IDENTITY STATEMENT
Reference code(s): GB 0074 ACC/3349
Held at: London Metropolitan Archives
Title: JEWISH PRESS CUTTINGS
Date(s): 1872-1901
Level of description: Collection
Extent: 0.16 linear metres
Name of creator(s): Various.
CONTEXT
Administrative/Biographical history:
Nathan Adler was born in 1803 in Hanover, Germany and was the grand-nephew of Chief Rabbi David Tewele Schiff. He was educated at the universities of Gottingen, Erlangen, Wurzburg and Heidelberg and was ordained in 1828. In 1829 he was elected Senior Rabbi of the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg and in 1830 appointed to the office in Hanover in his father's stead. In 1844 Nathan Adler succeeded Chief Rabbi Soloman Hirschell and was installed on the 9th of July 1845.
Nathan Adler worked to establish uniformity of religious practices. In 1847 he issued a code of Laws and Regulations which underlined the supremacy of the Chief Rabbi. He visited provincial congregations and took an active interest in settling or preventing communal disputes. In 1855 he founded Jews College in Finsbury Square, London. It was opened as a school and college, but the attraction of good schools outside the Jewish community and the movement of Jews from the area of the City led to the school being closed in 1879.
Many changes to the composition and administrative framework of Anglo-Jewry took place during this Chief Rabbinate. Important Jewish institutions such as the Jewish Board of Guardians and the Anglo-Jewish Association were founded. In the 1860s Adler encouraged proposals for the union of Ashkenazi congregations under one management and the United Synagogue was created by Act of Parliament in 1870. It was also a period when some Jews examined their approach to their faith; some broke away from traditional observance to worship at the newly formed West London Synagogue, the first Reform congregation in Britain. The number of Jews in the country grew, especially from 1881 with the arrival of thousands of refugees fleeing from pogroms in Russia and Eastern Europe. In 1850 the Jewish population in Britain as around 35,000; in 1914 it stood at 300,000.
In the last decade of his life Nathan Adler had poor health and retired to Brighton. His son Hermann Adler acted for him as Delegate Chief Rabbi until his death on 21st January 1890.
CONTENT
Scope and content/abstract:
Two volumes of press cuttings from Anglo-Jewish newspapers, concerning aspects of Jewish life; and from national and international newspapers concerning Chief Rabbi Nathan Adler and his successor Chief Rabbi Herman Adler, 1872-1901.
ACCESS AND USE
Language/scripts of material: English
System of arrangement:
Two volumes.
Conditions governing access:
These records are available for public inspection, although records containing personal information are subject to access restrictions under the UK Data Protection Act, 1998.
Conditions governing reproduction:
Copyright to these records rests with the depositor.
Physical characteristics:
Fit.
Finding aids:
Please see online catalogues at: http://search.lma.gov.uk/opac_lma/index.htm
ARCHIVAL INFORMATION
Archival history:
Immediate source of acquisition:
Deposited in June 1994.
ALLIED MATERIALS
Related material:
See also ACC/2805/02 for papers of Chief Rabbi Nathan Adler.
Publication note:
For further information please consult the LMA Information Leaflet: "Records of the Anglo-Jewish Community at London Metropolitan Archives"; available to download here: http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/Corporation/LGNL_Services/Leisure_and_culture/Records_and_archives/Visitor_information/free_information_leaflets.htm (URL correct Feb 2010).
A detailed biography is available in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Geoffrey Alderman, "Adler, Nathan Marcus (1803-1890)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004).
DESCRIPTION NOTES
Date(s) of descriptions: Description prepared in March 2010.