18 April 25 • 2019
jn
New oral history website provides
fi
rsthand insight into Jewish Detroit.
O
ver the past few years, the
concept of “truth” has had less
to do with fact and more with
non-negotiable personal opinion. But
the real nemesis of truth may actually
be time. Truth has a life span. And
when eyewitness accounts are gone,
what remains is up to interpretation.
With oral history interviews, we can
preserve firsthand knowledge of events
from those who experienced them.
In an ongoing effort to make primary
resources available, the Leonard N.
Simons Jewish Community Archives
of Detroit’
s Jewish Federation has
launched a new website of its oral
history collection (jewishdetroit.org/
oral-history).
These interviews provide evidence
and context of past events as well as
behind-the-scenes knowledge that oth-
erwise might have been lost.
Take the Federation’
s Women’
s
Division 1963 Annual Meeting. Its
existence is forever part of the Archives
collection through the original invita-
tion, a bright green card announcing
Betty Friedan as the guest speaker. It
was just four months after publication
of The Feminine Mystique and a crowd
of 500 women attended. The only
written record of the aftermath was a
short note in the meeting minutes of
Women’
s Division that some women
were upset by Friedan’
s speech. Thanks
to an oral history interview, what
happened more than 50 years ago is
immortalized. We now know Friedan’
s
speech was one of derision for volun-
teer jobs that took away paid positions
for women — a belief she would recant
decades later.
The Archives holds more than 100
oral history interviews with communi-
ty leaders and philanthropists that span
more than 70 years of Detroit’
s Jewish
history. The content includes accounts
of Federation, agency histories and
personal stories about the people who
have shaped this community.
Two recent oral history projects have
added an important perspective. The
Women in Leadership project cap-
tures the oral history of the Women’
s
Philanthropy Department (formerly
Women’
s Division) at Federation while
simultaneously equalizing the voices of
a cohort historically underrepresented.
Diaspora in Detroit: the Jewish
Immigrant Experience is an ongoing
project to record the stories of Jews
who have immigrated, from their lives
in their native homelands through
their journey to Metro Detroit. The
collection touches on tales from coun-
tries like Morocco, Egypt and Tunisia,
and the events that led people to leave
their homelands for a better life.
Currently, more than 45 interviews
have been uploaded, with more com-
ing each week. Visitors can watch or
listen to the interviews or read the
transcripts.
The oral history website was funded
in part by the Ravitz Foundation and
has been in the works for more than a
year. An ongoing hurdle has been the
migration of old technology, like VHS,
to current standards. While the goal
has been to bring these interviews to
the public, a benefit has been the long-
term preservation of content originally
recorded on obsolete media. View
interviews at jewishdetroit.org/
oral-history.
Also of note, the Holocaust
Memorial Center in Farmington Hills
maintains an oral/written history of
Michigan Holocaust survivors at
portraitsofhonor.org. ■
Robbie Terman is archivist for the Leonard N.
Simons Jewish Community Archives. Her story
first appeared in myjewishdetroit.com. She is
seeking subjects for the Diaspora in Detroit
project. If you are Jewish, born outside the
U.S., have memories of your native homeland
and live in Metro Detroit, you meet the criteria.
Contact Terman at terman@jfmd.org.
jews d
in
the
ROBBIE TERMAN SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
More to the Story
Federation’
s Junior
Division on a radio
show, circa 1940s
Let
our
exper
i
enc
ed
t
eam
handl
e
al
l
of
your
es
t
at
e
needs
:
Hands
f
r
ee-
has
s
l
e
f
r
ee
es
t
at
e
s
al
es
Cal
l
Les
l
i
e
Wei
s
ber
g
t
oday
f
or
a
f
r
ee
c
ons
ul
t
at
i
on
248-
709-
9648
CHANGING HANDS ESTATE SALES
We
s
pec
i
al
i
z
e
i
n
mi
d-c
ent
ur
y
moder
n
es
t
at
e
s
al
es
changinghandsestates.com
Upscale Consignment & Auction House
too
JOIN US ON WEDNESDAYS FOR APPRAISALS
WITH TERRI STEARN!
DFAA: 248-672-3207 DetroitFAA.com
DetroitFineArtAppraisals@gmail.com
ICONIC 20th CENTURY FURNITURE, FINE-ART,
HOME DECOR & LIGHTING
NOW BUYING AND ACCEPTING CONSIGNMENTS
Tues-Sat 12-6, Sun 12-4
3325 Orchard Lake Rd, Keego Harbor, MI
248-481-8884
WWW.LESHOPPETOO.COM