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: Log in for remote access or access the VHA website on campus.
- Non-affiliated researchers may request on-campus access by appointment. Contact vha@library.columbia.edu to make an appointment.
Searching and a limited selection of VHA resources are available on the VHA website without logging in.
Using the Archive
The Visual History Archive allows detailed searching, as well as a limited selection of testimonies 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.
Full access to the Visual History Archive is available on campus within the Columbia University campus network OR remotely with an active UNI and password.
Go to the Visual History Archive
We recommend that you register for a Visual History Archive account, which allows you to save searches, projects, and snippets of testimony for research use.
Register for a Visual History Archive account
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.