Memory Project Visual History Archive

In 2015, Andrea Lauer Rice and Reka Pigniczky, an award-winning documentary producer, co-founded the Memory Project Visual History Archive.

As Hungarian Americans, they both had the goal of passing on their heritage to the next generation. These longtime friends combined their talents to create a visual history archive to share people’s stories in their own words. The stories were of immigration or revolution, of building a family and creating a legacy, of finding ways to honor their roots.

They worked to document the story of Hungarian immigrants to the US – focusing on refugees from WW2 and the 1956 Revolution.

Methodology

Based on the gold standard in the oral history industry, they created a uniform methodology to conduct interviews. Working with local communities, they identified participants and began their interviews.

To date they have traveled to 25 locations in the United States, Germany and Hungary and conducted more than 150 interviews with Hungarian immigrants to the United States.

During the next phase of MP, they are working to create a global internship program to train young people across the world to continue the work. In addition, they are linking with other oral and visual history projects around the community. They hope to continue to build the archive and ensure that as many stories as possible are recorded and preserved.

Over the years, Memory Project has received generous support from The Hungary Initiatives Foundation, The Magyar Foundation,  The 1956 Commemoration Fund, the US Embassy in Hungary and The Gabor Bethlen Foundation. In addition, they are grateful to many Hungarian American organizations and individuals within the community who have supported their work.

In 2018, Memory Project received a prestigious award from The Friends of Hungary Foundation.

For more information, please visit http://memoryproject.online

Credits:

• Memory Project co-Founders and Interviews Conducted by – Andrea Lauer Rice, Reka Pigniczky
• Camera – Reka Pigniczky, Andrea Lauer Rice
• Editor – Reka Pigniczky