Series IV: Written Memories , 2022

Jewish Neighborhood Voices: Using Oral History to Link Massachusetts’s Past and Present Communities is a pilot project of the Wyner Family Jewish Heritage Center (JHC), funded by Mass Humanities/Massachusetts Cultural Council and Combined Jewish Philanthropies. This project conducted approximately 20 oral history interviews with narrators (interviewees) who are the first- or second-generation members of families that came to the United States in the early to mid-twentieth century, and settled in Dorchester, Roxbury, Chelsea, and Lynn.

Since many of the historically Jewish neighborhoods and cities in Massachusetts have very different ethnic, socioeconomic, and demographic compositions today, “Jewish Neighborhood Voices” presents first-hand accounts about the Jewish people, organizations, and industries that populated them in the first half of the 20th century. Through these oral history interviews, audiences can both learn about the vital contributions that the Jewish community has made to Massachusetts, and better understand the richly textured and layered history of their communities. The collected interviews are the feature of an online exhibit and available online in the JHC’s digital archive.

The project was funded by Mass Humanities, the Massachusetts Cultural Council, and Combined Jewish Philanthropies. Partner organizations participating in the project include Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater Boston, Hebrew Senior Life, Walnut Street Shul, and members of the former Jewish Heritage Center of the North Shore. The project's Humanities Advisor and oral history consultant is Judith Monachina, director of the Housatonic Heritage Oral History Center.