The Penny Rubinoff Fellowship
A Paid Internship for Community Archivists
When a community preserves its history, it demonstrates that its heritage is valued and essential to its collective present and future. For over 45 years, the OJA has been ensuring that the history of Ontario Jewry is collected, preserved, and shared back with the community it represents. The OJA seeks to provide equitable access to information, to represent a diversity of voices and experiences from the entire community, to ensure the Jewish experience is part of the larger local, provincial, and Canadian narrative, and to provide a space for the Jewish community to connect to its history in an inclusive setting. This is accomplished through collection development initiatives, research assistance, public programs, school and university partnerships, exhibitions, online resources, and walking tours.
The OJA serves as a model to other communities exploring ways of preserving their histories and assembling and building their archives. Today, the field of study on community archives is growing and as a result, students graduating from archives programs are choosing to specialize in this area. The Penny Rubinoff Fellowship provides a 4-month paid fellowship to a recent graduate of a Master’s-level archives program who has a demonstrated interest in community archives. This fellow has the opportunity to dive into a deeply meaningful archival role gaining experience in all components of the archival field, with a lens on the community archives. They will put into practice the archival theory they have studied and see up close how a community archives engages with its researchers, donors and other stakeholders. In addition to mentoring the next generation of young archivists, this reciprocal learning opportunity directly benefits the OJA through the fresh perspectives and insights brought by the fellow, inspiring new ways of thinking about our work.
This position is generously-supported by OJA board member and friend, Penny Rubinoff.