Building a 21st century archive: Migrating and providing access to the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust testimonies

Abstract

The Fortunoff Archive for Holocaust Testimonies (FVAHT) has been recording the testimonies of survivors, witnesses and bystanders of the Holocaust since 1979. It currently holds more than 4,500 testimonies, comprising over 10,000 recorded hours of videotape. Having recently completed a large-scale digitisation of the entire collection at the FVAHT's in-house facility, the archive has pivoted to increasing access and use of this new digital collection. The collection, which was originally recorded in cooperation with 37 affiliated projects across North America, South America, Europe and Israel, will now be available via a streaming access system at academic partner sites worldwide. This paper will discuss several of the challenges faced by the archive’s staff when transitioning from the analogue to the digital world, the design of its new digital access system, and plans for further enhancement in the near future.