Charlottesville Jewish Oral History Project

The Charlottesville Jewish Oral History Project is a unique project that documents the rich Jewish history of the Charlottesville area.  With a synagogue founded in 1882 and a Jewish presence in the city of Charlottesville since then, this history must be preserved for future generations. 

This is especially important after the Unite the Right Rally of August 2017 when Charlottesville, antisemitism, and white supremacy became linked in the public consciousness. 

Much of the Jewish history of the region is only available through the memories of those who lived it.  For the 20th and 21st centuries, there are limited written records that document the personal experiences and views of Jews in the city of Charlottesville and surrounding counties.

The oral history project is creating a growing collection of irreplaceable recordings, both audio and video.  The recordings will be deposited in the University of Virginia’s Special Collections Library and made available online to researchers and the general public, word-searchable by name, place, and potentially by topic. The recordings also will be transcribed.

 The project builds upon earlier work carried out by Carol Ely, Phyllis Leffler, and Jeffrey Hantman that resulted in the museum exhibit and publication, To Seek the Peace of the City.  Research for that work ended around the 1960s.  The current project, begun in December 2017, will run from the 1960s to the 2020s. It targets not only members of Congregation Beth Israel and those who identify as Jews but also non-Jews with strong connections to the Jewish community. This one-of-a kind cultural and historical resource will inform generations of people about the significance, contributions and diversity of Charlottesville’s Jewish community in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.