Research: Mapping the Jewish history of London and Manchester

Research summary

A new approach to presenting the intangible heritage of Jewish communities in London and Manchester is opening up past lives and previously hidden experiences to a new international audience.

Researchers have turned hundreds of archive documents, photos and interviews with current and former local residents into interactive online maps.

The maps capture details about the communities from the Victorian era onwards - through the Second World War and the tumultuous decades that followed it.

Visitors to the sites can access new and previously unseen accounts from people who lived and worked in the two cities and listen to oral history recordings.

The memories and testimony provided are grouped around dozens of prominent locations, helping to bring the past to life for modern audiences.

The Memory Map of the Jewish East End launched in March 2020, and lets visitors explore four themes: business, community, education and religion.

It includes recordings from Dr Lichtenstein’s archive of interviews with former and current Jewish residents of East London, as well as oral testimony from the Sandys Row collection, new and archival photographs, original research, and essays from the Survey of London.

A similar memory map focusing on the former Jewish area of Cheetham Hill in Manchester will launch in October 2021.

A collaboration with the Manchester Jewish Museum and local history expert Dr Ros Livishin, it will include oral testimony gathered in the 1970s and 1980s.