Barbara C. Johnson collection of Malayalam Jewish songs from Kerala, India, circa 1970s
This collection consists of seven manuscripts (six are photocopies) of collections of Jewish songs (in the sense of "poems") from Kerala, India, chiefly written in Old Malayalam. The manuscripts were given a letter-number identifier which has been maintained in the folder description. The B-series (1-6) appear to have been created in Cochin, while J-1 was created in Chennamangalam. Both regions have Jewish population elements, although the numbers have dwindled significantly as many of the families from these areas have patriated to Israel. The original texts represented in this collection may be 200 to 250 years old, but have been copied over the years into modern books. These copies appear to have been copied in the 1970s, possibly as part of a project
Archival Material, Malayalam, 1970