Nancy Sherman

Yiddish Book Center (Rachel) · October 13, 2010

Nancy Sherman was interviewed on October 13, 2010 at the Yiddish Book Center. Nancy Sherman’s interview begins with a brief overview of her family’s history. As Nancy shares details of her maternal family’s arrival in the United States, she describes the success story of her great-grandmother who began as a worker in a sweatshop and eventually became an interior designer. Nancy then describes her life at the border of Queens and Long Island in New York. Growing up, Nancy lived with her religious grandmother and kept kosher until she was about eleven years old, but never felt formally educated in Judaism or in its traditions. Books played a large role in Nancy’s life, and she eventually got her Masters of Fine Arts in poetry. Her interest in writing led her to the Yiddish Book Center after she wrote a magazine article about Aaron Lansky for Haddassah’s magazine. Once at the Book Center, Nancy stayed, watching the Center grow and editing its magazine, Pakn Treger. Nancy’s interview ends with a thorough discussion of a trip she took for the Yiddish Book Center to Kiev to study Ukrainian Yiddish culture. To learn more about the Wexler Oral History Project, visit: www.yiddishbookcenter.org/tell-your-story To cite this interview: Nancy Sherman Oral History Interview, interviewed by Anita Christensen, Yiddish Book Center's Wexler Oral History Project, Karmazin Recording Studio, Yiddish Book Center, October 13, 2010. Video recording, http://archive.org/details/NancySherman13october2010YiddishBookCenter ( [date accessed] )