Construction scheduled for Center for Jewish History.

A construction and renovation program is scheduled to begin in June on the building at 15 West 16th Street in Manhattan that will become The Center for Jewish History - a facility devoted to the advancement of Jewish scholarship, art and culture.

The building and its adjacent 12-story landmark structure on West 17th Street will be occupied by four leading Jewish cultural and educational institutions-The American Jewish Historical Society; The Leo Baeck Institute; YIVO Institute for Jewish Research; and the Yeshiva University Museum.

Lehrer, McGovern, Boris is the contractor for the construction and renovation program, which will result in an imposing 105,000 square-foot building that will house more than 80 million archival items, a library of over 500,000 volumes and close to 10,000 artifacts and art works.

The building is being designed by the architectural firm of Beyer Blinder Belle New York.

The complex was acquired for $4.25 million from the American Foundation for the Blind. A $35 million campaign is underway to support the renovation program, as well as the operations of the center.

Bruce Slovin, chairman of the Board of YIVO, said the unique enterprise will enable the participating institutions to better serve their respective constituencies. The Center will attract a wide array of scholars and students working in the field of Jewish studies, Jewish arts, and in modern Jewish history, as well as general museum audiences.

It is expected the Center will be working together with various colleges and universities in the Metropolitan New York and tri-state areas.

Conceived as a state-of-the-art facility for documentation, preservation, research, teaching, and exhibition, The Center for Jewish History will gather at a single address millions of books, documents, objects and works of art that dramatically represent the legacy of the Jewish people.

Each of the four institutions, brought together through the combined leadership of prominent members of today's academie and philanthropic Jewish communities, has made a singular contribution to the cultural and historical legacy of the Jewish people.

Founded in 1892, the American Jewish Historical Society is the oldest national ethnic or religious historical organization in the United States and has amassed the world's largest collection of documents pertaining to American Jewish life and history.

The Society is currently located on the campus of Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts, where its collections include more than 40 million archival documents and 30,000 books that date back to the proceedings against the Jews in the 16th century Mexican Inquisition.

Among its most dramatic holdings is the hand-written original of Emma Lazarus's famous poem, "The New Colossus," whose invitation to Europe's "tired, poor, huddled masses, yearning to breathe free" is inscribed on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty.

The Leo Baeck Institute is a research, study and lecture center, a museum, a library and archives devoted to the history of German-speaking Jewry, from early times until its tragic destruction by the Nazis. Founded in 1955, it is named after the leading liberal Jewish religious thinker of his time, the Rabbi who was the spiritual leader of German-Jewry during the Nazi period.

The 60,000 volume library of the New York LBI is recognized as the foremost reference source in its field. The Institute also has affiliates in Jerusalem and London. The Baeck Archives constitute the most outstanding documentation center of its kind in the world. Individuals, families, and organizations have deposited their papers, memoirs, personal and historical treasures here. Supplementing these materials is an important collection of more than 30,000 photographs, and a large and diverse art collection.

The YIVO Institute for Jewish Research was founded 70 years ago to record the history and pioneer in the critical study of the language, literature and culture of the Jews of Eastern Europe. At the time of YIVO's founding, Vilna was the intellectual capital of the Jewish world, and was called the "Jerusalem of Lithuania." YIVO soon became known the world over as the "Yiddish University of the Jewish People."

At its current headquarters at 555 West 57th Street, YIVO maintains an archive and library comprised of more than 22 million documents and 350,000 volumes - the world's largest collection documenting the civilization of Eastern European Jewry before the Holocaust.

The Yeshiva University Museum, now located on the University's main campus in Washington Heights, presents changing exhibitions which explore the diversity of Jewish life. The Museum's comprehensive historical exhibitions and displays of contemporary art attract tens of thousands of visitors each year. An active schedule of programs and hands-on workshops serve adults and children from the tri-state area.

Highlights of the permanent collection include architectural models of historic synagogues, ceremonial objects that had been confiscated by the Nazis and later rescued (by the Jewish Cultural Reconstruction Agency) and a collection of art works, textiles and costumes from Jewish communities throughout the world, and Thomas Jefferson's hand-written letter decrying anti-Semitism.

Plans call for The Center for Jewish History to serve the general community through the following:

* Specialized graduate and post-graduate studies programs in cooperation with the world's leading universities.

* Annual fellowships for a select group of outstanding scholars working in the field of Jewish studies.

* Major gallery exhibitions featuring some of the world's most important and unusual examples of Judaic objects and art.

* The publication of important works of contemporary original scholarship and art catalogs.

* Programs and workshops for all ages including lectures, films, symposia, live performances, family crafts workshops, guided tours, and continuing education classes.

* Other Jewish institutions will be able to use The Center to house their archival materials.

Programs that take place at The Center will be under the auspices of the four institutions, either independently or jointly.