Visual History Archive

The Visual History Archive contains over 57,000 video testimonies of survivors and other witnesses of the Holocaust and other genocides and massacres, including the Tutski in Rwanda, Cambodia, Armenia, Nanjing, Guatemala, South Sudan, the Central African Republic, as well as testimonies on contemporary antisemitism. Testimonies were taped in 56 countries and in 32 languages.

The Visual History Archive has been used for the study of history, theatre, human rights, linguistics, and many, many more topics. For a sampling of courses that use the VHA, please see this brochure.

Columbia students, faculty, and staff have on-campus and remote access to the Visual History Archive.
Non-affiliated researchers may obtain on-campus access by appointment. Contact vha@library.columbia.edu to make an appointment
A one-time registration is required. If this is your first time using the Archive, read Using the Archive at Columbia.

To access the database (with a CUID, from anywhere; without a CUID, onsite only), please click on the "USC Shoah Foundation" banner below. Non-Columbia affiliates who would like to view the Visual History Archive for research or educational purposes should contact vha@library.columbia.edu to gain access to Butler Library.

Using the Archive

The Visual History Archive is a specialized tool requiring local use. Use of the Archive requires a one-time registration, allowing users to save searches and projects and be accessible by e-mail.

Accessing the Archive

The Archive can be accessed on campus within the Columbia University campus network OR remotely with an active UNI and password.

For detailed searching, use the Visual History Archive Online site. This website requires users to create an account, and allows detailed searching, as well as a limited selection of testimonies available freely (i.e. WITHOUT Columbia access). Once you are logged via the Columbia connection (either on campus or with a CUID), you will also be able to save snippets of testimony for your research use.

For help using the Visual History Archive’s search interface, see the VHA User Manual.

Authorized Users (CU students, faculty, staff, and outside researchers) can use the Visual History Archive for teaching, learning and research purposes.

USC Shoah Foundation -- The Institute for Visual History and Education owns the intellectual property rights, including copyrights, to its videotaped interviews; this includes the metadata and the software tool of the Visual History Archive.

USC Shoah Foundation information involves privacy interests and is not in the public domain. Unauthorized copying, downloading, recording, or publication of USC Shoah Foundation interviews, in whole or in part, is strictly prohibited and may subject an individual or entity to penalties for copyright infringement.

Any use or publication of information from USC Shoah Foundation interviews in excess of "Fair Use" as specified under 17 USC § 107 and "Fair Practice" as specified under Article 10 of the Berne Convention, requires the prior written permission from the USC Shoah Foundation. Contact vha@library.columbia.edu for more information.

All users who publish information from USC Shoah Foundation interviews, in whole or in part, under the Fair Use or Fair Practice doctrines, should include the following recommended reference/citation:

Interviewee's first name, first initial of interviewee's surname, year of interview, followed by "Interview by USC Shoah Foundation, University of Southern California," city of interview, state or province of interview, country of interview, day and month of interview, tape number(s), and time code, if applicable.