The Book Collector’s Legacy
Posted: Wed Jul 09, 2025 9:32 am
Preserving the Personal Library of Rabbi Simon Noveck
Growing up in New Jersey, Beth Noveck says she was surrounded by so many books in her home that it felt like a library.
Simon and Doris Noveck. Image credit: Reiner Leist, American Portraits
Prestel Publishing, 1999
Her father, Simon Noveck, was a voracious reader. A rabbi with a Ph.D. in political science from Columbia University, Simon collected books about Jewish philosophy, history, and sociology. Her mother, Doris, was interested in books about the arts and cooking. Together, they traveled around the world and often brought home souvenirs in the form of books, including a Turkish dictionary and a guidebook from a Jewish cemetery in Prague.
Over the years, the Novecks amassed a collection of more than 10,000 volumes. After they died (Simon in 2005; Doris in 2022), the family had to decide what to do with all the books.
“My parents had always talked about the idea phone number database of building a lending library, creating a home for the collection that people could access,” said Beth, a professor at Northeastern University in Boston.
While storing the items in a physical library was not feasible, Beth said the Internet Archive provided the perfect solution: Digitizing the collection.
Donating the collection
The donation process started by completing the Internet Archive’s physical item donation form. She then got in touch with the Internet Archive team who helped answer questions about the deduplication, packing and shipping process.
“We work with prospective donors to make sure that the valuable information in their collections will be unique to our library,” said Liz Rosenberg, Internet Archive’s donations manager. “Once we determine the collection will help add new resources to our library we help coordinate the logistics of getting the collection to the physical archives.
Growing up in New Jersey, Beth Noveck says she was surrounded by so many books in her home that it felt like a library.
Simon and Doris Noveck. Image credit: Reiner Leist, American Portraits
Prestel Publishing, 1999
Her father, Simon Noveck, was a voracious reader. A rabbi with a Ph.D. in political science from Columbia University, Simon collected books about Jewish philosophy, history, and sociology. Her mother, Doris, was interested in books about the arts and cooking. Together, they traveled around the world and often brought home souvenirs in the form of books, including a Turkish dictionary and a guidebook from a Jewish cemetery in Prague.
Over the years, the Novecks amassed a collection of more than 10,000 volumes. After they died (Simon in 2005; Doris in 2022), the family had to decide what to do with all the books.
“My parents had always talked about the idea phone number database of building a lending library, creating a home for the collection that people could access,” said Beth, a professor at Northeastern University in Boston.
While storing the items in a physical library was not feasible, Beth said the Internet Archive provided the perfect solution: Digitizing the collection.
Donating the collection
The donation process started by completing the Internet Archive’s physical item donation form. She then got in touch with the Internet Archive team who helped answer questions about the deduplication, packing and shipping process.
“We work with prospective donors to make sure that the valuable information in their collections will be unique to our library,” said Liz Rosenberg, Internet Archive’s donations manager. “Once we determine the collection will help add new resources to our library we help coordinate the logistics of getting the collection to the physical archives.