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{{Infobox organization
| name = Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies
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| formation = {{Start date and years ago|df=yes|1979|06|28}}
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| location = [[Sterling Memorial Library]], [[Yale University]], [[New Haven]], [[Connecticut]]
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| website = [http://www.library.yale.edu/testimonies/ www.library.yale.edu/testimonies/]
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| former name = Holocaust Survivors Film Project
}}
The '''Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies''' is a collection of recorded interviews with witnesses and survivors of [[The Holocaust]], located at [[Yale University]] in [[New Haven, Connecticut]]. Approximately 4,400 videotaped interviews are deposited with the [[Yale University Library]] and housed in [[Sterling Memorial Library]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.library.yale.edu/testimonies/ |title=Homepage |publisher=Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies |access-date=10 December 2011}}</ref>

The archive pioneered the usage of video testimonies to record eyewitness accounts of major historical events. It has served as the primary inspiration for video testimony projects documenting other state-sanctioned [[crimes against humanity]] and their aftermaths.

==History==
The antecedents for the establishment of the archive was a meeting between Laurel Vlock, a television journalist at [[WTNH]] News 8 of Connecticut, and [[Dori Laub]], a child [[Holocaust survivor]] and New Haven psychiatrist. In May 1979, the two arranged for a professional video crew to film the Holocaust testimonies of four survivors. Recognizing the extraordinary impact of these stories, Vlock and Laub were determined to do more. They partnered with William Rosenberg, the president of the local chapter of the [[Farband]], a [[labor Zionist]] organization, which had many Holocaust survivors among its members. On 28 June 1979, the Holocaust Survivors Film Project (HFSP) was formally launched. [[Geoffrey Hartman]], a professor of English and comparative literature at Yale, was also one of the key founding members. His wife, Renée, was one of the first four survivors taped.<ref name="history">{{cite web |url=http://www.library.yale.edu/testimonies/publications/Local_to_Global.pdf |title=A Yale University and New Haven Community Project: From Local to Global |last=Rudof |first=Joanne Weiner |date=October 2007 |publisher=Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies |access-date=10 December 2011}}</ref>

Shortly thereafter, Vlock received a commitment from [[WNEW-TV]] of New York City to air a documentary based on the testimonies. The resulting work, ''Forever Yesterday'', won a regional [[New York Emmy Awards|New York Emmy Award]] in 1980 for "Outstanding Discussion/Interview Program."<ref name="history"/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nyemmys.org/attachments/contentmanagers/64/24th%20Annual%20New%20York%20Emmy%20Awards.pdf |title=1979–1980 New York Area Awards |publisher=New York Emmy Awards |access-date=8 December 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120507083229/http://www.nyemmys.org/attachments/contentmanagers/64/24th%20Annual%20New%20York%20Emmy%20Awards.pdf |archive-date=7 May 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref> By 1981, Laub and Vlock had collected 183 testimonies under the auspices of HFSP and formally deposited them at Yale University.<ref name="history"/>

In 1987, Mr. Rosenberg, representing the HSFP, transferred the original 183 testimonies from a deposit at Yale to a permanent donation. That year, the collection was also renamed the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, in recognition of a generous endowment gift provided by Alan A. Fortunoff.<ref name="history"/>

In the 1990s, the Fortunoff Archive achieved greater international recognition. In 1990, composer [[Steve Reich]]'s piece, ''[[Different Trains]]'', which incorporated soundbites from the Fortunoff testimonies, won a [[Grammy Award]] for [[Grammy Award for Best Classical Contemporary Composition|best contemporary classical composition]]. Lawrence Langer's acclaimed 1991 book, ''Holocaust Testimonies: The Ruins of Memory'', was based on the author's eight years of viewing and studying the archive's testimonies. It was named one of the ten best books of the year by ''[[The New York Times Book Review]]'' and also received the [[National Book Critics Circle Award]] under the "Criticism" category. The 1995 centennial issue of ''The New York Times Book Review'' listed ''Holocaust Testimonies'' as one of the hundred most important books of the century. The Fortunoff testimonies also served as a basis for ''Witness: Voices from the Holocaust'', a critically acclaimed documentary that was nationally broadcast by [[PBS]] on [[Yom HaShoah]] (Holocaust Remembrance Day) in May 2000.<ref name="history"/><ref>{{cite news |title=An Unforgettable Holocaust Remembrance |author=James Endrst |url=http://articles.courant.com/2000-05-01/features/0005011377_1_holocaust-remembrance-day-fortunoff-video-archive-hitler-youth |newspaper=Hartford Courant |date=1 May 2000 |access-date=11 December 2011}}</ref>

In February 2011, [[Yale University Library]] began digitizing the Fortunoff Archive's more than 4,400 testimonies, scheduled to be completed in 2014. The professional format on which the testimonies were originally recorded is obsolete because the analog decks are no longer manufactured. Digitization is essential for preservation.<ref name="ydn">{{cite news |title=Library digitizes Holocaust testimonies |author=Sharon Yin |url=http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/2011/nov/28/library-digitizes-holocaust-testimonies/ |newspaper=Yale Daily News |date=28 November 2011 |access-date=11 December 2011 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130209202737/http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/2011/nov/28/library-digitizes-holocaust-testimonies/ |archive-date=9 February 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Impact==
The Fortunoff Archive pioneered the usage of video testimonies to record eyewitness accounts of major historical events. Prior to the existence of the Archive, researchers relied on audio and written testimonies. The Archive has served as the primary inspiration for video testimony projects documenting the [[Cambodian genocide]], [[Ethnic cleansing in the Bosnian War|ethnic cleansing in the former Yugoslavia]] and other crimes against humanity.<ref name="history"/><ref name="ydn"/>

==References==
{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}

==External links==
* [http://www.library.yale.edu/testimonies/ Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies website]
* [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLE129969D102584DD Fortunoff Video Archive on YouTube]
{{Yale University Library}}
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[[Category:Yale University Library]]
[[Category:Holocaust historiography]]
[[Category:Archives in the United States]]
[[Category:Film archives in the United States]]
[[Category:1979 establishments in Connecticut]]

Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies - Revision history

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w>Rlink2: /* History */archive link repair, may include: archive.* -> archive.today, and http->https for ghostarchive.org and archive.org (wp:el#Specifying_protocols)

w>Rlink2: /* History /archive link repair, may include: archive. -> archive.today, and http->https for ghostarchive.org and archive.org (wp:el#Specifying_protocols)