The original Archive founders in 1986
The Archive of Australian Judaica has been functioning since July 1983. What does it contain?
Records, partial or complete, of the major Jewish community organisations, some of which are now defunct.
Photographs of individuals in their roles as members of community organisations or in meetings of historic community import. Photographs of places of community interest, such as synagogues and personalities, or notable events.
Tapes, including programmes of the Jewish Radio Hour from its inception in 1978, seminars of the Australian Association of Jewish Studies, all the reels of "You don't have to be Jewish", some oral histories and over 160 interviews with Holocaust Survivors of the Twelfth Hour Project.
Videos are collected by the Archive, and include an interview with Helena Mann, a Holocaust survivor, and a video of the art exhibition of the Jewish Arts and Culture Council in 1989.
Compact discs of Jewish liturgical musical compositions are also being added to the collection, and dvd's, including the transcripts of interview with Holocaust survivors.
Books and Periodicals: Early in the existence of the Archive a decision was taken that books and periodicals acquired by the Archive would be housed with the regular research collections of the library and would be catalogued in the usual way. However, in situations where there is no parallel subject holding in the library, e.g. printings of the Yiddish press in Australia, the books and periodicals remain in the Archive.
Theses: Researchers using the collection are encouraged to deposit their earlier theses in the Archive, also pledging a copy of any work based on archival papers consulted in the Archive. Current bibliographical resources are scanned.
Subject files: These are basically drawn from periodical and manuscript materials, and include clippings from journals and photocopies of articles. Files are kept on such topics as Jewish education, immigration, the Freeland League, Jewish communities and organisations, and on Australian Jewish individuals, are continually being updated. A large number of files were recently acquired from the Jewish News offices.
Ephemera: Transient documents, generally termed ephemera, have a unique importance for social history and related disciplines. Though ephemeral material was generally discarded in the past and is not kept except by a few dedicated collectors, this material often provides background material to historical events, and small details not preserved in official records. The material includes invitation cards, concert programmes, broadsheets and posters. A substantial collection, filed under organisation now exists in the Archive.
Some of the records and minutes deposited in the Archive are of a semi-confidential nature. Depositing organisations have asked for the semi-confidential records to be place on restricted access. To keep faith with donors and depositors, researchers seeking to use restricted access papers are to bring a signed authority from the organisation concerned. Nowadays fax and email are acceptable.
The original Archive founders in 1986
L to R. Dr Neil Radford, (former University Librarian), Dr Jennifer Alison (Acquisitions Librarian), Dr Marianne Dacy (Archivist), Prof Alan Crown (Former Head of Semitic Studies and Emeritus Professor in Hebrew, Jewish and Biblical Studies). He is currently one of the masters of Mandelbaum House and a trustee.
Dr Neil Radford
The three original proposers of the project were the University Librarian, Dr Neil Radford and Professor Alan Crown (at that time Head of Semitic Studies) as well as Dr Jennifer Alison, who, at the time was the Gifts and Exchange Librarian. Dr Marianne Dacy (NDS) continues to act as archivist/librarian of the collection.
John Shipp has replaced Neil Radford who retired at the end of 1996. The latter recently donated a sum for annual scholarship to assist library staff to attain qualifications and further training, often over several years, till the conclusion of their courses.Alan Crown now Professor Emeritus in the Department of Hebrew, Jewish and Biblical Studies continues as Project Director.
The Library is host to the Archive, integrating it into the routine framework of library activities while retaining its own identity, and receiving financial support from non-library resources, in latter years mainly from the Mandelbaum Trust. Running expenses are supplemented from donations of Friends of the Archive and occasional "one off" donations. Currently it functions within the framework of the Rare Book Library
In May 2005, Professor Alan Crown appointed a third Archive director, Professor Alan Crown's successor in the Department, A/Professor Suzanne Rutland, whose students have been users of the Archive for many years. with Professor Reif Ebied, at the 2007 International Conference on Hebrew Language, Literature and Culture held from 2-4 July at The University of Sydney.
Dr Marianne Dacy , Archive of Australian Judaica
