Caroline Cosgrove ’26 began working on her Senior Independent Study centered around the rise and fall of the Yiddish language. Her advisor for this project is English teacher Dr. Sara Cohen.

Cosgrove said the inspiration for the study came from her familial relationship with the language.

“I am writing a paper on the decline and revival of the Yiddish language after World War 2,” Cosgrove said. “People in my family used to speak Yiddish, and as people emigrated out of Eastern Europe, there was a significant decline [in the use of the language]. The people who didn’t leave also felt the decline due to the atrocities during the Holocaust. I’m studying Yiddish in its prime, how immigration and other factors led to its demise and how people today are trying to revive it.”

Cosgrove said she is working with a variety of sources to research her topic.

“I’m doing research with books and sources online,” Cosgrove said. “[I’m using] mainly primary sources and secondary sources, but also am going to do work in Los Angeles by talking to people in Yiddish book clubs so that I can see how it’s being revived today in Los Angeles. This summer in New York, I went to review lots of manuscripts and documents.”

Cosgrove said that while discovering historical sources was relatively easy, recent sources have been harder to find.

“The language definitely did decline,” Cosgrove said. “It’s easy to find sources on Yiddish in its prime and also in its decline, but now in terms of revival it is a small effort. Finding sources for current events has been the hardest part.”