Ellen Braunstein
Sarah Schneider has a passion for the past and expertise in public programming and historical research.
She is a program associate for the Center for Oral History at the Science History Institute in Philadelphia. She is also active in the Jewish community.
Schneider, 33, volunteers as an event planner for Tribe 12, a nonprofit organization that helps Jewish people in their 20s and 30s connect with other Jews in the Philly area.
“It’s been really nice to be involved, meet new people and help foster that community,” said Schneider who belongs to the Reconstructionist synagogue, Kol Tzedek, in Philadelphia.
“There’s a lot of creative things happening in the Philadelphia Jewish community,” said Schneider, who just moved to the Point Breeze neighborhood. “It’s a big community, but small and welcoming enough that it’s easier to break in and meet new people.”
Schneider is fostering a partnership between 3G Philly and Tribe 12.
“It’s for grandchildren of Holocaust survivors who are in their 20s and 30s to have a space to get together,” she said. “I’m looking forward to seeing what comes about with that.”
As a public historian, she works with the oral history collection of scientists and engineers who have told their life stories.
“We start with their childhoods then continue through their education and careers,” she said. “How did they come into science? Who were the mentors and people who influenced them, and why are they so passionate about their work?”
The scientists may be developing new drugs or treating disease.
“It’s really inspiring to hear from scientists, hear them talk about their work and the impact they are making,” Schneider said.
Communicating technical topics to a lay audience is challenging.
“It’s a balance of trying to ask questions that the general public will understand or engage with,’’ she said.
Her interest in history and social justice began with an American Jewish history class at Brandeis University, where she received her undergraduate degree in American studies.
“I decided I wanted to work in museums or settings that are public history” as opposed to academic history, she said. “Public history presents ways of communicating history to the public whether in a museum or an archive.”
In 2018, she earned a master’s degree in history at the University of Central Florida with a concentration in public history.
Schneider wrote a master’s thesis based on oral history interviews with Holocaust survivors. She focused her research on a group of German and Austrian Jewish children
who fled Nazism via France.
“That’s how I really got into learning about oral history. When this position came around with the Science History Institute, I got into oral history through the science perspective. It’s hearing people tell their stories and sharing stories with the public.”
Learning Jewish history fueled an interest in genealogy.
“It’s interesting to learn about where we come from and how that shapes the Jewish community today,” she said.
She moved to Philadelphia from Cincinnati two years ago to take the job with the Science History Institute. She worked with the institute remotely before the move.
“It’s been really nice to have a new city to explore and a new Jewish community to learn about,” said Schneider, who plays flute in a Temple University community band.
Schneider grew up in Cincinnati, where her family attended a Conservative synagogue.
“I’m still somewhere in the realm of Conservative/Reconstructionist observance. I find them to be somewhat similar,” she said. “Both use a lot of Hebrew and traditional rituals, but I think Reconstructionist has more of a modern twist or adapts more to what’s going on in the world.”
Her favorite Jewish memories are Shabbat dinners every Friday night at her grandparents’ house.
“My grandma just passed away recently,” she said. “It was really a special time to be with my family, celebrate Shabbat and come together to have delicious food, too.”
She also remembers the Passover seders of her youth.
“We would do a lot of singing of songs with specific tunes that my family passed down,” she said.
Schneider draws from Jewish teachings to make the world a more positive place.
“Judaism emphasizes thinking about past generations and making the world better for future generations,” she said.
Ellen Braunstein is a freelance writer.
