Archivists see oral history project as race against time

by Robert Wiener
NJJN Staff Writer

Volunteers and staff at the Jewish Historical Society of MetroWest are racing against time to enhance the archives of its oral history project.

The agency is seeking volunteers to get the program running again at full tilt, especially those willing to transcribe countless hours of interviews from audiotapes to computer files so that the past can catch up to the future.

Meanwhile, the oral history committee is seeking to collect the memories and memorabilia from an older generation of suburban Jews whose lives spanned much of the 20th century.

“The reality is, as people age we don’t have the luxury of just sitting around and waiting,” said Linda Forgosh, the society’s curator and outreach director.

Ozzie Lax of West Orange, who chairs the JHS oral history committee, agrees. “If we don’t get to the 80-year-olds, they’re lost,” he said.

Lax, 83, is eager to resuscitate a project that, he said, “has been lying dormant for the past two years.”

“I want to try to develop what the Jewish people who are part of this history contributed to the economic development and the growth of MetroWest — not just the Jewish part but the total community. There were many who started business from scratch and have employed well over 200 people in their companies right here in the MetroWest area. It would give the total community an idea of their impact,” he said.

“Many of these people are no longer alive, and we are now speaking to the children who perhaps carried on the business or have liquidated the business [and who] can give some insight into what took place.”

A Newark native and World War II Navy veteran who retired from running a furniture-making business, Lax said his interest in history stems from a longtime avocation. “I’m the keeper of my family tree, a work unto itself” involving 800 people in both his mother’s and father’s families, he said.

At this point, according to JHS archivist Jennifer McGillan, there are “more than 100” audio cassettes on file that the society has amassed since it opened in 1990.

“Oral history is not something new to this community. It is something that has run in fits and starts,” said Forgosh.

But recording and transcribing peoples’ words is only part of the committee’s objective.

“It’s a two-fold project,” said Forgosh. “Not only do we want their memories, but interviewing them will give us entry to items in their homes” — items she calls “shoebox collections.”

“It’s great to have their history,” but to the curator, “a picture is worth 1,000 words.”

Once the collection is brought up to date and committee members sift through texts on interviews to eliminate redundant data, Forgosh said, she expects to have assembled a treasure trove of words and pictures. “They are very unique and distinct, and they will probably make great reading.”

Robert Wiener can be reached at rwiener@njjewishnews.com.

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