YIVO’s Annual Conference (1965)

In this episode of YIVO’s radio program on WEVD, originally heard on January 10, 1965, Dr. Nosn Reich talks about the 39th Annual YIVO Conference, which would convene later that month in New York. Many of the upcoming episodes of the series focus on the conference and present excerpts from some of the papers delivered there. Speakers recorded at this conference that will be heard on upcoming episodes include Professor Mikhl (Michael) Astour, Professor Erich Goldhagen (Harvard historian and the father of Daniel Goldhagen), Dr. Tsvi Orlinsky, Dr. Uriel Weinreich and Chana Mlotek. At the end of program host Sheftl Zak answers a listener’s question about vowels in Yiddish.

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].