Jewish Pioneer Descendant Project
Beginning in 2004, NMJHS undertook a major project to conduct video recorded oral family histories of approximately fifteen prominent members or descendants of prominent New Mexico Jewish families who settled in different areas of New Mexico. Some of the family descendants interviewed trace their histories to New Mexico Territorial times.
A team of NMJHS members and others were formally trained by professional historians on oral history interview methods and techniques before setting out. All videos were conducted and edited with the assistance of Avista Studios then owned by longtime NMJHS member, Lisa Witt.
With this grant, NMJHS was able to have converted the original video recordings to a compatible format to enable us to post these fascinating histories on our website.
Family: Ilfeld/Nordhaus
Interviewee: Betty Mae-Hartman
Interviewer: Steve Kesselman
Date: May 12, 2003
Watch the Betty Mae-Hartman Interview Here
Family: Freudenthal/Lesinsky/Solomon
Interviewee: Dr. Ann Ramenofsky
Interviewer: Dr. Noel Pugach
Date: August 6, 2003
Watch the Dr. Ann Ramenofsky Interview Here
Family: Seligman/Bibo
Interviewee: Dr. Randy Seligman
Interviewer: Paula Schwartz
Date: June 5, 2002
Watch the Dr. Randy Seligman Interview Here
Family: Bibo
Interviewee: Irene Bibo
Date: August 15, 2002
Watch the Irene Bibo Interview Here
Family: Taichert
Interviewee: John Feldman
Interviewer: Paula Steinberg
Date: January 3, 2003
Watch the John Feldman Interview Here
Family: Taichert
Interviewee: Louise Taichert & Robert Taichert
Interviewer: Paula Steinberg
Date: August 29, 2002 & December 20, 2002
Watch the Louise Taichert & Robert Taichert Interview Here
(Robert Taichert Interview starts at 1:01:35)