Who We Are

Randforce Associates LLC is led by Michael Frisch, Principal, Professor of American Studies and History/ Senior Research Scholar at the University at Buffalo, SUNY. He established Randforce in the University at Buffalo's Technology Incubator to advance oral history scholarship and public practice in the digital age. He is past President of the Oral History Association, a past president of the American Studies Association, and a former editor of the Oral History Review.

He is joined by Judith Weiland, Director of Operations, with expertise in institutional projects, local history, media production, and technology, Douglas Lambert, Director of Technology, with a background in engineering and information cartography, and Melanie Morse, whose background is in education and video production.

Since its founding in 2002, Randforce has been using new digital media tools to "put the oral back in Oral History"--to mobilize the power of voice and image for professional, community, institutional, family, and research applications.

The Randforce Amusement Corporation was a chain of neighborhood movie theatres in Brooklyn and Queens, New York. Founded in 1938 by Samuel Rinzler and Louis Frisch, Michael's grandfather, "R & F" morphed into the name Randforce. In the next generation, the company was led by Louis’s son Emanuel, Michael's father, and Harold Rinzler, Sam’s son. The company and theaters are long gone, so Michael drew on the name as a tribute to his family's pioneering role in the new media of the early twentieth century, an inspiration for the new Randforce work on the digital frontier today.