From the Vault
Preserving Voices: The Audio Cassette and Record Collection at the Ottawa Jewish Archives
The Ottawa Jewish Archives is home to hundreds of thousands of records and audio cassettes, dating back to the early 1860s, and tell the history of Jewish life in Ottawa and the National Capital Region. The audio cassette collection consists of interviews, rallies, ceremonies, and community events. These recordings are a testament to the lives, challenges, and celebrations of Ottawa's Jewish community over the decades, and they form an essential part of the historical narrative that the Archives seeks to safeguard.
The audio cassette collection offers a window into the personal stories of individuals who lived through some of the most significant events in history. These oral histories capture not only individual experiences but also the collective memory of the community. They document the resilience of Jewish families, their contributions to the fabric of Canadian society, and the ways in which Jewish identity evolved in Ottawa over time.
While the Archives is home to hundreds of audio cassettes, it’s two largest collections are the Hy Bloom collection, and the Ottawa Jewish Historical Society collection, both of which offer unique windows into our past.
The Hy Bloom collection
Hy Bloom was born in Ottawa on July 15, 1921, son of Celia Bloom and David Lewis Bloom. He first encountered the world of sound production at the age of 8 under the guidance of his father. Before Hy had finished elementary school, he was building basic microphones. For the next 60 years, Hy worked in several locations in the sound production industry and in the 1950s, began recording events across Ottawa whenever given the chance. In 2012, he donated his collection and gear to the City of Ottawa Archives, with 100 of his tapes, being donated to the Ottawa Jewish Archives. These 100 tapes cover various Jewish community events, including Holocaust memorial events dating back to the 1970s, sod turnings for various buildings, and even the 1976, first celebrity roast of Mayor Lorry Greenberg.
Recordings in the Hy Bloom collection are anywhere from 30 minutes to two hours in length, with one particularly interesting tape from the 1990 David Irving visit where he spoke at the Ottawa Congress Centre, defending his Holocaust denial views. The recording goes on for 2 hours and begins with someone announcing a delayed start time due to protest outside the venue. While this recording is important for documenting a moment in Ottawa’s history, it also includes the question period when local Ottawa Jew and veteran Mervin Mirsky confronts Irving by recounting his memories of liberating concentration camp Bergen-Belsen.
The Ottawa Jewish Historical Society Collection
Much like the Hy Bloom collection, the Ottawa Jewish Historical Society (OJHS) collection, contains a variety of recordings. In the 1990s and 2000s, the OJHS began recording oral histories and lectures from Ottawa’s Jewish residents. For the community, these decades were a time of reflection and change, as older generations sought to pass on their experiences to younger ones. The interviews are deeply personal, filled with memories of immigration, family life, community building, and the ongoing connection to Jewish traditions.
The OJHS collection has more than 500 recordings, including an interview with Mervin Mirsky, recounting his experience in liberating Bergen-Belsen. The interview goes into detail with Mervin describing the sounds, smells, and emotions he was feeling during those moments. Interviews like this capture the nuances of emotion and individual expressions that written documents may overlook. Interviews in the OJHS collection cover nearly every aspect of growing up Jewish in Ottawa over the past 80 years.
Accessing the Collection
The Ottawa Jewish Archives has ensured that these invaluable recordings are available both in person and online. Visitors to the Archives can listen to the original audio cassettes in a dedicated space, immersing themselves in the voices of the past. For those who cannot visit the Archives in person, many of the interviews have also been digitized and are available through the Archives' YouTube channel, making it easier than ever to explore the collection from anywhere in the world.
This digital accessibility is particularly important in today’s world, where technology plays an increasingly central role in how we interact with history. By offering these recordings online, the Archives is helping to preserve not just the content of the interviews but also their relevance for future generations. Young people today, growing up in a world vastly different from that of their grandparents or great-grandparents, can hear these stories and connect with their heritage in a direct and meaningful way.
To learn more about the Archives and audio cassette collection, contact the archivist Teigan Goldsmith at archives@jewishottawa.com.