Katalin Rac, PhD

Professional Profile

As Jewish Studies Librarian, Katalin Rac joined Emory Libraries in 2023. She brought to this position experience in academic librarianship, teaching on the college and graduate levels, archival processing, and academic research. Stewarding the Jewish Studies collection, she aims to highlight Jewish Studies-related sources’ role in capturing and representing both the unique and the universal in Jewish thought, creativity, and experience across the globe and throughout the centuries. Through teaching and collaboration with researchers, students, and faculty, she is eager to share her enthusiasm for and continue learning about creative and critical study and classification of sources. Her scholarly research focuses on the modern history of Central European Jewry and their transnational ties to the Americas and the Middle East. Her publications and conference presentations highlight the enduring influence of nationalism and imperialism on Jewish experiences in the Central European region from the late eighteenth century through the first half of the twentieth century. Her work contributes to the scholarship on Hungarian Jewish history, the history of Jewish Studies and Jewish scholars’ engagement with Orientalism, as well as culinary history.