Sophie A. Udin
Sophie A. Udin began working at the New York Public Library in 1914, specializing in foreign collections. In 1924, she raised funds to create the first bibliography of the holdings of the National Library in Jerusalem. In 1925, she took a two–year leave of absence to travel to the National Library, convincing the director to adopt the Dewey decimal system and to train the staff in library sciences. During her time there, she also helped found Pioneer Women, a labor Zionist group. On her return to the United States, Udin established and directed the Zionist Archives and Library in New York, collecting documentation and several annual bibliographic listings. She made Aliyah in 1949, when Ben Gurion appointed her director of the Israel State Archives.
Background
An intelligent, determined, career woman, Sophie A. Udin was a feminist leader and activist who sought equality between the sexes, including equal pay for equal work and equal representation for women. Channeling her campaign for auto-emancipation for all women and support of working women in Palestine through Pioneer Women, she used her organizational, public relations, speaking, writing, and librarian skills to build the organization and the Zionist movement in America and to aid Israel.
Born on August 31, 1896, in Zhinkov, Ukraine, Udin emigrated as a young girl with her socialist parents to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. At the early age of fourteen, she became active in the American branch of the Poale Zion movement, which combined socialism, Zionism, and the struggle against assimilation. Upon graduation from Pittsburgh Central High School in 1913, she moved to New York, enrolling in the Library School of the New York Public Library. She received her certification in 1914, a BS in education at Columbia University’s Teachers College in 1928, and an MLS from Columbia University School of Library Science in 1929.
Career
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Selected Works by Sophie A. Udin
“A List of References Leading to the Establishment of the State of Israel.” Journal of Educational Sociology 22 (November 1948): 239–247.
Palestine and Zionism, editor (1947–1948); The Palestine Year Book, editor (1945–1949).
AJYB 62:453.
Keren, Thea. Sophie Udin: Portrait of a Pioneer (1984).
Laznow, Jacqueline. "Sophie Udin: The American Librarian Who Made a Difference in the Yishuv and the State of Israel." Nashim: A Journal of Jewish Women's Studies & Gender Issues 45 (2025): 143-177.
Levitats, Tamar Schultz. “In Memoriam: Sophie Udin.” Pioneer Women (May–June 1960): 12–13.
Obituary. NYTimes, April 28, 1960, 35:4.
Sokoloff, Judith. “Na’amat U.S.A. Through the Decades.” Na’amat Woman (September–October 1995): 17–21.
WWIAJ (1938).
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