Jewish Women's Archive

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The Jewish Women's Archive ( JWA , German  Jewish woman archive ) is a 1995 Brookline (Massachusetts) based virtual museum and archive , which has set itself the task of the history of Jewish women with a focus in the US and Jewish women's history to uncover, document and to make it available to the general public. His work includes research, oral history projects, a historical encyclopedia , curriculum and educational material development, exhibitions and the organization of community events. A growing collection of content that can be used free of charge is being prepared for the JWA website.

History and organization

The Jewish Women's Archive is an American non-profit organization and is financed by donations. The founder and managing director is Gail Twersky Reimer (born 1950), who was inspired by her mother Natalia, who was born in Kraków and who survived the Holocaust. She received her PhD in English and American Literature from Rutgers University and in 1994 was with Judith Kates editor of essays by Jewish women writers on the Book of Ruth , which led to the idea of ​​the JWA. The JWA website was set up in 1998. The Jewish Women's Archive works with the Haddassah-Brandeis Institute at Brandeis University , which is dedicated to thinking about Jews and gender and brings together Jewish women scholars from around the world at conferences reporting on the situation of Jewish women in their countries. The JWA's Scientific Advisory Board is chaired by Joyce Antler, Professor of American Jewish History and Culture and Women's and Gender Studies at Brandeis University.

Content and projects

encyclopedia

The encyclopedia consists of 1,700 biographies and 300 essays on the life and achievements of Jewish women and other subjects, as well as 1,400 historical photographs and illustrations. It was edited by Paula Hyman (1946–2011), Professor of Modern Jewish History at Yale University , and the historian Dalia Ofer of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem .

Curricula and educational resources

The Living the Legacy curriculum focuses on the often neglected but central role of Jewish women in the civil rights and labor movement in the United States . Additional educational resources include 18 Go & Learn lesson plans, book and film guides, primary source material including 800 digitized images, and materials for a mother-daughter workshop.

Exhibitions

Katrina's Jewish Voices

The oral history project Katrina's Jewish Voices documents the experiences of the Jewish community during and after Hurricane Katrina with photos, blog posts, podcasts and e-mails . It was produced in collaboration with the Center for History and New Media at George Mason University and the Institute for Southern Jewish History . The JWA conducted 85 interviews with members of the New Orleans and Baton Rouge Jewish community who are included in the exhibition.

Photo in the JWA holdings:
Emma Goldman is expelled from the USA in 1919 .

Jewish Women and the Feminist Revolution

The virtual exhibition Jewish Women and the Feminist Revolution documents the key role of Jewish women in the American women's movement. Life stories, personal testimonies and historical documents about activists, theorists, writers and artists are presented. Four decades of history of the women's movement in which Jewish feminists were active and how they changed American society can be traced on a timeline from the 1960s to the end of the twentieth century.

Women of Valor

The Women of Valor collection documents in pictures and a variety of primary sources the lives of 16 Jewish women who with courage and conviction overcame social, cultural and religious barriers to create a fairer world, including Emma Goldman , Bella Deduction and Anna Sokolow .

documentary

Making Trouble: Three Generations of Funny Jewish Women is a JWA-produced film by Rachel Talbot about three generations of Jewish comedians and the complexities of the relationship between comedy , Judaism and gender. The film portrays Molly Picon , Fanny Brice , Sophie Tucker , Joan Rivers , Gilda Radner and Wendy Wasserstein, as well as the contemporary comedians Judy Gold and Jackie Hoffman. It has been shown at 70 film festivals. In 2007 it received the Audience Award as best documentary film at the Palm Beach Jewish Film Festival, and at the Jerusalem Film Festival the film received an Honorable Mention in the Jewish Experience category .

Annual luncheon

Since 2011, the Jewish Women's Archive has been honoring three women for their activities and achievements at an Annual Luncheon in New York City, which has a different motto every year.

Natalia Twersky Educator Award

Since 2012, the JWA has been presenting the Natalia Twersky Educator Award , endowed with USD 2,500, which honors the work of educators for a gender-equitable curriculum and the creative integration of stories and voices of Jewish women into the classroom. The award is named after Gail Twersky Reimer's mother, Natalia Twersky, who grew up in Krakow , survived Auschwitz and emigrated to the United States in 1945.

Awards

  • 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2009 among the 50 most innovative Jewish projects and organizations in the USA, Slingshot. A Resource Guide to Jewish Innovation
  • 2012: Simon Rockower Award for Excellence in Jewish Journalism
  • 2012: American Jewish Distinguished Service Award, Hebrew Union College Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR)
  • 2014: Lee Max Friedman Award Medal, American Jewish Historical Society

Web links

Commons : Jewish Women's Archive  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Jonathan D. Sarna et al. (Ed.): The Jews of Boston . Yale University Press , New Haven / Conn. 2005, ISBN 978-0-300-10787-6 , p. 127 .
  2. ↑ Joyce Antler: You never call! You never write !: a history of the Jewish mother . Oxford University Press , New York 2008, ISBN 978-0-19-534143-0 , pp. 210 f.
  3. ^ Judith A. Kates and Gail Twersky Reimer (eds.): Reading Ruth. Contemporary women reclaim a sacred story . Ballantine Books, New York 1994, ISBN 978-0-345-38033-3 .
  4. ^ Jewish Women's Archive: JWA News Release: October 1, 2003 . From: Jwa.org, accessed September 9, 2014
  5. ^ Jewish Women's Archive: Board of Directors . In: Jwa.org , accessed on July 26, 2014.
  6. ^ Jewish Women's Archive: Emma Goldman . In: Jwa.org , accessed on July 26, 2014.
  7. ↑ Jane Guberman, Judith Rosenbaum and Sarah Karpman: Voices of Challenge and Change: Jewish Women Speak Out about Feminism . In: The Scholar & Feminist Online (Barnard Center for Research on Women). 5, No. 1, Fall 2006. (Archive, accessed July 17, 2014).
  8. ^ Rachel Beckman: At Silverdocs, Proud of Their Laugh Lines . In: The Washington Post , June 16, 2007.
  9. ^ Making Trouble: Three Generations of Funny Jewish Women . In: The National Center for Jewish Film , accessed July 17, 2014.
  10. ↑ Hannah Brown: 'The Band's Visit' wins J'lem festival's top prize . In: Jerusalem Post , July 16, 2007.
  11. ^ Elyssa Goodman: Seeing Beauty in 'Making Trouble . In: The Jewish Daily Forward , March 21, 2012.
  12. ^ Jewish Women's Archive: Third Annual Jewish Women's Archive Luncheon . In: Jwa.org , accessed on July 26, 2014.
  13. ↑ Elaine Durbach: Teacher honored for going 'beyond the text . In: New Jersey Jewish News , August 7, 2013. Retrieved December 4, 2019.