Oral History Collection

The Nicki Newman Tanner

Oral History Collection

As part of JWA’s mission to expand the narrative of Jewish history, we have collected and recorded hundreds of interviews with leaders, activists, and community members across the United States, documenting their encounters with major events and movements of the 20th and 21st centuries and the many ways that gender, class, place, and religious and ethnic identities have shaped women’s lives. With generous support from Nicki Newman Tanner,  Mass Humanities, and the National Endowment for the Humanities, we are proud to make these interviews and transcripts available to the public. All entries include transcripts; audio or video recordings are also available where narrator permissions allow. 

More about the collection

Ruth Abrams

Project
Women Who Dared

Judith Rosenbaum interviewed Judge Ruth Abrams on July 25, 2001, in Boston, Massachusetts, as part of the Women Who Dared Oral History Project. Judge Abrams explores her family, education, career path, focus on gender issues, and notable legal cases in an interview.

Ann Abrams

Project
Ga’avah: LGBTQ+ Jews

Nicole Zador interviewed Ann Abrams on November 15, 2022, in Boston, Massachusetts as part of the Ga'avah LGBTQ+ Jews project. Ann details her upbringing in the Conservative movement during the late 50s and 60s, her journey of coming out, her influential role as the Temple Israel librarian supporting the LGBTQ+ community, her passion for musical parodies, co-authoring a book of Jewish folk songs for peace, and meeting her wife while working at the temple, reflecting on her life, family, and professional endeavors.

Frances Addelson

Project
Women Whose Lives Span the Century

Rochelle Ruthchild interviewed Frances Addelson on October 18, November 14, and December 10, 1997, in Boston, Massachusetts, as part of the Women Whose Lives Spanned The Century Oral History Project. Addelson shares her life journey from childhood experiences in a Jewish orphanage in Boston to her education at Radcliffe College, a career in social work, and active involvement in social justice, despite not being particularly religious, until an accident in the late 1990s.

Bessie Berman

Project
Women Whose Lives Span the Century

Betsy Friedman Abrams interviewed Bessie Berman on December 10, 1996, in Boston, Massachusetts, as part of the Women Whose Lives Spanned The Century Oral History Project. Berman explains her introduction to Temple Israel, her roles and responsibilities, her relationship with her coworkers and the rabbis, and how her career unfolded over fifty years with Temple Israel.

Gilda Bruckman

Project
Ga’avah: LGBTQ+ Jews

Nicole Zador interviewed Gilda Bruckman on November 10, 2022 in Boston, Massachusetts as part of the Ga'avah LGBTQ+ Jews project. In this interview, Gilda discusses her upbringing, connection to the Jewish community, coming out experience, co-founding of the book store New Words and its evolution into a non-profit, as well as her extensive involvement in various volunteer programs and organizations, highlighting how her research into her family history as well as her relationship with her partner, Judy Wachs, strengthened her bond with Judaism.

Peggy Charren

Project
Women Who Dared

Judith Rosenbaum interviewed Peggy Charren on July 23, 2001, in Boston, Massachusetts, as part of the Women Who Dared Oral History Project. Charren talks about her family background, her advocacy for children's television programming through Action for Children's Television (ACT), her passion for literature, her marriage, and her reflections on her life and activism, including receiving prestigious honors.

Marjorie Edenfeld

Project
Women Whose Lives Span the Century

Frances Godine interviewed Marjorie Loeb Edenfield on October 31, 1997, in Boston, Massachusetts, as of the Women Whose Lives Spanned the Century Oral History Project. Edenfield reflects on her late accomplishments, experiences of identity, family dynamics, religious affiliation, motherhood, and career at Filene's, and contemplates friendship, spirituality, and gratitude.

Martha Finn

Project
Women Whose Lives Span the Century

Ellen Meisel interviewed Martha Goldstein Finn on January 13th, 1997 in Boston Massachusetts as part of the project Women Whose Lives Span the Century. Finn discusses her early life in Dorchester, her college experience in the 1920s and 1930s, the challenges faced by women in the workforce at the time, her family life, including adopting a child, and her involvement in volunteer and community work, particularly with ORT and Temple Israel.

Barbara Gaffin

Project
Women Who Dared

Judith Rosenbaum interviewed Barbara Gaffin in Boston, Massachusetts on July 11, 2000, as part of the Women Who Dared Oral History Project. Gaffin, raised in a Jewish community, recounts her career in Jewish organizations, her perspective on the relationship between American Jews and Israel, her work in Ethiopia, and the prejudice and contradictions she encountered while helping others.

Hulda Gittelsohn

Project
Women Whose Lives Span the Century

Betsy Abrams and Bobbie Burstein interviewed Hulda “Bubbles” Gittelsohn on June 20, 1997, in Boston, Massachusetts, as part of the Women Whose Lives Spanned The Century Oral History Project. Gittelsohn discusses her family heritage, childhood religious customs, experiences at Temple and Wellesley College, family tragedies, finding support in Temple Israel, her travels around the world, and her life in a retirement community.

