Oral History Collection

The Nicki Newman Tanner

Oral History Collection

As part of JWA’s mission to expand the narrative of Jewish history, we have collected and recorded hundreds of interviews with leaders, activists, and community members across the United States, documenting their encounters with major events and movements of the 20th and 21st centuries and the many ways that gender, class, place, and religious and ethnic identities have shaped women’s lives. With generous support from Nicki Newman Tanner,  Mass Humanities, and the National Endowment for the Humanities, we are proud to make these interviews and transcripts available to the public. All entries include transcripts; audio or video recordings are also available where narrator permissions allow. 

More about the collection

Rebecca Benaroya

Project
Weaving Women's Words

Roz Bornstein interviewed Rebecca Benaroya on July 17, 2001, in Seattle, Washington, as part of the Weaving Women’s History Oral History Project. Benaroya reminisces on her upbringing in Seattle as the daughter of Turkish immigrants, her family's Jewish traditions, her marriage, parenting, and community involvement.

Shirley Bridge

Project
Weaving Women's Words

Pamela Lavitt Brown interviewed Shirley Bridge on June 27, 2001, in Seattle, Washington, as part of the Weaving Women’s Words Oral History Project. Bridge discusses her family, childhood memories, education, a career in pharmacology, marriage, raising a family, social activism, and her 50-year battle with cancer.

Carolyn Blumenthal Danz

Project
Weaving Women's Words

Roz Bornstein interviewed Carolyn Danz on May 11 and May 16, 2001, in Seattle, Washington, as part of the Weaving Women’s Words project. Danz shares her family history, childhood experiences with volunteer work, a career as a businesswoman, single parenthood, involvement in Jewish and civic organizations, and her active life, including founding the Northwest Croquet Association.

Ventura Franco Israel

Project
Weaving Women's Words

Roz Bornstein interviewed Ventura Franco Israel on May 31, 2001, in Seattle, Washington, as part of the Weaving Women's Words project. Israel reflects upon her family history, the challenges they faced after the death of her father, her marriage, her experiences as a working mother, and her thoughts on Jewish values, intermarriage, and the Seattle Sephardic community.

Lenora "Leni" LaMarche

Project
Weaving Women's Words

Roz Bornstein interviewed Lenora LaMarche on May 24 and June 25, 2001, in Mercer Island, Washington, as part of the Weaving Women's Words Oral History Project. LaMarche shares her family history, Sephardic culture, and experiences growing up in the Seattle and Los Angeles Jewish communities, highlighting her education, comedic talents, work during World War II, raising a family, and involvement in various organizations.

Dorothy Muscatel

Project
Weaving Women's Words

Roz Bornstein interviewed Dorothy Muscatel on April 12 and April 19, 2001, in Seattle, Washington, as part of the Weaving Women's Words Oral History Project. Muscatel shares her family background, her father's community involvement, her upbringing in Seattle, her early engagement in charity work, her active role in Jewish organizations, the challenges of motherhood, and her current health condition.

Blanche Narodick

Project
Weaving Women's Words

Pamela Brown Lavitt interviewed Blanche Narodick on June 6, 2001, in Seattle, Washington for the Weaving Women's Words Oral History Project. Narodick reflects on her childhood, education, professional life in Chicago, marriage, involvement with Jewish organizations, experiences during World War Two, work with the American Red Cross, friendships, and personal philosophy on life.

Ann Lustig Nieder

Project
Weaving Women's Words

Roz Bornstein interviewed Ann Lustig Nieder on July 11, 2001, in Seattle, Washington, as part of the Weaving Women's Words Oral History Project. Nieder reflects on her childhood, family traditions, experiences at school and camp, community service work, and her role as a mother and grandmother, ending with the loss of her husband and life as a widow.

Bernice Mossafer Rind

Project
Weaving Women's Words

Pamela Brown Lavitt interviewed Bernice Mossafer Rind on June 5 and July 20, 2001, in Medina, Washington, as part of the Weaving Women's Words Oral History Project. Rind recounts her family's history, her upbringing in Seattle, her musical career, meeting her husband, raising their son, volunteer work, Sephardic rituals, a trip to Israel, and her perspectives on family, Jewish heritage, aging, and personal philosophies.

Alice Siegal

Project
Weaving Women's Words

Roz Bornstein interviewed Alice Siegal on July 10 and July 19, 2001, in Seattle, Washington, as part of the Weaving Women's Words Oral History Project. Siegal discusses her family, upbringing in Seattle, involvement in social justice, education, marriage, and career, reflecting on the changing Jewish community and her Jewish identity.

Bernice Stern

Project
Weaving Women's Words

Pamela Brown Lavitt interviewed Bernice Stern on June 22 and July 31, 2001, in Seattle, Washington as part of the Weaving Women's Words Oral History Project. Stern discusses her Seattle upbringing, involvement in the Jewish community, activism in social justice causes, political engagement, and her roles as a councilwoman and grandmother.

Reva Twersky

Project
Weaving Women's Words

Roz Bornstein interviewed Reva Twersky on June 19, 2001, in Seattle, Washington, as part of the Weaving Women's Words Oral History Project. Twersky discusses her family's Russian roots, their Orthodox values, community life in Seattle, experiences during World War II, involvement in Jewish organizations, and her marriage.

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How to cite this page

Jewish Women's Archive. "Oral History Collection." (Viewed on November 21, 2024) <https://jwa.org/oralhistories>.