Title: Research, Documentation and Metadata Aspects of the JDC Oral History Project
Herbert Katzki, the JDC leader who initiated the oral history project, in his New York office during the 1980s. [Source: JDC Archives]
Presentation Type: 4-minute Lightning Talk
Description: In this lightning talk, Deimosa Webber-Bey will discuss the research, documentation and metadata work that went into creating the Oral History Project for the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC). The JDC is a worldwide humanitarian relief organization created during World War I to provide relief to Jewish communities in Europe. The JDC was instrumental during WWII in getting Jews out of Nazi-occupied Europe, and resettling Jews after the war through Displaced Persons Camps. In the 1980s the JDC began interviewing former staff in order to document their experiences in the field and the impact of the organization. These tapes were made accessible to Pratt SILS in order to facilitate learning with a hands-on digitization project for LIS 665-02 Projects in Digital Archives. In this class project, students worked collaboratively to transform the collection of analog oral histories into a web-based digital archive. Deimosa will focus most closely on the research, documentation and metadata aspects.