In 1492, Spain issued the Alhambra Decree, mandating that all Spanish (Sephardic) Jews –about 200,000– leave the country. They continued to speak a language known as Judeo-Spanish or Ladino in their new lives. The language has survived the intervening centuries, and present-day Seattle counts several native Ladino speakers among its population. Devin Naar, PhD, and the Stroum Center for Jewish Studies at the University of Washington are collecting and digitizing Ladino documents to preserve and share this unique aspect of Sephardic Jewish culture.

We developed a prototype for the Sephardic Studies Digital Library and Museum. We then conducted user testing for a web portal to lead interested researchers and community members from the Stroum Center’s website into the digital collection, which is hosted by UW Libraries. We have used our expertise in digital preservation and metadata best practices to provide project leaders with a list of recommendations.