A prototype of YIVO's logo—a circle containing stylized Yiddish letters spelling out "YIVO"—first appeared in 1929 on a booklet of receipts given to those who donated funds for YIVO's new building on Wiwulskiego Street in Vilna. The booklet was designed by Uma Olkienicki, a talented graphic artist who was also the director of YIVO's Esther-Rachel Kaminska Yiddish Theater Museum.

A modified version of the logo first began regularly appearing on the institute's stationery and publications in about 1937. Its style reflects two avant garde art movements of the 1920s-1930s, Art Deco and Russian Constructivism.

Click here for an animated presentation that explains the YIVO logo.

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