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Research Guides

Washington State Jewish Archives: Oral Histories & Digital Collections

UW Digital Collections

Washington State Jewish Archives Digitized

Selected photographs and oral histories from the archives have been digitized and nade available in UW Libraries Digital Collections.  

There are nearly 500 oral histories in the Washington State Jewish Archives and the majority are available online.

The oral histories include interviews with early immigrants and refugees, businessmen and women, artists, political figures in the Jewish community, and many others throughout Washington State, providing a valuable resource for researchers from a variety of fields.

Listen to Oral Histories Online

New oral histories are born digital, and older oral histories have been digitized and added to Digital Collections By clicking on the link below you can listen to interviews and read accompanying transcripts when available. You can search for a topic or name by keyword, just as you would in a search engine.

WSJA Oral Histories in Digital Collections

Resources for Oral History Research

The members of the Archives Committee of the Washington State Jewish Historical Society, who have conducted these interviews since 1968, have created their own glossary and categorized each interview with subjects terms such as "Communities, Aberdeen" or "Immigration, Sephardim." You can access both the glossary and the spreadsheet organized by subject:

Washington State Jewish Museum

Washington Jewish Museum

The Washington Jewish Museum is the first Jewish museum dedicated to preserving the stories, lives, memories, and events that, have and continue to, shape Jewish life in Washington State. There are exhibit categories for People, Jewish Life, Organizations, Businesses, and Synagogues.

Generously funded by grants from: The Herbert and Rita Rosen Foundation, The Loeb Family Charitable Foundation, The Jewish Federation of Great Seattle, The Alfred and Tillie Shemanski Testamentary Trust, Helen Stusser and other generous individuals.

See the museum's inaugural exhibit on Kline Galland.

The Kline Galland Home

Dutton Home, the original Caroline Kline Galland Home for the Aged, Seattle, ca. 1910-1914. University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections, Washington State Jewish Archives, PH Coll 854.5. https://digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu/digital/collection/jhp/id/1393/