Visual History Archive (VHA)
2017
Agenda• Genesis of the Visual History Archive (VHA)
• VHA description, key statistics, & value proposition
• USC Shoah Foundation and ProQuest partnership
• VHA facts, figures, & updates
• VHA demonstration screenshots
• VHA transcripts
• Filming the VHA
• VHA in teaching & research
• Bundle themes
• Etc.
Genesis of the VHA
VHA:description, key statistics,
& value proposition
What is the Visual History Archive?• The Visual History Archive is a streaming, 24/7, collection of over
~55,000 video testimonies of survivors and witnesses of genocide, including:– The European Holocaust (1939-1945)– Armenian Genocide (1915-1923)– Nanjing Massacre (1937)– Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda (1994)– Guatemalan Genocide (1978-1996)– Cambodian Genocide (1975-1979)
• An intuitive platform on which one may filter/view/save testimonies for research
Key statistics
VHA value proposition
• New streaming, 24/7, of all ~55,000 testimonies
• No more infrastructure requirements like an Internet2 line or dedicated cache server
• Links to related PQIS primary source content—at both the segment- and testimony-level—to which an institution is entitled, with ability to sort results
• 910 German transcripts available, with English transcripts due in 2017
• More acquisition models, like a one-time purchase (PAL) with continuing service fee (CSF), a subscription (SUB), etc.
• On the ProQuest platform in 2018…
USC Shoah Foundation and ProQuest partnership
USC Shoah Foundation and ProQuest partnership
USC Shoah Foundation goal = Expand access to thousands of researchers and institutions
ProQuest committed to:
1. Serving as exclusive distributor to these markets: higher education; government; museums
2. Providing related ProQuest PQIS content at the one-minute segment- and testimony-level
3. Creating transcripts for video testimonies
VHAfacts, figures, and updates
Testimonies by organizationEuropean Holocaust, 1939-1945
• USC Shoah Foundation—51,438
• Jewish Family and Children's Services (JFCS), San
Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin and Sonoma Counties—912
• Florida Holocaust Museum—25
• Holocaust Memorial Center Zekelman Family Campus—25
• Holocaust Museum Houston—272
• Canadian Collections—1,232– Alex Dworkin Canadian Jewish Archives--64– Calgary Jewish Federation--10– Concordia University Centre for Oral History & Digital
Storytelling--30– Freeman Family Foundation Holocaust Education Centre--52– Jewish Archives & Historical Society of Edmonton & Northern
Alberta--15– Living Testimonies, McGill University—103 – Montreal Holocaust Memorial Centre—549 – Sarah and Chaim Neuberger Holocaust Education Centre--406– Ottawa Jewish Archives—3
TOTAL Holocaust: 53,904
Armenian Genocide, 1915-1923• Armenian Film Foundation—333• USC Shoah Foundation—1
Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, 1994• Kigali Genocide Memorial--70• USC Shoah Foundation—15• Holocaust Museum Houston—1
Nanjing Massacre, 1937• USC Shoah Foundation—30
Guatemalan Genocide, 1978-1996• Fundación de Antropologia Forense de
Guatemala (FAFG)--9• USC Shoah Foundation--1
Cambodian Genocide, 1975-1979• USC Shoah Foundation—5
25 Experience GroupsEuropean Holocaust/World War II era, 1939-1945
Jewish Survivors 51,310
Rescuer and Aid Providers 1,158
Liberators and Liberation Witnesses 429
Sinti and Roma Survivors 406
Political Prisoners 268
Miscellaneous (World War II) 154
Jehovah’s Witness Survivors 84
War Crimes Trial Participants 62
Non-Jewish Forced Laborers 14
Eugenics Policies Survivors 13
Homosexual Survivors 653,904
Armenian Genocide, 1915-1923• Armenian Film Foundation—333• USC Shoah Foundation—1
Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, 1994• Kigali Genocide Memorial--70• USC Shoah Foundation—15• Holocaust Museum Houston—1
Nanjing Massacre, 1937• USC Shoah Foundation—30
Guatemalan Genocide, 1978-1996• Fundación de Antropologia Forense de
Guatemala (FAFG)--9• USC Shoah Foundation—1
Cambodian Genocide, 1975-1979• USC Shoah Foundation—5
40 languages represented
Arabic
15
Armenian
158
Bulgarian
624
Chinese
30
Croatian
393
Czech
560
Danish
67
Dutch
1,076
English
27,213
Flemish
5
French
1,905
German
924
Greek
318
Hebrew
6,280
Hungarian
1,348
Italian
433
Japanese
1
Khmer
2
Kinyarwanda
75
Kurdish
3
Ladino
9
Latvian
1
Lithuanian
46
Macedonian
9
Mandarin
30
Norwegian
34
Polish
1,515
Portuguese
560
Romani
24
Romanian
130
Russian
7,137
Serbian
384
Sign
5
Slovak
561
Slovenian
6
Spanish
1,362
Swedish
264
Turkish
14
Ukrainian
304
Yiddish
574
TOTAL
54,369
60+ countries representedArgentina 731Armenia14Australia 2,495Austria189Belarus246Belgium203Bolivia 23Bosnia & Herzegovina 55Brazil564Bulgaria628Canada 4,076Chile65Colombia15Costa Rica19Croatia327Czech Republic563Denmark94Ecuador9Estonia9Finland
1
France 1,658Georgia 6Germany 672Greece 324Guatemala 9Hungary 790Ireland 4Israel 8,459Italy 418Japan 1Kazakhstan 6Latvia 79Lebanon 4Lithuania 137Macedonia 9Mexico 111Moldova 284The Netherlands 1,046New Zealand 53Norway 34People’s Republic of China 30
Peru
2Poland
1,382Portugal
2Romania
147Russia
675Rwanda
73Slovakia
657Slovenia
11South Africa
250Spain
7Sweden
325Switzerland
69Syria
30Ukraine
3,427United Kingdom
871United States
21,251Uruguay
124Uzbekistan
25Venezuela
227Yugoslavia
346Zimbabwe
8
Breadth of coverage
Pre-WWII Period 1933–1938 20% of VHA
