Oral history interview with Adele Zucker who grew up in Colorado, worked for B’nai B’rith Women and the U.S. Department of Agriculture as an administrator and training officer for secretaries in California and than Washington.

Oral history interview with Charlotte Boyaner.

Oral Interview with Janis Diner-Brinley for the JMABC Artists Scribe. Interviewed by Brynn Gillies. Janis briefly describes her family history in Eastern Europe and Canada, and tells us of her immediate family. She discusses how she was immersed in artistic environments from a young age including parents who enjoyed the arts at home, and taking art classes as young as 6 years old. Janis recalls being the only girl to learn welding in school for her sculpture projects and working with the Winnipeg Art Gallery. She talks about how she uses traditional mediums like watercolours to convey messages about environment and landscape change, and how she learned to work with and teach watercolours to others. Janis talks about how her move from Winnipeg to Vancouver to Victoria challenged her, as the colour palettes and landscapes were not the same as those she usually painted. She talks about art classes, and what brought her into teaching high school, but also feats of curating exhibitions and starting the Jewish Film Festival in Vancouver. Janis also talks about participating in Judaism themed exhibits at her synagogue, her interest in archaeology, and the power of observation.

Interview with Syd Lapan for On The Record: The BC Jewish Queer & Trans Oral History Project in collaboration with JQT Vancouver. Interviewed by Carmel Tanaka via remote Zoom video call. Syd is a Jewish lesbian born in Denver, CO and currently residing on Gabriola Island. She talks about her family’s transition from a well-to-do background in Eastern Europe to starting over again in American midwest. She talks about her and her sister meeting a half-sister that her mother had put up for adoption at the time of WWII. Syd talks about going to university and being taken under the wing of a lesbian couple that she remained friends with for 50 years. She also talks about a gay friend who introduced her to gay activism. Syd talks about her varied education, and moving to Canada with a Canadian partner after attending Queen’s University. She talks about misogyny she experienced as a woman in the tech industry. Syd talks about the Jewish lesbian community in Denver, and also encountering antisemitism in the lesbian community. She talks about how music runs in her family, and how she reconnected with music through choir and the Klezbians. Syd talks about her profession as a private investigator and a significant relationship in her life with a woman named Carolyn. Syd closes by reflecting on her activism and the importance of following one’s heart.