About This Web Site . . . the story behind the story Back in July 1994, Melissa Amado, then acting director of the Archives, and I met to discuss developing a project that would bring online images of photographs housed in the Archives. At that time World Wide Web had not been discovered by the millions of people using it regularly today. The Archives, with it's comprehensive collection of photographs and manuscripts, seemed like a perfect candidate for a Web exhibit. And, the more we worked on it, the larger it grew. During the first year of developing the site, our initial concept expanded from putting a number of images online to featuring: the Southwestern Jewish pioneer experience, e-text versions of the Archives' quarterly newsletter, and an exhibit on Synagogues of the Southwest. A suggested readings list, links to related Web sites, and specialized sections on Crypto-Jews and Jewish religious objects were also added. In January 1998, the Southwest Jewish Archives was transferred from the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences' to the University Library to take advantage of the professional archivists who work in the Library's Special Collections unit. It was a recognition that the Archives is valuable collection and should be housed with other archives and manuscripts where state-of-the-art environmental conditions can better preserve its collections. In February 1998, a comprehensive re-design of the Archives Web site was begun and this new version of the Bloom Archives Web site became available in early May. Additional design improvements were added in October 1998. In November 1998, the finding aids were completed and added to the Web site. In the Fall of 2000, the Web site developed a new section to support the efforts of the local chapter of Kulanu, All of us, and is linked to the Crypto-Jews homepage. During the Fall of 2001, the Web site again underwent an extensive re-design. Mike Martelle of the U of A's Faculty Center for Instructional Innovation designed new images that give the site a fresh appearance. In addition, a new section was unveiled: Oral Histories. Please feel free to e-mail your comments to Stuart Glogoff, (revised September 2001) RETURN TO ABOUT THE SOUTHWEST JEWISH ARCHIVES WEB SITE