This collection is the personal archive of Nekhama "Nina" Sirotina (married name Lakhman), a Soviet Jewish actress. Born on March 11, 1919, in the town of Poddobrianka, Gomel Oblast, Nekhama Sirotina studied at the Moscow State Jewish Theater School of the Moscow State Jewish Theater (GOSET) under the famed actor and director Solomon Mikhoels. In 1938, after graduation, she joined the GOSET troupe. In 1949, following GOSET's liquidation, she was dismissed and for a brief time (1956-1965) had to work as a fabric painter at the production plant of the All-Russian Theater Society.

In 1965, Sirotina returned to acting at the Jewish Drama Ensemble of the Mosconcert (MEDA), while also writing poems, stories, and memoirs in Yiddish; these were published in the Moscow Jewish magazine "Sovetish Heymland" and in the Warsaw Jewish newspaper "Volksstimme." In October 1978, she emigrated to the United States and went on to perform in New York with solo programs of Jewish poetry and prose, and with monologues from GOSET performances, as well as acting for the New York Jewish Theater Folksbiene. She also released a vinyl album, "I Have a Language," which included poems by Sirotina herself, monologues from the works of Sholem Aleichem, and poems by other Jewish poets.