• Dictatorship under Hitler• Pre-war life in home country
and country of immigration
• Geographical locations• Early stages of persecution
& antisemitism• The first concentration
camps
Intra-War Period 1939–1945 60% of VHA
• World War II in Europe• Murder of the disabled• The Holocaust• Ghettos• Mobile killing squads• Victims of Nazi persecution• Jewish resistance • Non-Jewish resistance• Rescue• United States• Forced marches• Liberation
Post-WWII 1945-Present
20% of VHA
• Rescue and aid efforts
• War crime trials
• Displaced persons camps
• Emigration/Immigration
VHA demonstration screenshots
Quick Search results list
ProQuest Search in Segment
ProQuest primary source results
ProQuest content search filters
Full text search result for article or page
VHA transcripts
Transcript in German
More about transcripts and subtitles/closed captioning
• There are 910 German transcripts available now
• Approximately 1200 English transcripts will be available in 2017
• Transcripts will be in the language of the interview, and will not be translated
• There are subtitles/closed captioning for 49 Rwandan, 30 Nanjing, and 8 Armenian testimonies (more to come soon)
Filming the VHA: professional, worldwide volunteers
Professionally-trained videographers
Since 1999, the following basic equipment requirements have been necessary to tape the USC Shoah Foundation interviews:
• Professional Broadcast Camera w/ Betacam SP deck• Zoom Lens• Tripod w/Head• Monitor• Lowell Light Kit or equivalent• Soft Box or ability to create look of soft box• Batteries• Lavaliere (lapel microphone)• Boom Mic
Visual History ArchiveTeaching and Research
Appropriate for these course disciplines
• 540+ Courses Taught Using VHA in 25+ Disciplines
• 90+ Published Articles Citing the VHA
• 70+ Published Books Citing the VHA
• 60+ Dissertations Citing the VHA
Source: USC Shoah Foundation
Academic use of the Visual History Archive
Scholarly publication exampleThe United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos, 1933-1945: Ghettos in German-Occupied Eastern Europe (Volume II)
• comprehensive account of how the Nazis conducted the Holocaust in scattered towns and villages of Poland and the Soviet Union
• covers 1,150+ sites, including both open and closed ghettos • regional essays outline the patterns of ghettoization in 19
German administrative regions. • key events in the history of the ghetto tell: living and working
conditions; activities of the Jewish Councils; Jewish responses to persecution; demographic changes; and details of the ghetto's liquidation
• personal testimonies convey the character of each ghetto• source citations provide a guide to additional information • shows hundreds of smaller sites―previously unknown or
overlooked in the historiography of the Holocaust
• An indispensable reference work on the destroyed Jewish communities of Eastern Europe.
Bundle themes
VHA bundle opportunities• PQIS: HNPs like Jerusalem Post, The
American Hebrew & Jewish Messenger (1857-1922), The American Israelite (1854-2000); The Jewish Advocate (1905-1990); Jewish Exponent (1887-1990)
• History Vault: New Deal, WWII, Immigration Records, Vietnam
• DNSA: Berlin, Soviet Era, China, El Salvador, Peru, Guatemala, U.S. Intelligence
• ASP: Human Rights Studies Online; Border and Migration Studies Online; Oral History Online; Disability in the Modern World
Etc.
Customer testimonials• “Oral testimonies provide essential historical and emotional truths about the
Holocaust.” • “Faculty from a range of disciplines are interested in furthering their research through
this archive.” • “All of us hope to complement our printed sources with these oral testimonies as we
write about history, language, economics, trauma studies, literature, and more. Many of us have also begun using these testimonies in the classroom, encouraging our students to delve into them in their own research.”
• “Seeing and hearing an individual who had actually witnessed the concentration camps had a powerful emotional impact on students and brought them closer to understanding the absolute monstrosity of the Holocaust.”
• “The Visual History Archive is a truly unique and extraordinary resource for education and research…The Archive is an unparalleled resource to students and faculty in many fields, but particularly to undergraduates studying the Holocaust and to graduate students in our new M.A. program in War and Society in the Department of History. The purchase of the perpetual license is yet another demonstration of Chapman University’s commitment to research.”
Supplementary VHA license terms
Authorized Users may create derivative materials for teaching purposes as part of courses offered by their subscribing institution and may post such materials to a virtual learning environment on the internet solely for the duration of the course. Notwithstanding 6(c ) of the Permitted Uses, only transcripts of the videos will be available for file delivery and local loading where a PAL has been purchased.
Thank you and learn more!• Check out the ProQuest VHA LibGuide:
http://proquest.libguides.com/visualhistoryarchive
• View the “VHA Story” video or download brochures at: https://sfi.usc.edu/pressroom/kit
• For additional information: [email protected]
• Contact your ProQuest Sales Specialistor Account Manager for pricing or to setup a free, 30-day trial today!