Identity area
Type of entity
Authorized form of name
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
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.