Representatives of the former Jewish Museum of Eastern Pennsylvania in Pottsville have asked the Schuylkill County Historical Society to preserve an important part of its collection.
It’s more than 30 DVDs featuring interviews with members of the Jewish community in Schuylkill County filmed in 2004 and 2005, according to Delores Delin, Orwigsburg, former president of the museum.
“These interviews cover the life of their families as far back as they have knowledge, reasons for immigration and settling in the county, work, customs, social life and religious practices among the gentile majority. These tapes have been gifted to the Schuylkill County Historical Society and have recently been transferred to digital media for further preservation,” Thomas B. Drogalis, the society’s executive director, said Wednesday.
In October 1987, the Oheb Zedeck Synagogue in Pottsville became the headquarters for the Jewish Museum of Eastern Pennsylvania.
Its holdings included paintings, sculptures and tapestries.
In 2014, the synagogue’s leaders decided to close the museum, challenged by a dwindling population and time and tide. Since then, synagogue representatives like Delin and Shirley Ravitz have been returning items on loan in the museum to their rightful owners and finding ways to preserve the others.
“We want to get the word out that these are available to the general public. All of these DVDs have been electronically transferred to digital media. The collection of Jewish heritage interviews are available for public viewing at the Schuylkill County Historical Society’s headquarters at 305 North Centre St., during business hours, Drogalis said.
“Additionally, copies of the individual interviews are available for purchase. For a complete listing of the individuals who have been interviewed, please visit the SCHS’s website, www.schuylkillhistory.org,” Drogalis said.
The donation has inspired the historical society to start a project to build up a collection of such oral histories.
“Our county’s rich ethnic heritage is one of our greatest legacies. The county’s history is embroidered with a tapestry of immigrants who’s ingenuity, commitment to family, faith and work ethic represent the corner stones of our county. Having viewed several of the taped interviews, there was no doubt that the value of collecting other oral histories would be something the SCHS should pursue,” Drogalis said.
“We are offering an open invitation to other ethnic groups from throughout the county to contact us to inquire about working collaboratively to help those groups collect oral histories from within their own ethnic groups. In particular, church groups and other organizations representing distinct ethnic groups are encouraged to participate,” Drogalis said.
The new program will be called the Ethnic Oral History Initiative at the Schuylkill County Historical Society, Drogalis said.
“A random number selection system will be used to determine the order in which interested groups will be assisted with the collection of their oral interviews. The historical society will assist interested groups by providing volunteers to assist with interviews and the recording equipment needed to capture the interviews at no charge,” Drogalis said.
Delin has volunteered to conduct interviews and the project also has a volunteer cameraman, Allen Frantz, Drogalis said.
People interested in participating can call the historical society at 570-622-7540 to set up an appointment.
Drogalis said the historical society has in its archives a collection of more than 80 similar audio interviews. He said they were conducted between 1988 and 1994.