By Janis Siegel, JTNews Correspondent
Memories, anecdotes and oral histories of lifetimes lived by Jewish seniors in Seattle and the greater Puget Sound area are being recorded and published by Northwest Yeshiva High School students so that generations will have their histories preserved.
In its first year at the high school, the students who are working on the Past Times oral history project are working out the bugs and refining the process of collecting and processing pages of conversations from local residents. The project will then become a part of the freshman curriculum at NYHS to enable students to learn while interacting with the community.
The Past Times oral history project is made possible by a grant from the Milken Family Foundation Festival For Youth. According to the director of Festival For Youth, Paul Mindell, they hope to instill a sense of service in young people that they will carry with them throughout their lives.
“It is the cornerstone of everything we do at the Family Foundation,” said Mindell. “Whether it’s in cancer research, rewarding outstanding educators through our National Educator Awards Program or supporting outstanding projects like the Past Times oral history project, the Milken Foundation is committed to supporting institutions and individuals that make a difference.”
The Past Times NYHS student board of directors runs every aspect of the project. The student board members are Shaynee Simon, president; Florence Almo, vice president; Rochelle Calderon, vice president, communications; Ariella Jacobson, public relations; Zev Brodsky, book editor; and Biran Shuval, design docent. The board and other students conduct the interviews with members in the community who want to tell their stories.
“We have about 47 students involved and about 30 adults that we’ve interviewed,” said Calderon, who is a freshman at the high school. “Some students are from the 10th and 11th grade but mostly there are freshman involved in the project.”
For most of the students, it is their first time conducting interviews, and afterwards they have to transcribe them with complete accuracy. Using a list of questions from a book on interviewing techniques, the students set out to record hours of conversations from their uniquely qualified subjects.
“First you call them, then you set up a time when the both of you can do the interview,” Calderon said. “It usually lasts about one and a half to three hours. Then we go home and transcribe it. It took me about five hours. Then we write a summary out of their story that’s about three to five pages long.”
One of the reasons that each story must be transcribed perfectly is that the Jewish Historical Society at the University of Washington will add the tapes and transcripts to their collection at the end of the year, when the project is finished. Carol Coe, NYHS faculty member and the faculty advisor that procured the grant, helps the students organize the material and meet the university’s criteria.
“The Milken Foundation does a lot of work with youth and they offer teachers grants from the Festival For Youth project,” Coe said. “We received over $4,300 for this project. We will publish a book and sell the books at the end of the year at our final event. We’re also planning to give our best pieces to the University of Washington Archives. The tapes and transcription cannot be edited at all. They will get the original cassette tapes and the direct transcription.
“Every person who was interviewed has to sign off on it and approve it,” Coe said. “All of the interviews are now finished. We’ve found that people really want to tell their stories.”
Florence W. Meyers, who will be 92 years old this July, said she would be glad to talk to anyone when she heard about the project. She currently lives at The Summit on First Hill. The W, she says, stands for the name Warshal. She is the self-described matriarch of the Warshal family.
“I saw it in The Transcript and I contacted the school,” Meyer said. “My husband and I were married in 1928 and we lived on Mercer Island. We had Meyers Music on First Avenue, which was the most active music store in the city. I played the cash register. We closed the store in 1984. I have pictures. I spent an hour being interviewed. I’m glad I had an opportunity to do this and I would do it again.”
All of the participants who gave their stories to the project will have an opportunity to attend the final project celebration event planned for sometime in June. At the buffet dinner, there will be speeches, special recognitions and reunions, and the book of stories will be available to the interviewees in attendance. Mindell hopes to be there along with other representatives of the foundation.
“By documenting these important stories,” Mindell said, “we hope that the students of the Northwest Yeshiva will gain a greater appreciation for the sacrifices made by the elders of their community and the importance of preserving these important, dramatic and sometimes harrowing stories for future generations.”