A Radio Tour of YIVO’s Photographic Archives (1965)

On April 11, 1965, YIVO Chief Archivist and historian Ezekiel Lifschutz visits the studio to talk with host Sheftl Zak about YIVO’s photographic archive, which documents Yiddish culture and life in Eastern Europe, and whose oldest images date from the 1860s.

From 1963-1976, YIVO had its own program on WEVD, the radio station established by the Socialist Party of America in 1927 (its call letters stand for the initials of American socialist leader Eugene V. Debs), which was purchased by the Jewish Daily Forward in 1932 and became a major venue from Yiddish programming.

YIVO used its spot on WEVD for Yiddish-language interviews and discussions with leading New York Yiddish cultural figures, as well as for reporting on its own scholarly and cultural work.

A new podcast of this program in the order in which it was originally broadcast will be posted here every two weeks.

Presentation of series curated by Matt Temkin, YIVO Sound Archives.

Listen to the program [in Yiddish].