DAVAR: Vermont Jewish Women's History Project
In 2004, Ann Buffum and Sandy Gartner, inspired by JWA’s oral history work, founded DAVAR: The Vermont Jewish Women's History Project. Over a five-year period, they conducted oral history interviews with Jewish women living in rural and urban Vermont—the first project of its kind. The women’s stories reflect a wide variety of interests, beliefs, and occupations, including government, education, political and social advocacy, farming, business, the arts, homemaking, and religion. Some of the women’s roots go back to the state’s early Jewish settlers; others are more recent migrants. The topics they discuss reflect their times: escaping the Holocaust, coping with gender discrimination, breaking into politics and medicine, converting to Judaism from another faith, and making contributions to the arts and culture.