CHALLENGE

On September 9, 2019, Duluth, Minnesota’s Congregation Adas Israel suffered the loss of its historic temple due to arson. The Jewish Historical Society of the Upper Midwest (JHSUM) set out to memorialize the destroyed temple via interviews of the individuals who make up the Adas Israel community. But this community is geographically dispersed. In addition, any remote interviews would need to be conducted in a way that was easy for non tech-savvy individuals.

SOLUTION

JHSUM chose to use TheirStory to conduct their video/audio interviews with members of Congregation Adas Israel – both in-person and remotely. TheirStory’s founder, Zack Ellis, provided JHSUM staff with interviewing tips, recommendations on equipment, and technical support and training on the platform. Once an interview is conducted, JHSUM staff are able to immediately add relevant metadata such as title, description, participants, and tags, and the interview is automatically archived in a private, dedicated space within www.theirstory.io. From there the JHSUM staff can access all interviews. JHSUM can also use TheirStory to automatically generate a Word Document transcript of any interview.

RESULTS

JHSUM has begun gathering and archiving the thoughts and precious memories shared by Adas Israel congregants. Tragically, the first person recorded as part of this project has since passed away. While any death is difficult, we are proud to contribute to preserving the legacy of her story.

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“TheirStory has been a boon to the Jewish Historical Society of the Upper Midwest. It is really as easy as participating in a video phone call and TheirStory is always able to provide support (in real time!) to answer questions that arise. JHSUM has used TheirStory exclusively so far to record stories regarding a tragic fire at an historic synagogue in Northern Minnesota, but we hope to expand our relationship with TheirStory as its potential is so great, especially in times when in person meetings are not possible. This platform holds great promise for the smallest organizations to very large museums, archives, historical societies and the like.“ -Robin Doroshow, Executive Director of the Jewish Historical Society of the Upper Midwest