Handelman set the table for UD’s 2019 class by working as an intern with Horowitz in UD’s Summer Scholars program, which gives undergraduate students experience in research. During that internship, she interviewed 10 people for the project, including Faith and Lou Brown of Brandywine Hundred.

During her interview with the Browns, Dalia and Faith discovered they had a shared experience — volunteer duty with the Israeli army. Faith’s duty took place shortly after Israel’s birth as a nation in 1948 and included many subsequent trips and tasks such as assembling and cleaning Uzi machine guns. Dalia’s service came during her high-school years.

The significance of these kinds of conversations was made clear again earlier this year, when two of the people Dalia interviewed in the summer of 2019 passed away — Faith Brown’s husband, Lou, and Yetta Chaiken, a 1943 graduate of UD who provided significant support for UD’s Jewish Studies Program and was awarded the University’s Medal of Distinction in 1999.

“We are so grateful that the UD program helped us to preserve their stories and celebrate the remarkable lives recorded in all of the interviews,” Pietrzyk said.

Handelman met with students in Horowitz’s 2019 fall semester class as they learned the elements of doing oral history well. They learned how to manage logistics, the best places to conduct an interview, how to structure an interview. They planned their questions and learned how to record the interviews and write summaries of them.

Almost 20 people — with deep insight into business, education, health care, sports, faith and culture — sat for those interviews, most often recorded in their homes.

“What I valued most was the ability to have a conversation with people who have lived a long life and have made some major contributions to the world,” said Jordan Spencer, who graduated in May with a degree in history education and a minor in political science. “After interviewing them, I was able to see the power and impact of the legacy that they have created. In their story it became evident that wherever they went they positively impacted someone’s life. I can say that they have already given back to the world and have created a legacy that is everlasting.”

Spencer said he was surprised by the clarity with which many recalled events and dates. One couple he interviewed helped each other remember specifics, too.

Memories fade, of course, and sometimes stories get mixed up, exaggerated or misinterpreted. Some historians discount the value of oral histories for those reasons. Horowitz makes a strong case for them.

“Yes, memory is fallible,” he said. “And also, people often change stories to make themselves seem better or more important than they may have been so it’s regarded as a source that can be inaccurate. But all sources can be inaccurate. Many sources that are written sources are just written down oral sources, such as articles written by journalists, based on oral interviews.”

Supplementary research is always needed to verify, clarify and provide context.

ABOVE: Roger Horowitz, an adjunct faculty member in UD’s history department and an affiliated professor with the Hagley Program, geared his Fall 2019 HIST400: History Capstone Seminar class toward “Oral History and The Jewish Experience.” For this class, he partnered with the Jewish Historical Society of Delaware to have his students interview members of Delaware’s Jewish community about their life and experiences. Pre-pandemic video by Ally Quinn.

The Jewish Historical Society plans to post the UD interviews on its website and add these new materials to its considerable holdings housed at the Delaware Historical Society, where they are available to other researchers, Pietrzyk said. The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic put a halt to interviews in 2020, but Handelman continued the work this past summer, transcribing the interviews and identifying portions that would be useful for the historical society’s website.

“Roger has been really supportive and helpful and has worked with us to nurture that link with Hagley and UD,” she said. “We have talked to Roger about training other people to do oral histories. We can’t thank them enough. It’s a blessing. We’ve got some wonderful collections to share. As a historian, I know the value of going to these documents…. You read these documents and you see the real life, as it was happening, not filtered or presented.”

Many of Horowitz’s students had no previous deep understanding of the Jewish experience. But the project was special in a personal way for Handelman, who said she grew up in a thriving Jewish community.

“I learned so much from each person,” she said, “and I have seen how me caring and putting in the time talking to these people affects them. I get messages from them like: ‘You should call me. I want to know what’s up with your life!’

“And being 19, communicating with people who are 90 to 100 years old is very special. I can’t stress that enough. I wrote down quotes that I never want to forget — and they don’t even realize it. I have left some interviews almost crying.”

History has enormous power when brought to the personal, relational level. And it always holds surprises. Horowitz experienced that during a series of interviews — 20 hours in all — he did with his stepfather, Al Johnson, to explore his stepfather’s military service in World War II, Korea and Vietnam.

“Tell me about your first memory,” Horowitz suggested, to get things going.

“It was the day my parents left me,” his stepfather replied. He then related a complex story of family history Horowitz had never heard before. A month later, Al Johnson died of asbestosis.

So don’t wait. Make that appointment. Write down some questions. Listen well. Take careful notes. Get to know someone — for their sake, for yours, for all of us.