A collection of 10,000 music manuscripts, paintings, sculptures, diaries, letters, photographs and other Jewish historical and cultural items will move from the Judah L. Magnes Museum to the University of California, Berkeley.
The Magnes Museum’s collection will be housed in various places on and near Cal’s campus, including a renovated building at 2121 Allston Way. Work on that structure will be paid for by donors to the Magnes Museum.
Gifts totaling $2.5 million over five years from Warren Hellman, Tad Taube and the Koret Foundation will help pay for the transfer of the collection.
The museum will change its name to the Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life at the Bancroft Library.
The Bancroft Library is U.C. Berkeley’s collection of rare books and many other types of artifacts.
Music manuscripts from the Magnes collection will go to Cal’s Jean Gray Hargrove Music Library.
The Magnes Museum, started in 1961, is at 2911 Russell Street, on a leafy, residential Berkeley road blocked at one end by traffic barriers. Pedestrians along the sidewalk there are sometimes surprised to come upon a small sign marking the presence of a museum.
The museum had planned in the past for a move to downtown Berkeley. It was heading to a 35,000-square-foot space at 2222 Harold Way and hoped to open next year. But the museum had to scale back its fundraising further even than it expected.
Charles Faulhaber, director of the Bancroft Library, said the move will give the collection more public visibility.
Some items in the museum date back to the 15th century.
The transfer of the collection will take place over the summer.
Autograph Article 
