Visual History Archive of USC Shoah Foundation Now Available


NEW YORK, November 13, 2008 Columbia University Libraries/Information Systems is pleased to announce that Columbia users now have on-campus access to the Visual History Archive of the USC Shoah Foundation Institute. The VHA contains nearly 52,000 visual history testimonies of survivors and witnesses of the Holocaust, videotaped in 56 countries in 32 languages.

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Between 1994 and 1999, the Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation -- now the USC Shoah Foundation Institute -- interviewed nearly 52,000 survivors and other witnesses of the Holocaust. The Institute interviewed Jewish survivors, homosexual survivors, Jehovah's Witness survivors, liberators and liberation witnesses, political prisoners, rescuers and aid providers, Roma and Sinti (Gypsy) survivors, survivors of Eugenics policies, and war crimes trials participants.

The complete archive of these testimonies is now available to Columbia students, faculty, and staff for on campus use within the Columbia University campus network or in the New York City vicinity with an active uni and password.

Columbia University is the first institution in New York City to provide full access to this important resource. Further information and tools for accessing the VHA collection can be found at https://library.columbia.edu/eresources/databases/visualhistory.html.

Any networked computer on campus can stream the testimonies; however, headphones for viewing are available in

  • Butler Library, Electronic Text Service (room 305). Click for ETS hours.
  • Lehman Library, Area Studies (LWeb terminal TBA).

For questions regarding access, searching, usage, and copyright, please e-mail vha@library.columbia.edu.

Columbia University Libraries/Information Services is one of the top five academic research library systems in North America. The collections include over 10 million volumes, over 100,000 journals and serials, as well as extensive electronic resources, manuscripts, rare books, microforms, maps, graphic and audio-visual materials. The services and collections are organized into 25 libraries and various academic technology centers. The Libraries employs more than 550 professional and support staff. The website of the Libraries at www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb is the gateway to its services and resources.