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Monash University partners with the USC Shoah Foundation Institute to Become the First Australian University to Launch Largest Visual History Archive in the World
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Monash University today, announced the Australasian launch of the largest visual history archive in the world.
Monash is the first Australian university, and second outside the U.S., to provide access to the University of Southern California (USC) Shoah Foundation Institute Visual History Archive. The archive was set up by internationally acclaimed film maker, Steven Spielberg, after he completed Schindler’s List in 1994, to document experiences of Holocaust survivors and other witnesses.
With a collection of nearly 52,000 videotaped testimonies collected in 32 languages from 56 countries, it is the largest visual history archive in the world. It is a remarkable collection that has been digitised and indexed, making it an excellent example of e-research.
Monash has partnered with USC in presenting the archive for research and teaching purposes within Australia.
Vice-Chancellor Professor Richard Larkins said the University is honoured to host the archive's launch.
"Monash takes great pride in its partnership with the USC Shoah Foundation Institute," Professor Larkins said.
"In addition to the valuable teaching and research opportunities across the University, Monash is able to use the archive to reach out into the Australian community."
Associate Professor Mark Baker, from Monash University’s Australian Centre for Jewish Civilisation, said Australia was home to the highest per capita proportion of Holocaust survivors outside Israel.
“The preservation of their voices in this archive is central to guiding future generations to be vigilant against other genocides.” he said.
Professor of History and USC Shoah Foundation Institute Executive Director Douglas Greenberg said the Institute conducted nearly 2500 interviews with survivors and other witnesses of the Holocaust in Australia.
"These testimonies, which include stories of life after the war, are part of Australia's history. We are thrilled to partner with Monash University to bring these, and all of the testimonies in the archive, to Australia."
Access to the archive at Monash University is being funded by Ms. Lee Liberman, and the Pratt Family Foundation.
For more information about the Visual History Archive at Monash University, go to http://www.vha.lib.monash.edu.au/ For more information, phone Dr Elane Zelcer on +61 3 9905 5282 or 0418 563 562.
All media enquiries to John Watts on +61 03 9905 2901 or 0448 574 148.
About USC Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education
The mission of the USC Shoah Foundation Institute is to overcome prejudice, intolerance and bigotry—and the suffering they cause—through the educational use of the Institute's visual history testimonies. The Institute interviewed Jewish survivors, homosexual survivors, Jehovah’s Witness survivors, liberators and liberation witnesses, political prisoners, rescuers and aid providers, Roma and Sinti survivors (Gypsy), survivors of Eugenics policies, and war crimes trials participants.
The Shoah Foundation Institute is part of the College of Letters, Arts & Sciences at the University of Southern California. The Institute’s mission is to overcome prejudice, intolerance, and bigotry–and the suffering they cause–through the educational use of the Institute's visual history testimonies. The Institute relies upon partnerships in the United States and around the world to provide public access to the archive and advance scholarship in many fields of inquiry. The Institute and its partners also utilize the archive to develop educational products and programs for use in many countries and languages.
For more information, go to www.usc.edu/vhi.
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