New Jewish Collections at LMA

London Metropolitan Archives continues to collect records of the Anglo-Jewish community in London and over the last few years has taken in archives from organisations which have not deposited with us before. This article concentrates on two organisations whose archives have been catalogued in the last couple of years, Joseph’s Bookstore Café Also and the Federation of Zionist Youth.

Joseph's Bookstore was founded by Michael Joseph in 1994 and opened for business in Finchley Road, Temple Fortune. Michael Joseph's aim was to stimulate and promote interest in literature and the arts by augmenting the core activity of selling books with events and other 'added value'. This added value included book launches and other events, book clubs, music performances, play readings, poetry readings and art exhibitions which took place in the bookstore or the attached café/restaurant, or sometimes both.

The bookstore combined general and remainder stock with a speciality in Jewish history and culture. Three books were published under the Joseph's Bookstore imprint: Under My Hat by Sally Berkovic; The Eternal Journey by Jonathan Wittenberg and The Silence of Dark Water by Jonathan Wittenberg. Antiquarian books and antique or collectable ritual objects for Pesach and Chanukah were also sold through the bookstore.

Authors who held multiple book launches at Joseph’s included Dannie Abse and Howard Jacobson, and artists featured in exhibitions at the bookstore included Dora Holtzhandler and Josef Herman.

In addition to these one-off book launches and events involving authors, artists and musicians, several events took place on a regular basis at the bookstore and cafe:

• The Society of Jewish Study was held at Joseph's Bookstore on the first Monday of every month, where academics gave lectures on Jewish history and culture
• Cafe Scientifique was held on the second Tuesday of every month. This was a discussion forum for scientists and the general public, part of an existing movement of Cafes Scientifique, the first of which was held in Leeds in 1998. Joseph's Bookstore was the second outlet to offer a Cafe Scientifique in London
• Dinner Jazz was held at Cafe Also on the third Wednesday of every month. Diners could listen to professional jazz musicians while enjoying their meal
• The Speaking Volumes Book Club began in June 2004 and met 4 times each year
• Psyche Matters, which began in 2003, was another discussion forum, this time focusing on psychology and mental health
• New Voices in Jewish Thought, launched in 1999, was a seminar group for early-career post-graduate academics which met at the Bookstore
• An Arab-Israeli book club also met at the Bookstore, in association with the Jewish Community Centre

Cafe Also was opened by Michael Joseph next door to the bookstore in October 2001. The restaurant did not serve kosher food, but provided vegetarian and fish dishes only, to cater for both its Jewish and non-Jewish clientele. In 2013 chef Ali Al-Sersy joined Cafe Also and expanded its repertoire of fish and vegetarian dishes, most of which had a Middle-Eastern influence.

The Bookstore and Cafe both closed on the retirement of Michael Joseph in March 2018 and the archive of the business was donated to London Metropolitan Archives. The archive (LMA reference LMA/4791) includes publicity material, reviews and photographs for the bookstore, the cafe and events held in either or both; showcards for display inside and outside the bookstore advertising new books and events; menus for Cafe Also including a full set of digital day and dinner menus running from October 2016 to March 2018; copies of books published by Joseph’s Bookstore; audio recordings in analogue and digital formats of selected events held at the bookstore or café and finally administrative documents for both the business itself and also for New Voices in Jewish Thought, one of the groups which held regular meetings at the bookstore.

The Federation of Zionist Youth (FZY) is Britain's oldest Zionist, pluralist youth movement, founded in 1910 as a merger between Young Zionist Societies and the University Zionist Federation. It is affiliated with Young Judaea in the United States and with the Hebrew Scouts movement in Israel.

After the establishment of the Jewish State of Israel in 1948 the society’s membership increased as it saw a need for close links between Israel and the diaspora; by the mid-1950s FZY boasted 30 local societies across the UK. The early 1960s saw a major restructuring of the organisation due to falling interest, resulting in the first weekly meeting societies in 1964/5, which remain the backbone of the organization today across the UK.

In the late 1970s FZY began to forge links with Young Judaea in the USA. Young Judaea’s ‘Year Course’ programme, which offers young people the chance to spend a year in Israel, inspired FZY to launch its own version which is still a major highlight of the FZY year. At the same time there was a dramatic change in its overall educational strategy, as traditional lectures were replaced by activity-based learning and more emphasis on trips and tours to Israel.

The success of this educational strategy was the catalyst for further changes in the movement, as participants returning from Year Course brought with them a more pluralist outlook for the organisation, at the same time initiating new programmes such as the Kesher summer camp.

Activism remains a strong focus of FZY and its members have been involved across 20th century Jewish history, including the establishment of the State of Israel, the Six-Day War of 1967, the Yom Kippur War of 1973 and the campaign for the freedom of Soviet Jewry.

Records of the Federation of Zionist Youth were deposited at LMA in 2018, with an additional deposit in 2022 (LMA reference LMA/4800). The archive includes publicity material and publications focusing on FZY's educational offer; magazines and newsletters produced by FZY and by its regional branches; photographs of events and tours; videos of events, tours, summer camps and year courses. As yet the videos remain undigitized so are not currently available to view except by appointment.

The paper archives of both Joseph’s Bookstore and the Federation of Zionist Youth are available to view in LMA’s Archive Study Area without restriction, except for items subject to the Data Protection Act. Digital and audio-visual items are available by appointment.