Archives of the JEWISH CHRONICLE newspaper
Extent and Medium
198 boxes
Biographical History
The first issue of the JEWISH CHRONICLE newspaper appeared in October 1841, a month after another journal, the VOICE OF JACOB, produced by Jacob Abraham Franklin. The two publications had different standpoints, but it was clear by the mid-1840s that there was insufficient market in Anglo-Jewry to support two newspapers and the publications subsequently merged. The history of the JEWISH CHRONICLE has attracted considerable attention, although for much of the period before World War II, this has to be written from the text of the newspaper itself: most of the JEWISH CHRONICLE archive failed to survive an air raid on 29 December 1940, which destroyed the offices of the newspaper in Moor Lane, London. ([C.Roth] THE JEWISH CHRONICLE 1841-1941: A CENTURY OF NEWSPAPER HISTORY (London, 1949); D.Cesarani THE JEWISH CHRONICLE AND ANGLO-JEWRY, 1841-1991 (Cambridge, 1994); D.Cesarani REPORTING ANTI SEMITISM: THE JEWISH CHRONICLE 1879-1979 (Southampton, 1994); D.Cesarani, `The importance of being editor: the JEWISH CHRONICLE, 1841-1991', JEWISH HISTORICAL STUDIES 32 (1993) pp. 259 78.)
The main archive of the newspaper is supplemented by further groups of correspondence with J.A.Franklin and later editors, which have survived independently.
Scope and Content
Company records of JEWISH CHRONICLE Group companies, 1941 91
Central administrative files for the JEWISH CHRONICLE: colour magazine, 1968 76; JEWISH CHRONICLE Association Football Trophy Competition, 1957 75; JEWISH CHRONICLE-H.H.Wingate Literary Awards, 1976 83; readership and circulation, 1958 79; staff, including `J.C.' NEWS LETTER, 1941 5; supplements, 1963 79; syndication, 1963 82; LIVERPOOL JEWISH GAZETTE, 1965 6 (87 files)
Papers of directors of the JEWISH CHRONICLE and associated companies, including the papers of David F.Kessler, with material relating to the Minority Rights Group, the Religious Weekly Press Group, the Paladin Club, the Parkes-Wiener Association and the Wiener Library, 1947 87 (105 files); papers as managing director of the JEWISH CHRONICLE, 1947 82 (57 files); papers relating to JEWISH CHRONICLE Publications and Vallentine, Mitchell Ltd., 1948 81 (45 files), with production and author correspondence of the general managers, 1957 73 (39 files); papers of L.J.Stein, 1941 7, 1957; editorial policy of the newspaper towards Palestine, May-June 1946
Correspondence of editors of the JEWISH CHRONICLE, arranged in an annual, alphabetical sequence, and a further group covering subjects organisations and regular correspondents: J.M. SHAFTESLEY, 1938 59 (394 files), regular correspondents including Professor N. Bentwich, M. Carr, A.L. Easterman, M. Jacobs, S. Landman, C. Landstone, J. Leftwich, Rabbi Dr S.M. Lehrman, Lord Nathan, Rabbi J.Porton, C. Roth, Hon. Edwin Samuel (later Viscount Samuel), Revd W.W. Simpson, H. Soref, C.S. Spencer and Miss G. Zimmerman WILLIAN FRANKEL, 1959 79 (349 files), regular correspondents including Sir Isaiah Berlin, Hon. Edwin Samuel, M. Oppenheimer, L.J. Stein, A.S. Karlikow, C. Roth, and Rabbi Professor L. Finkelstein.
G.D. PAUL, 1975 89 (257 files), including correspondence with Haham Dr S.Gaon and Rabbi W. Kelman
Other historical papers and photographs, 1908 64 (4 files); JEWISH WORLD, 1892 1902; HASHULAMITH, 1891
Letters addressed to J.A. Franklin, editor of the VOICE OF JACOB, 1841 6, 1873 7 (MS 225/17/1)
Papers of J.M.A. Gwyer about Palestine, the Negev and the partition of Palestine, including correspondence with Lord Reading, Neville Laski, Edmund de Rothschild, Chaim Weizmann and James Parkes, 1939 41 (MS 225/17/2)
Memorandum by Marcus J. Sieff on the recognition of Israel and on the implications of British policy towards Israel, c.Aug 1948 (MS 225/17/3)
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