Oral History Project

This project, initiated in 2006, is sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Lane County under the auspices of the Oregon Jewish Museum’s (OJM) oral history project. The Oral History Project is a key part of the Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education’s mission to preserve and present the history of Oregon’s Jewish community.  We share OJM’s project’s mission: “to develop a community oral history archive that provides a chronicle of the experiences of the Jews of Oregon.”

In addition, we are interested in stories of Holocaust survivors or refugees, and of others who may not have a long history in Lane County but have a significant personal history to tell. Preserving these richly nuanced accounts of settlement in Oregon has become a passionate endeavor for the project’s volunteers.

As of Fall 2016, we have interviewed 41 community members and continue to schedule more. These moving stories have been gathered through tape-recorded in-depth personal interviews, which are later transcribed by another set of volunteers. The transcripts of completed interviews are housed at the OJM archives in Portland; these and many other interviews completed by OJM are available for viewing and copies of transcripts can be purchased. These archives are a valuable asset to our local community, researchers in the academic community, and to the greater Jewish community of Oregon.

If you are interested in becoming a volunteer interviewer, please contact us using the link below.