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 at the college and graduate level, archival processing, and academic research. Stewarding the Jewish Studies collection, she aims to highlight how Jewish Studies-related resources capture and represent 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 the creative and critical study of historical 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 elucidate 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.