Scope and content
The fonds consists of documents from the central registry of the Hebrew University.
It covers various aspects of the university’s activities and development in the decades
after its establishment in the period of the British Mandate in Palestine. It includes
protocols of the university’s various decision-making bodies, files of the various
research institutes, departments and faculties, Student admission, academic nominations,
relations with scholars as well as other academic and non-academic bodies in Palestine
and abroad, donations and partnerships, land purchase, development of infrastructure,
etc.
It contains material relating to many prominent Jewish academics and personalities
such as: Hugo Bergman, Martin Buber, Albert Einstein, Josef Horovitz, Richard Koebner,
Judah Leon Magnes, Max Schloessinger, Gershom Scholem, David Werner Senator, Henrietta
Szold and others.
Archival history
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem was inaugurated in 1918 and officially opened in
1925. Along with the university’s establishment a central registry (“the archive”)
was created. During the 1948 War the university moved from its site on Mount Scopus,
which became a demilitarized zone, to other locations in Jerusalem. Some of the archives’
holdings remained on the demilitarized mount, while others, required for the university’s
administration, were maintained and temporarily kept in various locations in Jerusalem.
Following the 1967 War, a new university campus was built in Mount Scopus, to which
the archive was relocated. Since 1979 all of the collections of the historical archive
have been stored in one repository.
Processing information
The archival description of the fonds was made between 2016 and 2018 in the framework
of the project “German-Jewish Knowledge and Cultural Transfer, 1918–1948”.
System of arrangement
The system of arrangement corresponds to the filing system of the central registry
that was first established in 1931 and expanded in 1935. The fonds is made up of a
deposition of series. The materials from the first five years (1925–1930) consist
of a separate series. Each of the subsequent years (1931–1948) composes a separate
series covering the university's activity for a year.
The system of arrangement corresponds to the filing system of the central registry
that was first established in 1931 and expanded in 1935. The fonds is made up of a
deposition of series. The materials from the first five years (1925–1930) consist
of a separate series. Each of the subsequent years (1931–1948) composes a separate
series covering the university's activity for a year.
Materials of the years 1931–1948 were organized in the central registry according
to the following topics:
(0) Property and Economy: includes land purchase files and building plans of the university
and the National and University Library
(1) Academic Authorities, Organization and Institutional Relations: includes protocols
of the university’s various decision-making bodies (Board of Governors, University
Council, Academic Council, Standing Committee, Executive Committee, Teaching Committee,
Senate and various provisional committees)
(2) Research and Teaching, Development of the University: includes files of each of
the university’s Research Institutes and Departments and student and faculty applications.
Reflecting the university’s gradual development, it includes materials related to
the establishment of departments and specific teaching fields that eventually developed
into full departments; files of the Faculties for Humanities, Mathematics and Natural
Sciences and the Pre-Faculty of Medicine and Agriculture
(3) Students and Alumni: includes files of the Student Organization, tuition, loans
and housing, as well as of various student assistance funds
(4) Awards and Scholarship: includes files of various award-granting funds and individuals
(5) Publications: includes files of the University Press Association and other academic
publications
(6) Public Relations: includes files of the university’s Friends associations in various
locations
(7) Finances: includes budget and donations
(8) Administration: includes forms and office materials, as well as the archive’s
own files
(9) Events and Ceremonies: includes files on visitors and guest lectures, as well
as Miscellaneous and files catalogued as “temporary”.
The reference code of a file is composed of the letter “A” signifying the fonds, a
two digit serial number for the series, a three digit serial number for the box and
the file’s original registry number as its last part.
Physical description
281 Boxes
Other descriptive information
Keywords
Corporate names: The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Language of the material
ArabicCyrillicHebrewLatin
Record creator
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Content provider
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Central Archive
(Mount Scopus Campus, Sherman Administration Building, Jerusalem, Israel, 9190501, Telephone: 02-588-2931, Fax: 02-588-2956, Email: ofert@savion.huji.ac.il, https://new.huji.ac.il/en/page/1074)