Keeping history and sharing stories
On November 6th, the Museum of Jewish Heritage will open the Keeping History Center, providing an interactive experience for New York visitors that allows them to record and add their own stories to the historical record. This project is near and dear to us at the Jewish Women's Archive, since we have worked since our start 13 years ago to record the untold and unheard stories of American Jewish women -- stories like the one shared in this podcast.
The Keeping History Center's first phase will feature Voices of Liberty, a "soundscape composed of diverse voices responding to arriving in America for the first time, including Holocaust survivors, Soviet rufuseniks, and others." The second phase will "allow visitors to use state-of-the-art technology to add their own voices, 'curate' their own experiences, and understand that they themselves are part of the history they keep."
Voices of Liberty is reminiscent of a project JWA undertook over 10 years ago to record and preserve the life stories of 30 elderly women from
The audio clip featured here is an excerpt from the oral history interview of Martha Finn, in which she describes her grandmother's reaction upon seeing the Statue of Liberty for the first time on her arrival in America.
Stories like Martha Finn's remind us of the value in telling, recording, and sharing stories so that they may help form a more inclusive and complete historical record. Did this clip move you or bring back a memory? Share your story in the comments.
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Before you close this article, please consider supporting the Jewish Women’s Archive and uplifting Jewish women’s voices.
At JWA, we preserve the voices of Jewish women and gender-expansive people past and present, share them freely with millions online, and empower a new generation of Jewish feminists to lead with courage, creativity, and conviction.
But none of this happens without you. JWA is an independent nonprofit— we rely on people, like you, who believe that history belongs to all of us and that the voices of Jewish women must remain powerful, and heard.
This month, a generous JWA board member will match every gift dollar for dollar—up to $35,000—through June 30. Your contribution goes twice as far right now.
Every contribution—no matter the size—helps us document, teach, and inspire through Jewish women’s stories.
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Thank you for being a part of the JWA community,
Judith Rosenbaum, CEO
