Presenter: Eric Lidji
Format: Download MP4 video file of Slides with synchronized audio

The Rauh Jewish History Program & Archives at the Senator John Heinz History Center is the primary repository for Jewish archival material in Western Pennsylvania. Building upon decades of work by other Jewish institutions and repositories in Pittsburgh, the RJHPA emerged in the late 1980s through a farsighted regional undertaking called the Jewish Archival Survey. The Jewish Archival Survey reached out to more than 100 Jewish communal institutions throughout the region, creating broad support for the idea of an archive before it was established. With this foundation, the RJHPA became a diverse institution: scholarly and communal, intellectual and emotional, high-minded and haimish. In providing an overview of the history of the archive, this talk will review its hundreds of collections and will showcase the opportunities available to researchers.