See the description of Black and Asian holdings under "Crosscultural".

See the description of Black and Asian holdings under "Crosscultural"

See the description of Black and Asian holdings under "Crosscultural"

This entry is available in a slightly longer version as a leaflet from Hackney Archives.

The London Borough of Hackney has always welcomed immigrants from overseas. Until well into the 20th century these people mostly came from Europe, but we know that the first recorded Black person to live in Hackney was in 1630. In the nineteenth century Indian nannies (“ayahs”) brought to this country by their British employers were lodged in King Edward Road, Hackney. Since the Second World War many people from the Caribbean, Africa, the Indian subcontinent, and the Middle and Far East have come to Hackney to live and work.

The following list of records and local history library material is not exhaustive. It mainly consists of official records of bodies such as Hackney Council, which make reference to ethnic minorities, and to records and publications of campaigning bodies. There is not much that is representative of community groups, or which relates to the lives and achievements of individuals. This is because few of these sorts of records have deposited with Hackney Archives Department.

We are keen however to take in such records so that we can reflect fully the different communities which make up the London Borough of Hackney, and we can also advise community groups on the care of their own records.

Archives

Hackney Council for Coloured Citizens. Minutes 1959-63.H/Z 7

Hackney Citizens Liaison Council (later Hackney Community Relations Council). Minutes 1965-67 H/Z 1

Latter Rain Outpouring Revival Church, Hoxton D/E265 LAT

London Borough of Hackney committee minutes: Community Panel Housing Race Relations Sub-committee LBH/HSA 2

Other records at Hackney Archives Department

The records of Hackney Trades Council (D/S/52) includes correspondence relating to the fight against racism.

Local History Library

Hackney Archives Department also holds the local history reference library for the London Borough of Hackney.

Personal Testimony

I Gordon, Going where the work is

I Gordon, It can happen

S Sistren, Benji

Race Relations

Department of the Environment, Local authorities and racial disadvantage. 1983

Hackney Council for Racial Equality, Annual Report. 1978-1994

C Husbands, East End racism 1900-1980. 1982

Trades Councils, Blood on the street: a report by Bethnal Green Stepney Trades Council on racial attacks in East London. 1978

Organisations

Hackney African Organisation, Newsletter. 1985-86

Hackney African Organisation, Reporter. 1988

Hackney Against Racism, Newsletter. 1979, 1984-5

Hackney Anti- Apartheid Group, Newsletter. 1991

Hackney Citizens Liaison Council, Newsletter. 1967

Newpapers

Hackney Archives Department holds copies of the Hackey Gazette, and other local newspapers, including examples of the radical press which played a part in the fight against racism in the 1980s. We also hold files of cuttings relating to ethnic communities and political campaigns.

The following information is also available as a leaflet from Hackney Archives:

The Jewish community is one of the oldest established in the London Borough of Hackney, and dates back to 1674, less than twenty years after the Jewish Re-admission to England in 1656. By 1800 there was a considerable population, especially in Stamford Hill, where members of the Montefiore and Rothschild families lived.

There was increasing immigration of Jewish people into Hackney and Shoreditch, particularly from Eastern Europe during the late 19th century. Many footwear, clothing, and - especially in Shoreditch - furniture businesses prospered. Synagogues were set up; Hackney Synagogue was founded in 1881. In the 20th century, Jewish groups played a leading role in the local, as well as the national, fight against Fascism. At the beginning of the 21st century, the Jewish presence remains strong in the Borough, particularly the Hassidic community in the Stamford Hill area.

Jewish people in Hackney have always participated in the social and political activities of the wider community. This activity, as well as evidence of Jewish businesses, political organisations and social and religious life is well represented in the archives and local history library holdings of Hackney Archives Department.

Archives

Political and Trade organisations

Workers’ Circle Friendly Society records [1909]-84 D/S/61

Formed by the amalgamation of two Russian Jewish friendly societies, it ran a school and convalescent home as well as being active in the fight against fascism in the UK. It closed in 1985

National Union of Tailors and GarmentWorkers(LondonMantle andCostume Branch) records 1913-1955 D/S/24

Incorporating the Ladies Tailors, Machinists and Pressers Trade Union. The Hackney clothing industry was largely a Jewish undertaking and these records reflect that.

Religious and Social organisations

Lubavitch Foundation printed material 1959-94 D/F/KIN

Printed material 1953-85 M4407

Leaflets, brochures and programmes. Also includes printed material relating to the Jewish Family Resource Centre, and the Jewish Women's Centre.

Other records at Hackney Archives Department

Jewish people who served the community will be mentioned in the records of local government bodies of Hackney, Shoreditch and Stoke Newington which are held here. See also our biography files, and D/F/STAN, the papers of Stoke Newington Councillor John Stanton J.P., sometime president of the Jewish Psychic Society. We also hold correspondence between a Jewish serviceman and his wife 1938-43, M4043.

Local History Library

Hackney Archives Department also holds the local history reference library for the London Borough of Hackney. The following list is not exhaustive, and you should consult our card and digital catalogues.

General History of Jewish Community in Hackney

M. Bernstein Stamford Hill and the Jews before 1915

M. Brown Jews of Hackney before 1840

B.A. Kosmin and Jews in an Inner London Borough: a N Grizzard study of the Jewish population of LB Hackney

A & M Shapiro Jewish Londoners

Jewish East Enders

M Wallach The Chasidim of Stamford Hill

Political organisations and the fight against Fascism

M. Beckman The 43 Group

Hackney Crucible

J. Bush Behind the Lines: East London labour 1914-1919

Business

W.I. Massil Immigrant furniture workers in London 1881-1939

Religious and social life

Jewish Women in Generations of Memories: voices of London Group Jewish women

Rev. B. Joseph History of Hackney Synagogue

Paul Lindsay Synagogues of London

North London Monthly Bulletin 1964-74

Progressive Synagogue Stamford Hill Annual Reports 1951-63

Associated Clubs

Personal Testimony

Harry Blacker Just Like it Was

Martha Lang The Austrian Cockney

The Department holds a number of oral history reminiscences of Jewish people on tape and in transcript.

Records in other repositories

Many of the records of the Jewish community in London are at the London Metropolitan Archives (LMA). These records include those of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, and the United Synagogue. Also held by the LMA are the records of the Victoria Club, a Jewish youth club in Hackney. For further details see LMA leaflet no. 18, Archives of the Anglo-Jewish Community at London Metropolitan Archives.