Gail Reimer, Executive Director of the Jewish Women’s Archive (JWA), announced Friday that the Library of Congress has recognized JWA by including its website, jwa.org, in its historic collection of Internet materials. The site was selected as part of the Library’s new “Single Site” initiative.

Fourteen years ago JWA decided to build a radically new kind of archive, one that would harness new technologies to become a gateway to the stories and history of Jewish women. In addition, it would invite women to become their own historians and engage them as active partners in the collection of materials that document their experience.

From online exhibitions to searchable primary sources to oral histories, the organization has created a site that can be used by educators, researchers, and Internet users worldwide. The site’s newest interactive feature, launched this month, uses Google Map technology to tap the democratic potential of the Internet to identify and map places that are important to the story of Jewish women in North America.

The blog yoyenta.com posted “The smart cookies at Jewish Women’s Archive have been writing women back into the story since 1995, and this month they launched [an] awesome way to mark the accomplishments Jewish women have made along the way.”

Reimer said, “It is wonderfully gratifying to be simultaneously recognized from the top and from the bottom, ­by the nation’s most prestigious library and by the nation’s most democratic forum – the blogosphere. How thrilling that the Library of Congress will now ensure the long-term preservation of jwa.org and its unparalleled collection of material on the lives and experiences of Jewish women.”