Towards a Meaningful Snapshot: COVID-19 Oral Histories

Towards a Meaningful Snapshot was largely inspired by Beth Wenger’s approach to documenting how the Great Depression re-shaped the American Jewish community in ways both big and small. In her 1996 book New York Jews and the Great Depression: Uncertain Promise¹, Wenger interviewed community leaders and Jewish individuals alike to gain a more deeply informed understanding of how the Jewish community responded and adapted to the crisis as it was unfolding, and how innovation out of necessity may have led to positive changes with profound and lasting impact.

Building upon Wenger’s approach to information gathering and analysis, the American Jewish Historical Society conducted interviews with 36 individuals from across the American Jewish community to identify the ways in which the Covid-19 pandemic forced them to adapt at this pivotal moment quickly and creatively. This project was motivated by the belief that core values and dynamics of the Jewish community during and directly following the pandemic will undoubtedly be of historical importance 60 years from now, just as Wenger’s observations of the Great Depression are today.