Australian Jewish Historical Society

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Australian Jewish Historical Society
Australian Jewish Historical Society Logo
Formation	1938
Type	Historical society
Headquarters	[[Melbourne, Victoria] and [Sydney, NSW]]
Membership	~900
Official languages	English
Website	[1]

Motto on AJHS logo is םלוע תומי רכז Deut 12:7 "Remember the days of yore"

The Australian Jewish Historical Society was founded in 1938 in Sydney. The first president was Mr. Percy J. Marks. At the first business meeting the then president of the Royal Australian Historical Society Mr. K. R. Cramp expressed the view that the chief object of the Australian Jewish Historical Society should be the encouragement of individual research.

In 1939 the Society published the first issue of the Australian Jewish Historical Society Journal.

In 1948 a Melbourne branch was established, which was informally known as AJHS(Vic). As this branch grew to become larger than the parent society it became an independent body, sharing with the older chapter in the production of the Journal. There is in fact to this date no Federal executive, the Sydney and Melbourne societies are financially independent, both have editorial committees that take turns in editing Journal Issues. Currently there are two issues of the Journal each year. The table of contents of recent issues of the Journal are online at www.ajhs.info/journal. An online cumulative index to the Journal by subject and category is online at www.ajhs.info/journal/index. This cumulative index covers all journal issues, but not special publications, from 1939 to 2004. In 2007 AJHS (Vic) published a CD holding in digital format all journal issues published 1939 to 1953.^[1] The NSW Chapter maintains extensive archives as well as a research library in Mandelbaum House, a College of the University of Sydney. AJHS(Vic) also collected extensive archives, which it has placed on indefinite loan to the State Library of Victoria in 2004.^[2].

Although the Society's principal chapters are in Sydney and Melbourne, there is also a small Canberra-based affiliate, and there are members in all states and overseas.

The gamut of the society can be seen by examining the membership of the Committees of the NSW and Victorian Chapters^[3] which include distinguished historians such as Rabbi Dr John Levi and Professor Suzanne Rutland, as well as others with a lay interest in Australian Jewish history.

From 1977 to 2006 AJHS (Vic) members under the leadership of Mrs Beverley Davis OAM transcribed the headstones of over 40,000 Jewish graves in Australia and New Zealand, as well as Jewish War Graves overseas.^[4]. This collection shall be placed on public access during the later part of 2008.

In 2007 the Society under the leadership of AJHS (Vic) president Dr Howard Freeman OAM made a noteable but unsuccessful attempt to retain intact within Australia the so-called Gurewicz Archives ^[5].