The Esther and Herbert Taylor Oral History Collection
Introduction By Peggy Mosinger Freedman & Jeremy Katz
(William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum)

BACKGROUND

The Esther and Herbert Taylor Oral History Collection, housed in the Ida Pearle and Joseph Cuba Archives for Southern Jewish History at the William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum, consists of more than 1,000 interviews that document Jewish life in Georgia and Alabama. The collection originated in the 1970s due to an oral history project conducted by the Atlanta Jewish Federation and the Atlanta chapters of the National Council of Jewish Women and the American Jewish Committee. It has since grown to include a multitude of additional oral history projects spanning topics related to Atlanta Jewish history, Georgia Jewish history, Alabama Jewish history, and Holocaust history. (197 interviews that relate to experiences during the Holocaust can also be found as a component database of JewishGen’s Holocaust Database.)

Please note that the oral histories displayed in this index constitute only a percentage of our total collection. This is an ongoing project, so information here should be confirmed on The Breman Museum website for the Esther and Herbert Taylor Oral History Collection. Some interviews are with groups of people, individuals in the group have been indexed separately. Some individuals were interviewed more than one time.  This is noted in the field called "Number of Interviews" in the database.

DATABASE

The database includes interviews with 1,008 different individuals. Subsequent updates will be made as interviews continue.

The fields for this database are as follows:

• Index number
• Surname of person interviewed
• Given name of person interviewed
• Other surnames referred to in interview
• Year of birth
• Year of death
• Places referred to during the interview
• Location of interview
• Number of times the person was interviewed
• Direct link to the Esther and Herbert Taylor Oral History Collection description on the Bremen site or the actual interview

To search the Breman site: If the link takes you to the Breman site, individual interviews can be found by searching the catalog.  If an interview is listed in the JewishGen Index, but is not in the online collection, it has not been placed on the website yet.  Contact the archives staff at The Bremen Museum (https://www.thebreman.org/Research/Southern-Jewish-Archives/Ask-the-Archivist) to obtain a transcript or copy of the interview.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Jeremy Katz, Peggy Mosinger Freedman, Hariette Gershon, and Sandi Goldsmith created the index to the Oral History Catalog for JewishGen from the material at the William Bremen Jewish Heritage Museum.

In addition, our thanks to all the interviewers in the collection: Alexander, Miles; Alpert, Merna;  Arogeti, Joel;  Baron, Albert;  Bauman, Mark;  Bean, Betsy;  Berkow, Lynn Rudkioff; Berman, Sandy; Bernath, Charles; Blumethal, Elaine; Bogart, Larry; Brickman, Shirley; Bruner, Marsha; Buchsbaum, Herbert; Campbell, Jennifer; Caplan, Gerald; Chadwick, Rebecca; Clark, Ruth; Cohen, Carole; Cohen, Dorothy; Cohen, Judy; Cohen, Kim; Cohen, Leonard; Cohen, Rae Alice; Cristol, Ronni; Davidov, Fred (Rabbi); Debeatham, Nailah; Diamond, Margery; Eidex, Anita; Einstein, Ruth; Eplan, Elise; Eplan, Madalyne; Evans, Bob; Falik, Sheryl; Feinberg, Susan; Fiedotin, Diana; Flexner, Richard; Franco, Jody; Franco, Renee; Franklin, Dejongh; Friedman, Robert; Galambos, Eva; Galin, Eleanor; Gefen, Joan; Gershon, Ruth; Ghitis, Sara; Ghizoni, Sandra; Ginsberg, Michael; Gold, Anne; Goldberg, Steve; Goldgar, Vida; Goldstein, Doris; Goodfriend, Enoch; Gozansky, Nat; Greenblatt, Sharon; Griffin, Irving; Gris, Paula; Haas, Joe; Hoffman, Sissy; Hollenberg, Toby; Illowsky, Susan; Johnson, Libby; Kantziper, Suzanne; Karp, Herbert; Katz, Emily; Katz, Jeremy; Kent, John; Koppelman, Mona; Kremer, Ray Ann; Kuhn, Clifford; Kurtz, Art; Langer, Adina; Leavey, Jane; Leeds, L.W.; Leeds, Leonard; Lefco, Stan; Leff, Sandy; Lesser, Michele; Levin, Elaine; Levin, Noah; Levitas, Susan; Lipshutz, Robert; Lowenstein, Joel;  Lutton, Cliff; Martino, Erna; Maziar, Patty; Meir, Dennis; Mescon, Enid; Messer, Alfred (Dr.); Meyerhoff, Eric; Meyerhoff, Harriet; Michalove, Michelle; Michalove, Shirley; Newsome, Judge; Pawliger, Judi; Plasker, Susan; Pollard, Nancy; Popowski, Mark; Pressman, Joan; Radetsky, Elaine; Ringel, Martha; Robinson, Gail; Robinson, Lisa; Romm, Mendel; Rosenzweig, David; Rubenstein, Ann; Rubenstein, Judy; Saul, Nancy; Schneider, Barbara; Schneider, Bonnie; Schoenberg, Ann; Schoenberg, Irving; Shenk, Mindy Lou; Silver, Brian; Silverman, Saba Wise; Smilack, Joyce; Solomon, Kaethe; Sparer, Burt; Spector, Deborah; Stemer, Ross; Stone, Valerie Frey; Throne, Susan; Vrono, Marsha; Weiner, Beryl; Weinroth, Michael; Weintraub, Marvin; Wickersham, Ellen ; Young, Lila Beth; Zoller, Michael; Zuckerman, Ruth   

If you would like to know more about the Esther and Herbert Taylor Oral History Collection, please visit (https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994 or contact the archives staff at the Breman Museum (https://www.thebreman.org/Research/Southern-Jewish-Archives/Ask-the-Archivist

This database is searchable via the JewishGen Unified Search, and the JewishGen USA Collection.