Interview
The purpose of this interview was to obtain information from Rabbi Hyatt concerning the early history of the Jewish community of Superior. Although Rabbi Hyatt is considered to be a late arrival in the community, as the spiritual leader of Superior's oldest congregation, the Hebrew Brotherhood Synagogue, it was assumed that he might be able to provide some background of the community's religious history.
At the time of the interview, Rabbi Hyatt was recuperating from open-heart surgery complicated by emphysema. Mrs. Hyatt assisted during the interview to aid her husband who had a decided speaking disability. In addition, she translated portions of the interview conducted in Yiddish and provided information she deemed relevant during the course of our conversation.
The interview was conducted at the Hyatt home, the same house that had been occupied by Rabbi Hyatt's father and mother. It should be added that the Hyatt home maintained a shtetl atmosphere and that in the traditional manner of Eastern Europe, Rabbi Hyatt has never received a regular salary from his congregants.
Abstract to the Interview
The tapes for this interview have two tracks: a voice track containing the discussion and a time track containing time announcements at intervals of approximately five seconds. The conents list indicates in order of discussion the topics covered on each tape, and indicates the time-marking at which point the beginning of the particular discussion appears.
Thus, the researcher by using a tape recorder's fast forward button may find and listen to discrete segments without listening to all of the taped discussion. For instance, the user who wishes to listen to the topic on “Family Name Changes” should locate the place on the second track of tape one, side one, where the voice announces the 02:30 time-marking (the voice says at this point, “two minutes, thirty seconds”, and at this point switch to the first track to hear the discussion. The discussion on “Family Name Changes” continues until approximately 04:05 at which point discussion of the next topic (“Reasons for Family's Immigration to Superior”) begins.
The abstract is designed to provide only a brief outline of the content of the tapes and cannot serve as a substitute for listening to them. However it will help the researcher easily locate distinct topics and discussions among the many minutes of commentary.
