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Our Archive

 

Our Archive

 

UPDATE:  March 2011

 

A group of dedicated volunteers sorted through hundreds of strorage boxes to find items worth preserving for our synagogue archive.  By the end of March 2011, we had established a dedicated archive room and divided these ‘finds’ in to a number of clearly defined sections.  The next job will be to analyse what we have and to see how best we can preserve the material.  The sections in our archive are:

  • Official records

minute books, ritual committee,
literary society, ladies guild, official documents, marriage records,
annual reports, byelaws of the US

  • Services

order of services, bat and bar mitzvah programmes and invites, wedding programmes and invites, printed sermons

  • Magazine

synagogue magazines, newsletters, invitations, leaflets, etc.

  • Misc

items referencing officers and members of the Hampstead Synagogue, caretaker’s hat  

  • Visual

photos, line drawings, portraits, pictures, printer’s engraving blocks

  • Valuable artefacts

Original menorah, small silver menorah, kiddish cups, etc.

  • Children

cheder material, children’s synagogue art deco lamps, etc.

 

When the Community Centre is rebuilt, we have plans to have a permanent space to display part of our archive.  To whet your appetite, here is a reproduction of the History of the Hampstead Synagogue which was included in an Order of Service booklet for the Fiftieth Anniversary in 1942. Click HERE 

 

Our earliest photograph?

The picture below (c.1897) could be the earliest photograph of the synagogue interior and our only photographic record of the pre-war stained glass windows.  It shows the original building which would soon be expanded by moving the back wall and Ark further south.  Central seating would be added on the ground floor and the Ladies Gallery would be further expanded above the vestibule.  These additions were necessary to house the largest United Synagogue community of the time.

 

 

We thank the Jewish Museum, London for their assistance.