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

Rebecca Benaroya

Project
Weaving Women's Words

Roz Bornstein interviewed Rebecca Benaroya on July 17, 2001, in Seattle, Washington, as part of the Weaving Women’s History Oral History Project. Benaroya reminisces on her upbringing in Seattle as the daughter of Turkish immigrants, her family's Jewish traditions, her marriage, parenting, and community involvement.

Shirley Bridge

Project
Weaving Women's Words

Pamela Brown Lavitt interviewed Shirley Bridge on June 27, 2001, in Seattle, Washington, as part of the Weaving Women’s Words Oral History Project. Bridge discusses her family, childhood memories, education, a career in pharmacology, marriage, raising a family, social activism, and her 50-year battle with cancer.

Meta R. Kaplan Buttnick

Project
Weaving Women's Words

Pamela Brown Lavitt interviewed Meta R. Buttnick on May 31, June 20, and July 17, 2001, in Seattle, Washington, as part of the Weaving Women’s Words Oral History Project. Meta, born in Fairbanks, Alaska in 1913, discusses her upbringing, education, marriage, and lifelong commitment to preserving Jewish history in Seattle through oral histories and archival projects.

Molly Cone

Project
Weaving Women's Words

Roz Bornstein interviewed Molly Cone on May 22, 2001, in Seattle, Washington, as part of the Weaving Women’s Words Oral History Project. Cone recounts her family's immigration history, childhood in Tacoma, Washington, feeling different as a minority, education, writing career, marriage, raising children, Jewish holidays, and her passion for travel, including visits to Israel.

Carolyn Blumenthal Danz

Project
Weaving Women's Words

Roz Bornstein interviewed Carolyn Danz on May 11 and May 16, 2001, in Seattle, Washington, as part of the Weaving Women’s Words project. Danz shares her family history, childhood experiences with volunteer work, a career as a businesswoman, single parenthood, involvement in Jewish and civic organizations, and her active life, including founding the Northwest Croquet Association.

Esther Eggleston

Project
Weaving Women's Words

Pamela Brown Lavitt interviewed Esther Eggleston on April 3 and May 3, 2001, in Seattle, Washington, as part of the Weaving Women's Words project. Esther shares her family's immigration story, her educational journey, experiences of antisemitism, and her struggles with belonging in various Jewish congregations in Seattle before becoming a trailblazing female executive administrator at Temple de Hirsch, where she made substantial improvements, all while maintaining a busy personal life and active civic engagement, leading to her recognition with the Esther Eggleston Outstanding Service Award in 1993.

Dorothy Muscatel

Project
Weaving Women's Words

Roz Bornstein interviewed Dorothy Muscatel on April 12 and April 19, 2001, in Seattle, Washington, as part of the Weaving Women's Words Oral History Project. Muscatel shares her family background, her father's community involvement, her upbringing in Seattle, her early engagement in charity work, her active role in Jewish organizations, the challenges of motherhood, and her current health condition.

Blanche Narodick

Project
Weaving Women's Words

Pamela Brown Lavitt interviewed Blanche Narodick on June 6, 2001, in Seattle, Washington for the Weaving Women's Words Oral History Project. Narodick reflects on her childhood, education, professional life in Chicago, marriage, involvement with Jewish organizations, experiences during World War Two, work with the American Red Cross, friendships, and personal philosophy on life.

Mildred Rosenbaum

Project
Weaving Women's Words

Roz Bornstein interviewed Mildred Rosenbaum on August 8th and 9th, 2001, in Seattle, Washington, for the Weaving Women's Words Oral History Project. Rosenbaum recounts her journey from a childhood accident and hospitalization to her involvement in the Jewish community, her marriage, her support for Israel, and the establishment of Congregation Beth Shalom in Seattle.

Alice Siegal

Project
Weaving Women's Words

Roz Bornstein interviewed Alice Siegal on July 10 and July 19, 2001, in Seattle, Washington, as part of the Weaving Women's Words Oral History Project. Siegal discusses her family, upbringing in Seattle, involvement in social justice, education, marriage, and career, reflecting on the changing Jewish community and her Jewish identity.

Bernice Stern

Project
Weaving Women's Words

Pamela Brown Lavitt interviewed Bernice Stern on June 22 and July 31, 2001, in Seattle, Washington as part of the Weaving Women's Words Oral History Project. Stern discusses her Seattle upbringing, involvement in the Jewish community, activism in social justice causes, political engagement, and her roles as a councilwoman and grandmother.

Reva Twersky

Project
Weaving Women's Words

Roz Bornstein interviewed Reva Twersky on June 19, 2001, in Seattle, Washington, as part of the Weaving Women's Words Oral History Project. Twersky discusses her family's Russian roots, their Orthodox values, community life in Seattle, experiences during World War II, involvement in Jewish organizations, and her marriage.

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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>.