The Jewish
Archives documents the history of Jewish communities in Washington State,
beginning with the earliest settlers in 1853. The Archives consists
of organizational records and personal papers, memoirs, correspondence,
photographs, and over 300 taped and transcribed oral interviews with
members of Jewish communities throughout the state. The holdings are
preserved in a climate controlled, closed-access setting in Special
Collections in the basement of Allen Library at the University of Washington.
The Jewish
Archives was established in 1968 as a joint project of the Women's Division
of the Jewish Federation and the Manuscripts section of the University
of Washington Libraries. The University of Washington provides staff
who administer the materials, as well as office space for our Archives
Coordinator and a conference room for meetings of the Archives Committee.
In summer
2002, the King County Landmark and Heritage Commission funded a grant
to the Washington State Jewish Historical Society and the University
of Washington Library to catalog dozens of oral history interviews.
Society volunteers and library staff edited and enhanced summaries
of
selected interviews for inconclusion in the Library's Online Catalog
and in the International Bibliographic system, OCLC. This effort
will
inform prospective users of the rich content in oral history recorded
from 1979 to the present.