ABSTRACT
The systematic application of Oral History to research in contemporary Jewish affairs is an innovation of the Hebrew University’s Institute of Contemporary Jewry. Indeed the method remains comparatively revolutionary and is still little known outside the United States. When a book appeared containing conversations with Justice Frankfurter recorded within the framework of a parallel American project, a distinguished British historian stated in a review that it was regrettable that no Oral History project had as yet been undertaken in Britain. The potential application in Britain can run along various lines. In the first place there is the possibility of the project. Thus Dr. Cecil Roth has suggested that the method could be applied to gather valuable information concerning immigration to England and initial integration problems going back to the period before the First World War. The fields of potential application where the gaps in contemporary documentation can be filled by the vital experience are numerous.
