Through this website, listings and many of the holdings of the Australian Jewish Historical Society (AJHS) are electronically accessible. AJHS has a unique collection of documents spanning books, manuscripts, newspapers, historical records, audiotapes, videotapes and other printed electronic or audio-visual content. Material on almost every aspect of Jewish life is available, such as genealogical information, personal papers, bound newspapers and institutional records sourced from individuals through to synagogues, communities, and Jewish organisations.

As per the AJHS Constitution, AJHS is dedicated to promoting the study of Jewry in Australia from 1788. AJHS has sought to compile and make available unique and authentic records relating to the Jewish people in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands via the acquisition and preservation of historically significant documents and materials. 

Equally, AJHS has pursued the conservation of places of Jewish interest and continues to foster the interchange of information through its journal,  lectures, discussions, publications and exhibitions of historical interest or value. 

Founded in August 1938 by Rabbi Leib Falk, Sydney Glass, Hirsch Munz and Percy Marks, AJHS was initially focused on the publication of a journal and operated without an official address. Yet, under the long and dedicated stewardship of the Great Synagogue’s Rabbi Israel Porush, AJHS flourished, in time expanding to Victoria in 1949 and the Australian Capital Territory in 1984.

After many years of adding to, storing and preserving its archives at various sites around Sydney, a home was ultimately found at the Sydney Jewish Museum – former Maccabean Hall in Darlinghurst. Here, AJHS’s assets were available to the public and academics and was used by the community to source material for displays and publications.

In 1971, Prof Alan Crown of Sydney University identified a need to establish a repository for communal archives which was housed within the Rare Book Department of Fisher Library at Sydney University.

In 2017, with the ongoing financial support of JCA, AJHS became the official repository of the ever expanding archives of many of the community’s Jewish institutions.

In 2020, funded by a bequest from the late Louise Rosenberg and named in her honour, a secure, climate controlled archive storage was established within the Darlinghurst building 

In 2021, the holdings of the Archive of Australian Judaica were consolidated with those of AJHS.

In 2023, AJHS amalgamated with the Australian Jewish Genealogical Society to create a single point of contact for researchers into the story of Jewish life in Australia.

AJHS Archives Policy