[BCMA] For Immediate Release - Jewish Museum & Archives of BC Oral History Digitization Project

[Moderated BCMA subscriber listserv.]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 5, 2011

Preserving British Columbia's Jewish Voices

 

Since 1971, the Jewish Historical Society of British Columbia, led by
Cyril Leonoff and Irene Dodek, has been conducting oral history
interviews with Jewish community members to ensure that personal
histories are collected and preserved for posterity.  These interviews
are catalogued and indexed, then made available for researchers
throughout the year.  In 2009, digital excerpts of oral history
interviews were made available on the Jewish Museum and Archives
website.

The first interview took place December 10, 1968 with Cyril Leonoff
interviewing Ben Barish.  To date, the JHSBC has recorded over 700 oral
history interviews, approximately 3,000 hours, the largest oral history
collection of any other Jewish museum, archives or historical society in
Canada.  We strive to record the diversity of the Jewish people of
British Columbia - the significant contributions they have made to BC
history as well as the stories of their lives and everyday events.  We
have interviewed both Jewish and non-Jewish pioneers that have shaped
this province and community members that continue to build it.  Examples
include Muni Evers, Honourable Nathan Nemetz, Jack Diamond, Dr. Irving
Snider, Joseph Segal, Simma Holt, and Grace McCarthy. We also strive to
interview the Jewish communities outside of Vancouver - Nelson, Trail,
Rossland, Okanagan Valley, Fraser Valley, Barkerville, Prince George
and, recently, Vancouver Island and Bowen Island. 

 

The oldest oral history interviews were recorded on audio cassette tape.
There are approximately 500 oral histories on audio cassette tape.  This
type of magnetic media is extremely fragile and its existence in the
current format is nearing its end.  With an average lifespan of 40
years, professional standards recommend that magnetic media tape be
converted to a digital format before the content is lost forever.
Anxious to preserve this vital collection, the JHSBC has begun a
six-month long project of digitizing 300 of our oldest oral history
interviews with financial support from the Irving K. Barber BC History
Digitization Program.

 

The project will be the first large-scale effort to digitize the JHSBC's
Oral History Collection.  As many of the interviews were recorded
throughout the province of British Columbia and pertains to people's
lives in various countries and cities, the JHSBC collection has a
provincial, national and international interest to researchers'
world-wide. Excerpts from the digitized interviews will be made
available online at the completion of the project. 

 

To hear excerpts from the JHSBC Oral History Collection, visit 
www.jewishmuseum.ca/oral-histories.

 

For more information, or to inquire about volunteering, contact Jennifer
Yuhasz, JHSBC Archivist at (604) 257-5199.

 

Media Contact:

Molly Winston, Education Coordinator

Jewish Museum & Archives of British Columbia

(604) 257-5199 | mwinston at jewishmuseum.ca

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