Add color to the New Year!

The National Library of Israel is home to millions of books, manuscripts, archives, newspapers, musical materials, and posters, as well as over two million photographs of the Land of Israel and the State of Israel that represent cultural treasures of the nation.

In honor of the Jewish New Year, we have selected eight special pictures from among the Library’s collections, photographs that present the Israel of days past.

Most of these photographs are from the Dan Hadani Archive - IPPA (the Israel Press and Photo Agency), a spectacular collection that includes photo-documentation of the State, Israeli society, and Israeli culture over the course of almost forty years. The Dan Hadani Collection is viewable in digital format through the NLI website.

To see the complete collection >>

The final photograph documents a different historic occurrence – the preparation and sorting of the National Library’s collection of books, ahead of the move to the Library’s new building on the Givat Ram campus in 1960. Jerusalem photographer David Harris, one of the most important photographers who worked in Israel after the founding of the State, was invited to immortalize this transition. Now, in another few years, the books will be packed up again in preparation for the move to the National Library of Israel’s new 21st century home.

Happy New Year!