Priscilla Golding

Project
Ga’avah: LGBTQ+ Jews

Nicole Zador interviewed Priscilla Golding on November 9, 2022 in Boston, Massachusetts as a part of the Ga'avah: LGBTQ+ Jews project. Priscilla recounts her family history, upbringing in Boston, higher education experiences, her brother's AIDS battle, her coming out journey and its reception, involvement with Am Tikva and outreach to synagogues, memories of the International Congress of Gay and Lesbian Jews, and reflections on the changes within the queer community, including her relationship and marriage to Barbara Berg.

Irene Goldman

Project
Women Whose Lives Span the Century

Helene Bailen interviewed Irene Goldman on December 20, 1997, in Boston, Massachusetts, as part of the Women Whose Lives Spanned The Century Oral History Project. Goldman discusses her upbringing, her parents' business, her education at Mt. Ida Junior College, raising a family, her involvement in volunteerism, and their Jewish customs and affiliations.

Florence Gross

Project
Women Whose Lives Span the Century

Rachel Alexander interviewed Florence Gross on July 11, 1997, in Boston, Massachusetts, as part of the Women Whose Lives Spanned The Century Oral History Project. Gross shares her family history, childhood memories, career path as a social worker, marriages, volunteering experiences, and her lifelong connection to Temple Israel, reflecting on the role of Judaism in her life.

Judith Hirschfield-Bartek

Project
Women Who Dared

Judith Rosenbaum interviewed Judi Hirshfield-Bartek in Boston, Massachusetts, as part of the Women Who Dared Oral History Project. Hirshfeld-Bartek, an oncology nurse, discusses her activism in breast cancer research funding, influenced by her Jewish upbringing and family's philanthropic values, as well as her lobbying efforts for increased funding.

Anne A. Jackson

Project
Women Whose Lives Span the Century

Pam Goodman and Fran Putnoi interviewed Anne A. Jackson on February 4 and May 19, 1997, in Boston, Massachusetts, as part of the Women Whose Lives Spanned The Century Oral History Project. Jackson recounts her personal journey, including her close relationship with her sister and the impact of her death, her experiences during the war years, raising her children, and her lifelong passion for art.

Ruth Steller Klein

Project
Women Whose Lives Span the Century

Frances Godine interviewed Ruth Stellar Klein on May 30, 1997, in Boston, Massachusetts, as part of the Women Whose Lives Spanned The Century Oral History Project. Klein shares her deep connection to Temple Israel, her musical background, family life, experiences during World War II, discrimination faced, and her passion for education and teaching.

Jeanette Simon

Project
Women Whose Lives Span the Century

Frances Godine interviewed Jeanette Simon on October 7 and February 7, 1998, in Boston, Massachusetts, as part of the Women Whose Lives Spanned the Century Oral History Project. Simon shares her memories of growing up during the Great Depression, her education at Wellesley College, and her active life, including her involvement in a women's investment club and her connection to Judaism.

Judy Somberg

Project
Women Who Dared

Judith Rosenbaum interviewed Judy Somberg on July 18, 2000, in Boston, Massachusetts, as part of the Women Who Dared Oral History Project. Somberg recounts her activism through the years, reflecting on her involvement in anti-war movements, women's rights, and the Cambridge Sister City Project, advocating for human rights and supporting affected communities.

Andrea Waldstein

Project
Soviet Jewry

Georgia Westbrook and Alexandra Kiosse interviewed Andrea Waldstein on July 14, 2016, in Boston, Massachusetts, as part of the Soviet Jewry Oral History Collection. Waldstein explores her family's Ukrainian roots, her Jewish upbringing in Massachusetts, her involvement in the Soviet Jewry Movement, and her reflections on Jewish identity and women's issues.

Judith Wolf

Project
Women Who Dared

Julie Johnson interviewed Judith Wolf on February 23, 2005, in Boston, Massachusetts, as part of the Women Who Dared Oral History Project. Wolf reflects on her Jewish upbringing, volunteer work, religious schooling, and efforts to establish educational resources for disabled children in Ukraine, emphasizing the role of women and Jewish values in her life.

Rebecca Young

Project
Women Who Dared

Judith Rosenbaum interviewed Rebecca Young on January 29, 2002, in Boston, Massachusetts, as part of the Women Who Dared Oral History Project. Young reflects on her upbringing in poverty, the loss of her mother, the reconnection to her Jewish identity, her activism in prison reform and prisoners' rights, and her involvement in various social causes including women's rights, anti-poverty, and anti-apartheid.

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How to cite this page

Jewish Women's Archive. "Oral History Collection." (Viewed on June 13, 2026) <https://qa.jwa.org/oralhistories>.