"HOLY LAND": AMERICAN ENCOUNTERS WITH THE LAND OF ISRAEL IN THE CENTURY BEFORE STATEHOOD

Coinciding with the 1998 fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the State of Israel, "HOLY LAND": AMERICAN ENCOUNTERS WITH THE LAND OF ISRAEL IN THE CENTURY BEFORE STATEHOOD looked at Israel through the eyes of Americans - Jews and non-Jews - from historic, religious, cultural, and political points of view. "HOLY LAND" was organized by the National Museum of American Jewish History; the Center for Judaic Studies, University of Pennsylvania; and the University of Pennsylvania Library, and featured nearly 400 objects, many never seen before by the general public. Objects included photographs, sketches, travel diaries, maps, souvenirs, promotional materials, diagrams, equipment used in archeological excavations, archeological finds, glass slides, advertisements, and film clips and stills. "HOLY LAND" was on view at the NMAJH, with one section in the University Library, and it examined the many different ways that Americans, and in particular, American Jews, have envisioned the Land of Israel from the mid-nineteenth century until the eve of World War II. It traced the growing academic interest in the ancient Near East through research and archaeology and explored the expanding interest of the general public as manifested through tourism, visual art, displays at World's Fairs, and Hollywood films. The exhibition illustrated American notions of the "Holy Land" and the ways that the Land of Israel came to represent the highest historic, religious and political ideals. Today, the State of Israel plays a powerful role in shaping how Americans, both Jews and non-Jews, understand the Holy Land. But unique American attachments to the region developed long before the proclamation of Israeli statehood in 1948. During the preceding century, a watershed of new political, intellectual, and technological developments in the West transformed long-held notions about the Middle East and stimulated new ways of imagining and portraying the region's sacred sites and native inhabitants. American encounters with the Holy Land during the century before the creation of Israel shaped expectations for the new state and continue to affect the ways that Americans understand themselves through their relationship with the Holy Land. The exhibition was comprised of the following sections: A prologue addressed the mythic stature of the Land of Israel in both American culture and Jewish traditions prior to the mid-nineteenth century. "Visiting the Holy Land" examined the variety of trips made from America to the "Holy Land" from the mid-nineteenth century until the eve of World War II. "Representing the Holy Land" explored the many ways that the "Holy Land" was presented to the American public in museums, world's fairs, and other forms of display. "Supporting the Holy Land" explored the ways that American Jews worked to support and build Palestine through charitable efforts and settlements. An epilogue examined the impact of World War II on the American and American Jewish relationship to the "Holy Land," and explored how the major themes of the exhibition figure in American encounters with the "Holy Land" in the years since the establishment of the State of Israel. "Studying the Holy Land" was on view at the Van Pelt Library, and displayed books, pamphlets, maps, and illustrations, both popular and scholarly, exploring themes of archeology, natural history, landscape, Hebrew language, Zionism, and ethnology. The exhibition was accompanied by a major publication, "Encounters with The 'Holy Land' Place, Past and Future in American Jewish Culture," distributed by the University Press of New England. "HOLY LAND": AMERICAN ENCOUNTERS WITH THE LAND OF ISRAEL IN THE CENTURY BEFORE STATEHOOD was been supported by Constance and Joseph Smukler; Jack Wolgin; Israel 50: a partnership among the City of Philadelphia, the Israeli Consulate and Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia; the Walter J. Miller Foundation; the Lucius N. Littauer Foundation; Richard Abrams; Alma and Sylvan Cohen; the Connelly Foundation; Jeanette and Joe Neubauer; Bell Atlantic-Pennsylvania; the Samuel S. Fels Fund; Dalck Feith; Laurie Wagman and Irvin Borowsky; Murray H. Shusterman; and Fran and Sylvan Tobin. The Museum gratefully acknowledges the support of The Pew Charitable Trusts toward exhibitions and programs.