Skirball Cultural Center
Magnin Auditorium
2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd.Los Angeles 90049
Monday, March 14, 2011 – 7:30PM
Established in 1994 to collect and preserve the testimonies of survivors and other witnesses of the Holocaust, the USC Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education maintains one of the largest video digital libraries in the world: nearly 52,000 video testimonies in 32 languages and from 56 countries. The Institute is part of the College of Letters, Arts & Sciences at the University of Southern California; its mission is to overcome prejudice, intolerance, and bigotry—and the suffering they cause—through the educational use of the Institutes visual history testimonies.
Stephen D. Smith, Executive Director, will offer a fascinating insight into the 52,000 Holocaust survivor testimonies that have been collected and made available to the public. He will explore the 1.2 million names and 50,000 geographic locations referenced in this collection and will detail the future of audiovisual testimony and its value to genealogists. The Shoah Foundation’s testimony collection is a treasure trove of historical and personal data that can be searched online and then accessed in greater depth at their University of Southern California location. He will demonstrate real-time searching techniques so you can benefit from this unparalleled educational resource.
Watch excerpts from Smith’s lectures, including our IAJGS 2011 conference opening evening program:
Stephen D. Smith founded the UK Holocaust Centre in Nottinghamshire, England and cofounded the Aegis Trust for the prevention of crimes against humanity and genocide. He is an international speaker, lecturing widely on issues relating to the history and collective response to the Holocaust, genocide, and crimes against humanity. His publications include Making Memory: Creating Britain’s First Holocaust Centre; Forgotten Places: The Holocaust and the Remnants of Destruction; and The Holocaust and the Christian World. He has taught extensively in Lithuania and has been a member of the International Task Force for Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research since its inception in 1998.
Stephen is committed to making the testimony of survivors of the Holocaust and of other crimes against humanity a compelling voice for education and action. His leadership at the USC Shoah Foundation Institute is focused on finding strategies to optimize the effectiveness of the testimonies for education, research, and advocacy purposes.
Members free. Guests are $5. Reservations are NOT necessary. The JGSLA traveling library will be available starting at 7:00PM. Invite your friends to join us!
CLICK HERE FOR DIRECTIONS TO THE SKIRBALL.
CLICK HERE FOR A MAP.
READ MORE ABOUT THE SHOAH FOUNDATION INSTITUTE:
Access:
We encourage universities, museums, and other institutions around the world to make the Visual History Archive available, so that many more people can conduct research in the database and view testimony. Find an access site near you.
Research:
We push the limits of research, demonstrating the value of audio-visual testimony across a broad range of academic disciplines, to further knowledge and deepen understanding. Find resources.
Teacher Education:
We train teachers and develop their media literacy skills, so that they use testimony more effectively in the classroom and give opportunity for young people to learn. Explore our Living Histories lesson series. Learn more about the Institute’s international outreach.
New Collections:
We are collecting the life stories of witnesses to genocide around the world, to give their experiences a voice, and to make their testimonies available for research and education.
IF YOU HAVE ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS PROGRAM, PLEASE CONTACT PAMELA WEISBERGER, PROGRAM CHAIR at:
programs@jgsla.org