A Glorious Giver of History
Jay I Kislak- a little mortgage peddler from Hoboken
Jay I Kislak is one of the most glorious and generous donors to libraries and museums in U.S. history. An aviator in World War II Jay Kislak donated $10 million to the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum for the “Jay I. Kislak World War II in the Air” Gallery.1 Jay Kislak was a lifelong collector of rare books and historic artifacts focused particularly on Florida and the Caribbean, exploration, navigation and the early Americas.
Though he once described himself as “just a little mortgage peddler from Hoboken,” Jay Kislak’s interests ranged well beyond real-estate finance.2
He held his 95th birthday party on an aircraft carrier. He once nearly bought the fossil of a Tyrannosaurus rex at an auction. He later succeeded in negotiating with a German prince to buy a 1516 map of the world. Mr. Kislak then donated the map along with other documents and artifacts to the Library of Congress.
Jay I. Kislak and the Library of Congress
The Kislak Family Foundation3 is donating $10 million to create a new exhibition at the Library of Congress that will share a fuller history of the early Americas, featuring the acclaimed Jay I. Kislak Collection of artifacts, paintings, maps, rare books and documents, the Library announced today. The new Kislak Gallery will be part of a reimagined visitor experience at the national library in the years ahead.4
In 2004, Kislak first donated5 nearly 4,000 items from his collection to the Library of Congress. Select pieces from the collection were featured in a previous exhibition. This extraordinary gift to the American people included rare masterpieces of Indigenous art, maps, manuscripts and cultural treasures documenting more than a dozen Native cultures and the earliest history of the Americas.6
The Jay I Kislak Chair at the Library of Congress provides support for scholars such as the recent lecture, The Codex Huexotzinco: Deciphering a Lost World of Art to Reveal its Secret Codes.
The Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts - University of Pennsylvania
The Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts at the University of Pennsylvania advances learning and inspires discovery in Penn's community and around the world. The goals of the Kislak Center align with those of the Penn Libraries as a whole: to make our collections accessible; to use technology in innovative and meaningful ways; to enhance teaching and research; and to preserve our cultural resources for future generations.7
University of Miami and Miami Dade College
At the University of Miami and Miami Dade College Kislak identified two local partners with the ability and desire to create similarly extensive educational and cultural programming in South Florida.
The Kislak gift, representing a combined valuation of approximately $30 million, includes more than 2,300 rare books, maps, manuscripts, pre-Columbian artifacts and other historic materials.8
The Kislak-MDC-UM partnership will encompass exhibitions, research, education and public outreach, all designed to serve MDC and UM students and faculty, residents of the local community, and a global scholarly network engaged in the study of Florida, early American history, and the cultures of the Caribbean and Latin America.
National Air and Space Museum: “Jay I. Kislak World War II in the Air" gallery.
The Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum has received $10 million from the Kislak Family Foundation to support the creation of the new "World War II in the Air" exhibition. t will be named the "Jay I. Kislak World War II in the Air" gallery. 9
"World War II in the Air" will examine how the revolution in warfare that took place during the war redefined the promise and peril of military aviation. The exhibition will feature rare fighter aircraft such as the North American P-51D Mustang, the Eastern Aircraft (Grumman) FM-1 Wildcat and the Messerschmitt Bf 109 G, as well as smaller artifacts that tell the stories of workers from all walks of life that helped the United States and its Allies defeat their enemies.
National Air and Space Museum Receives $10 Million Gift From Kislak Family Foundation. The Smithsonian. February 24, 2021.
Kislak Family Foundation Gives $10 Million to Create New Gallery Exploring History of Early Americas at Library of Congress. Library of Congress, November 1, 2022.
About Jay I. Kislak - The Cultures and History of the Americas: The Jay I. Kislak Collection at the Library of Congress | Exhibitions (Library of Congress) (loc.gov)
Jay I. Kislak Collection, Available Online | Library of Congress (loc.gov)
Internationally Significant Collection Donated to Two Miami Higher Education Institutions: Kislak Collection of Rare Books, Manuscripts and Historic Artifacts Given to University of Miami and Miami Dade College. MDC News. Jan. 23, 2017.Internationally Significant Kislak Collection of Rare Books, Manuscripts and Historic Artifacts Given to University of Miami and Miami Dade College. January 23, 2017.
National Air and Space Museum Receives $10 Million Gift From Kislak Family Foundation. New "Jay I. Kislak World War II in the Air" Gallery Anticipated to Open in 2025. Feb. 24, 2021.
What a remarkable man and what a great legacy to leave!
I'm intrigued with old maps. I'm at the stage of my journey through cataract laser surgery where I cannot read anything other than a Kindle with expanding text. Next week I see my optometrist again to get everything fixed with new glasses for reading and a separate lens to bring distance into proper focus. Otherwise known as bifocals.
I look at old maps in awe, wondering how people drew accurate representations of land masses they had never before seen, as well as of areas that I thought were inaccessible at the time the maps were drawn.