Housed in a historic Art Deco former Orthodox synagogue, built in 1936 and listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places, the Jewish Museum features 80 stained glass windows and a Moorish copper dome. The core exhibit, MOSAIC: Jewish Life in Florida, includes more than 500 photos and artifacts that depict the Florida Jewish experience since 1763.
The Museum evolved from a grassroots statewide project to retrieve material evidence of the Jewish experience in Florida [since 1763] for a traveling exhibition, MOSAIC: Jewish Life in Florida. For this purpose volunteer task forces, involving hundreds of people, were organized in communities throughout Florida. The basis of the current collection is from that period (1984-1992) when 6,000 items in the communities were identified for consideration for the exhibition. That exhibition contained over 500 photographs and 200 artifacts that were on loan. When the decision was made to create a permanent museum, each lender was contacted about donating their items to the Jewish Museum
From a collection of 6,000 items in 1992, the Jewish Museum now cares for more than 100,000 items ranging from the Museum buildings (restored 1936 Art Deco synagogue and restored 1929 Synagogue, both on the National Register of Historic Places) to a complete bound set of The Jewish Floridian (statewide Jewish weekly begun in 1928 and ending publication in 1990).
In addition to MOSAIC, this Art Deco museum also houses some other significant holdings such as:
