JEWISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF ENGLAND

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0074 LMA/4711
Held at	: London Metropolitan Archives   Click here to find out how to view this collection at https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/lma ›
Full title	: JEWISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF ENGLAND
Date(s)	: 1897-2011
Level of description	: Collection
Extent	: 1.5 linear metres
Name of creator(s)	: Jewish Historical Society of England

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

The Jewish Historical Society of England was established in 1893. Its founders included Lucien Wolf, Frederick David Mocatta, Isidore Spielman, Joseph Jacobs and Israel Abrahams.

The society aims to publish and make available scholarly research into the history of Anglo-Jewry. Papers read at society meetings are printed in the society's Transactions and shorter notes appear in its Miscellanies.

The society administers annual lecture series including the Lucien Wolf lecture and the Arthur Davis Memorial lecture as well as the Asher Myers and Gustave Tuck essay prizes. It was also instrumental in setting up Anglo-Jewish Archives, a society which aimed to preserve Anglo-Jewish archive collections, the archives it collected are held by the University of Southampton.

F.D. Mocatta bequeathed his library to the Jewish Historical Society and arrangements were made in 1905 to house the library at University College London (UCL). In 1932 the Gustave Tuck lecture theatre was constructed within UCL as a base for the society, and a special library and museum were built in the college for the Mocatta Library and Museum, which also housed the Gustave Tuck collection of ritual art and antiquities. The Mocatta Library was bombed during World War II and many volumes, including early archives of the Jewish Historical Society, were destroyed.

The society has several regional branches, which have included Israel, Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool and Manchester.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Records of the Jewish Historical Society of England including minutes, administrative papers and correspondence, finance, papers relating to articles, lectures, conferences and essay prizes offered by the society, printed material and a commemorative medallion.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English, with one item in part Yiddish/part Scots dialect

System of arrangement:

Arranged in sections as follows:
LMA/4711/01 - Administration
LMA/4711/02 - Work of the Society
LMA/4711/03 - Related documentation

Conditions governing access:

Access by written permission only.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Copyright rests with the depositor.

Finding aids:

Please see online catalogues at: http://search.lma.gov.uk/opac_lma/index.htm

Archival Information

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Deposited in December 2015.

Allied Materials

Related material:

A file relating to the Jewish Historical Society can be found in the archive of the United Synagogue (ACC/2712/15/01/014).

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's note:

Rules or conventions:
Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions:
Added October 2016.