UCLA's Sephardic Archive which was launched in 2015, is the first of itskind in the United States. Its focus, at least initially, will be on the LosAngeles Ladino speaking community whose pioneer immigrants came frommodern-day Turkey and the Balkans in the early 20th century. Over time thecollection will expand to include Los Angeles' North African, Persian andother Middle eastern Jewish communities. The UCLA press release states: "the collection will tell of the migration of Sephardic Jews to Californiafrom the Mediterranean, Middle East and North Africa at the turn of the 20thcentury; the shaping of Sephardic culture in Los Angeles; and SephardicJews' contributions to the Jewish and urban fabric of L.A."The first major acquisition to the UCLA Sephardic Archive, which partneredwith the UCLA Library Special Collections, acquired the Sephardic TempleTifereth Israel (STTI)-( Los Angeles) collection of 19th century rare books,photographs, papers and audio visual materials. Much of the collection iswritten in Ladino, the Mediterranean Jews Judeo-Spanish language.Los Angeles is the home to one of the oldest and largest Sephardiccommunities in the United States.To read more about UCLA's Sephardic Archive and the acquisition from STTIsee:http://newsroom.ucla.edu/stories/ucla-acquires-major-collection-of-sephardic-jewish-past[or http://tinyurl.com/zlr56hp --Mod.]