Located within the center are the Lillian Goldman Reading Room, Ackman & Ziff Family Genealogy Institute and a Collection Management & Conservation Wing.

[4][5] In the late 1980s, Bruce Slovin, then chairman of YIVO, originated the concept of a unified center where academic-focussed partner institutions could share resources.

[8] The amount was raised and donated by the chairman and founder of the center, Bruce Slovin; co-chairmen William Ackman and Joseph Steinberg; the Fairholme Foundation; and 19 other donors.

[12][13] The center is located in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood, and is a four-building 125,000 square feet (11,600 m2) campus built around a courtyard that has a central entrance on 16th Street.

The center provides access to a comprehensive collection of historic archival materials, including those of: Franz Kafka, Theodor Herzl, Moses Mendelssohn, Sigmund Freud and Albert Einstein.

[19] In addition to historical documents like the 1478 record of the trial of Simon of Trent, the center also includes holdings of artwork by Max Lieberman as well as Jewish ephemera like philosopher Moses Mendelssohn's eyeglasses.