Lilian Kranitz (1923-2007) Papers (K0238)
Jewish Community Archives (JCA)
Lilian Kranitz was born on November 13, 1923 in St. Joseph, Missouri,
the daughter of the Ethel and Meyer Kranitz, attended high school in Liberty,
Missouri, and lived her entire adult life in Kansas City.
She received her B.A. in Interpretive Oral History from Park College in
1976, her Master of Arts in History (Judaic
Studies) from the University of Missouri-Kansas City in 1983,
and was admitted into the doctorate program in history at the University of
Kansas-Lawrence in 1983.
Ms. Kranitz has pursued her profession as an oral historian since 1976.
Ms. Kranitz' research is based on oral history methodology.
It demonstrates how taped recollections either correlated or refuted
information obtained from Kansas City Jewish community minutes and other
documents. It also demonstrates how
oral history methodology can be used to complement written data.
She was the oral historian for
Mid America's Promise:
A Profile of Kansas City Jewry, published in 1982, a history of the Kansas City Jewish community. The tapes of her
interviews are in Central Agency for Jewish Education (CAJE) Collection
(K0670). Other of her accomplishments include:
Twelve Who Survived, an oral history
about twelve Holocaust survivors born in Lodz, Poland, published in the
Kansas City Jewish Chronicle;
A Handbook
on tape recording Jewish roots: Guidelines for family and community history;
and an Overview of the History of the
Kansas City Philharmonic (1209kc), commissioned in 1982.
Many of her research articles have been published in the
Kansas City Jewish Chronicle, and she
continues to be an active part of the Jewish community in the Kansas City area.
Ms. Kranitz was a member of
Congregation Beth Shalom and a life-long member of Hadassah. She sang in the
Beth Shalom choir and was known for her beautiful soprano voice.
The papers contain a copy of Kranitz' masters thesis, along with the taped interviews and written transcripts of 13 individuals from Lodz, Poland. It also includes notes, reports, and articles on historical background and policies towards Eastern European Jews. A bibliography of journal articles removed from the collection is included. 1923-1983.
44 folders and 21 audio cassette tapes.
© State Historical Society of Missouri
updated:
Thursday, January 03, 2013
Western Historical Manuscript Collection-Kansas City
(816) 235-1543 WHMCKC@umkc.edu