The Lucius N. Littauer Foundation awarded a $15,000 grant to Carleton College to endow the Lucius N. Littauer Judaica Book Fund for Carleton’s Laurence McKinley Gould Library. The interest from the endowment will be used in perpetuity for the acquisition of Judaica and Hebraica.

The Laurence McKinley Gould Library is an important resource for Judaic studies and Jewish life at Carleton—its Judiaca and Hebraica holdings currently include 5,000 volumes. The grant will provide resources to supplement teaching materials and encourage students to pursue course-based and independent library research. The grant will strengthen Carleton’s longstanding commitment to a permanent, high quality Judaic Studies program. The College has provided instruction in Hebrew since the 1970s, and offers courses on Jewish religious thought and practice, history, communal life, ethics and an annual introduction course on Judaism and the Hebrew Bible.

In addition, the College has a special interest house, Reynolds House, which serves as the center of activity for the Jewish Students at Carleton group and serves weekly Shabbat dinners, maintains a kosher kitchen, a library of Jewish books, and living space for students.

The Lucius N. Littauer Foundation was established by the late Lucius N. Littauer in 1929. The Foundation has endowed Judaica book funds and scholarly research on Jewish studies at institutions across the country.