Survey of Jewish Archives

About the Survey of Jewish Archives in the UK and Ireland

Claude G Montefiore

Aim of the survey

The aim of the survey is to bring together on a computerised database information about papers relating to Jewish individuals and families, Jewish organisations, congregations and communities in the UK and Ireland held both publicly and privately

The stages of the survey

  • A preliminary stage was the creation of a core list of names of prominent Anglo-Jewish individuals, prominent Jewish organisations and congregations and communities to use as a base in researching material.
  • As a next stage, in the region of 500 questionnaires were distributed to repositories, organisations, institutions in both the UK and Eire seeking information on their holdings. The response rate was overall high, nearly 90%. The survey questionnaire was designed so that it gathered information on whether repositories held material in a number of broadly defined categories: for synagogues and communities, on community, social and welfare organisations, on refugees or immigrants, on schools, educational or youth organisations, on business and of individuals or families. Information from these questionnaires was used as a basis for entries for the computerised database.
  • Following on from the questionnaire, a systematic search is being made of lists, catalogues and indexes for references to material relating to Jewish individuals, organisations, communities, etc. This search uses as its basis a core list. Further up-to- date information on collections comes by a number of different routes, but two which should be mentioned and acknowledged are the assistance of repositories that send catalogues of new collections and the Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts which sends information of new acquisitions or material to be auctioned
  • In 2004-5, a grant from the Hanadiv Trust was used to support work focused specifically on Jewish organisations and businesses. Identifying and tracing the archives in this group is the most complicated. It is this group that has the lowest percentage of material within record repositories, yet it is the records of organisations and businesses that help place UK Jewry within a European and international perspective and highlight the origins of the UK Jewish community in other parts of Europe.

    The database is an on-going project and continues to be updated as entries are compiled.

    The structure of the data

    Information on how the data is arranged and structured within the database is set out elsewhere.