Art Daily reports on an interesting exhibit at the New York Public Library now through November 13, on the history of the earliest Jewish settlers to America. The exhibit coincides with the arrival of the first Jews in New York City, 350 years ago. Articles include the first Jewish prayer book in English (circa mid-17th Century), and a copy of the first printed version of Columbus’s 1493 letter reporting on his epoch-making voyage ( minutes of the New Amsterdam City Council from 1654), which record the arrival of the ship bearing the first Jews to reach the future United States.
The exhibition takes its title from Jewes in America, or, Probabilities That the Americans are of That Race, a 1650 compendium of evidence that Native Americans were the lost tribes of Israel.
NYPL site on the exhibit.
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