The Jewish Women’s Archive is a non profit organization that documents Jewish womens stories, elevates their voices and inspires them to be agents of change. JWA also provides education material, online exhibits and literature.
A national non-profit, JWA was founded in 1995 to make known the history of Jewish women in North America. The organization has become one of the most extensive and important resources on American Jewish women.
The History of the Organization
The Jewish Women’s Archive (JWA) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to uncovering, chronicling and transmitting the rich history of American Jewish women. Through its e-newsletter, online blog “Jewish Women Amplified,” website and active social media platforms, JWA shares our impact with a variety of constituents both locally and nationally, creating genuine and authentic connections among older and younger generations.
The JWA’s mission is to encourage people of all genders, ages and backgrounds to think more expansively and work for social change. We do this by sharing the stories of pioneers, community builders and change makers from around the world.
In addition to our research library and archive, the organization publishes a wide range of publications, including books on Jewish women’s history, and a literary annual called Which Lilith? Educators use the Jewish Women’s Resource Center’s materials to teach about the role of feminism in Jewish culture.
The National Council of Jewish Women, New York Section’s records document the organization’s community service and advocacy activities from its inception to the present. They include files on aging, child care, domestic violence, homelessness, hunger, immigrants, Israel, literacy, probation, the sick and summer recreation for children and the elderly.
The Mission of the Organization
The mission of the Jewish Women’s Archive is to document, elevate and inspire the lives of American Jewish women. We do this by archiving and sharing their stories, amplifying their voices and inspiring them to become agents of change in their communities and their world.
As a leading national nonprofit, JWA is committed to making its vast collection of material available for free to people around the world through a website and a variety of communications platforms. Our monthly e-newsletter, online blog “Jewish Women Amplified,” social media and other initiatives share our impact with diverse constituents and connect us to ongoing public conversations about the past, present and future of Jewish women in North America and beyond.
JWA’s growth–especially the expansion of its Virtual Archive–will promise scholars a wealth of new materials to study these crucial questions. As we integrate women of increasingly diverse backgrounds and pioneer new ways to study Jewish women using the Web, all of our audiences will benefit.
The Vision of the Organization
The Jewish Women’s Archive is a non-profit organization whose mission is to uncover, chronicle, and transmit to a broad public the extraordinary stories of American Jewish women. This is achieved through its research tools, online exhibits, publications and active social media platforms.
The site’s primary-source material, primarily photographs and documents, allows students to explore a range of subjects, including activists, politicians, lawyers, scientists, artists, dancers, rabbis, organizers, philanthropists, athletes, and more. These sources challenge students to think historically about women and the ways they have responded to social change.
The Jewish Women’s Archive also offers a wide variety of teaching tools that instructors can use in their classrooms. These materials include lesson plans, book and film guides, primary-source material, mother-daughter workshop materials, and a variety of other resources. The materials are especially useful to high school and college educators who wish to use these sources to illustrate the connections between Jewish women and the social justice movements of their time.
The Goals of the Organization
JWA aims to make the stories of Jewish women and their achievements widely accessible. The Archive offers a range of resources and educational tools, including historical books, online exhibits, pedagogical materials, and oral history interviews.
To this end, JWA has developed innovative tools and programs that enable Jewish women to learn about their own history, engage in the process of historical inquiry, and build meaningful connections with each other.
During the early years, JWA focused on two main areas of concern: collecting and preserving women’s stories and creating materials that could be used with students outside of the Jewish community. One of these was the Women of Valor project, which included a series of posters designed to hang in schools and synagogues.
In addition, the organization sought to create new ways of interpreting and teaching history that were inclusive of both famous and obscure historical figures. This led to the Katrina’s Jewish Voices project, which gathered the oral histories of 85 Jewish narrators impacted by Hurricane Katrina.
