Mira Jedwabnik Van Doren, founder of The Vilna Project, was born in Wilno, Poland (now Vilnius, Lithuania) in 1929 to Dr. David Jedwabnik, a noted doctor, and Lydia Baruchson Jedwabnik, a gifted artist. Six days before Hitler marched into Poland (September 1, 1939), 10-year-old Mira sailed with her parents to the United States to visit the New York World's Fair.

Unable to return home because of the outbreak of hostilities, she grew up in New York City, studied at the High School of Music and Art, Queens College, Cranbrook Art Academy, the Arts Students' League and Columbia University, earning a degree in Fine Arts.

As an artist, Ms. Van Doren has exhibited widely and her paintings are in numerous private collections. She is also an award-winning artist pioneer in the art of vitreous enamel on steel, has been commissioned to create murals, doors, elevators, furniture and decorations for ships, banks, hotels, synagogues and churches.

In 1989 Ms. Van Doren formed a non-profit organization, The Vilna Project, Inc., dedicated to preserving, documenting and disseminating material evoking the richness and diversity of pre-war Vilna (Wilno). She conducted extensive research toward depicting Jewish life in the city, assembling more than 120 hours of interviews with survivors and scholars in the United States and abroad, and collecting thousands of photographs and other historic material.

In 1998, Ms. Van Doren produced a 30-minute short, "Hidden Treasures", relating the discovery in Vilnius after 50 years of a large collection of books and records that had been hidden from the Nazis in a former monastery during the Holocaust. (See photo left).

In 2006, she completed the 58-minute documentary "THE WORLD WAS OURS" depicting the remarkable Jewish community of Vilna before its destruction in World War II. It is being shown nationally at various film festivals and on WNET - Channel 13. The YIVO Institute awarded her the first Vilna Award for Distinguished Achievement and she has been honored by the Folksbiene Yiddish Theatre for her work on the documentary film.

Ms. Van Doren is married to John Van Doren who, for over 30 years, was the Executive Editor of "The Great Ideas Today" and a fellow of the Institute for Philosophical Research. He was also a professor of American History and English at Brandeis University and Boston University. The Van Dorens have two sons, two daughters-in-law and four grandchildren.