJL) > ================================== > Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: > Hasafran@lists.osu.edu > To join Ha-Safran, update or change your subscription, etc. - click here: > https://lists.osu.edu/mailman/listinfo/hasafran > Questions, problems, complaints, compliments send to: galro...@osu.edu > Ha-Safran Archives: > Current: > https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran*40lists.osu.edu/maillist.html__;JQ!!KGKeukY!zDiN4ViEgvgeh0IioOzUbtqtQIoVEPCn6HIDhAQwV9q0dWEHPyJ9vAlAMpyTbwjGGQlGBUKO8qIw8zY$ > > Earlier Listserver: > https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran*40lists.osu.edu/maillist.html__;JQ!!KGKeukY!zDiN4ViEgvgeh0IioOzUbtqtQIoVEPCn6HIDhAQwV9q0dWEHPyJ9vAlAMpyTbwjGGQlGBUKO8qIw8zY$ > > AJL HomePage > https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.JewishLibraries.org__;!!KGKeukY!zDiN4ViEgvgeh0IioOzUbtqtQIoVEPCn6HIDhAQwV9q0dWEHPyJ9vAlAMpyTbwjGGQlGBUKOr9D6b6E$ > > -- > Hasafran mailing list > Hasafran@lists.osu.edu > https://lists.osu.edu/mailman/listinfo/hasafran >
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