The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life

The Magnes Collection is a Jewish history and culture museum in a residential area of Berkeley, California. It was founded in 1962 and named for Judah. L. Magnes, an Oakland-based rabbi, political activist and speaker. Magnes was also known as a co-founder of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. The collections include the third-largest collection of Judaica in America. The permanent collections hold over 12,000 objects of Jewish ceremonial, folk and fine art including paintings, sculpture, prints, and drawings by contemporary and traditional artists. In addition, it includes a Western Jewish History Center, which focuses on the history of the Jewish community in the thirteen western United States, and especially the San Francisco Bay Area. The Museum also features the Blumenthal Rare Book and Manuscript Library.

Having outgrown outgrown its existing space, the Museum engaged Lord Cultural Resources in 2006 to conduct a business plan analysis and projections for a new facility to be relocated in an arts district adjacent to the University of California at Berkley. Our work involved guidance on re-positioning the museum as a major cultural destination in the Bay Area.

In 2010, the collection was acquired by the the University of California, Berkeley and now operated out of the university's Bancroft Library.