OJMCHE is proud to again participate with programming, social media campaigns, and ongoing outreach. The monthlong celebration includes 200 educational centers, archives, libraries, museums, cultural, religious, advocacy, and government institutions offering people around the country the opportunity to discover nearly four centuries of American Jewish experience. This participation includes major public library systems, state history centers and museums, venerable grassroots advocacy organizations, municipalities large and small, and cultural gems in and around the Jewish community. Because of the nationwide efforts, more people around the country are able to learn about how America’s Jewish communities have shaped and been shaped by the cultural, social, and economic fabric of the United States.
One way to deepen understanding of the history of Jews in Oregon is by exploring OJMCHE’s online Oral History Project. OJMCHE currently has over 700 interviews and continues to add to the collection with its ongoing project. Interviews can be accessed here.
The current project expands and augments the Oregon Jewish Oral History and Archive collection assembled by Shirley Tanzer in the 1970s and the Holocaust survivor and witness interviews conducted by the Oregon Holocaust Resource Center from 1994 until 2012. OJMCHE collects a comprehensive range of oral histories chronicling the Jewish experience from community members across the state.
OJMCHE also has an outstanding and extensive photograph collection dating from the 1860s through today. These images visually document the Jewish experience in Oregon. The ongoing digitization and cataloging of photographs is central to OJMCHE’s mission to make these images available to researchers.
As stewards of the Oregon Holocaust Memorial in Washington Park, the museum offers tours for school groups and others. The idea for the Oregon Holocaust Memorial was conceived in 1994 by a local group of Holocaust survivors. Their goal was to honor the memory of those who were murdered in the Holocaust and to educate people about the horrific consequences of hatred and discrimination.
This self-paced and self-guided tour virtual tour makes it possible for anyone to visit the Oregon Holocaust Memorial from wherever they are located. As with an in-person tour of the Memorial, this virtual experience provides an opportunity for remembrance and reflection. A virtual tour of the memorial is available here.