Founded in Vilna in 1925 for the purpose of studying Yiddish language and literature, Jewish folklore and history (particularly the history of East European Jewry), contemporary Jewish social problems, Jewish psychology, education, and related subjects. Since 1940, the main office of YIVO, with branches in many countries, has been located in New York. YIVO has a library of approximately 170,000 volumes in all areas of Jewish knowledge and the largest Jewish archives in the world. The archives contain at least two million documents. Much of the YIVO library and archives was rescued from the Nazi-pillaged Vilna collection with the aid of the U.S. government. YIVO has published such Yiddish periodicals as Yivo-Bletter, Yiddishe Shprakh, Yiddisher Folklore, and the English language Yivo Annual. YIVO’S branch in Argentina publishes Argentiner Yivo Bletter. Recently, YIVO has been concentrating on an intensive study of Jewish life in the U.S.