Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1912-01-01-1950-05-31 (Creation)
Level of description
Fonds
Extent and medium
Global extent: 8 linear meter (22 boxes, n°832 to 854), 593 items; Box number 842 does not exist.
Context area
Name of creator
Administrative history
Ottoman period:
Jerusalem municipal council (majlis baladiyya, meclis-i belediye) came into existence in the early 1860s. Jerusalem was, in fact, one of the very first cities within the Ottoman Empire to form a municipality, which was further consolidated after the Ottoman law on municipalities in 1877. From the 1880s onward, the municipal council was composed of nine to twelve members, elected for a renewable mandate of four years: there were generally six Muslims, two Christians, and one or two Jews on the council (depending on the period), in addition to a maximum of four ex officio members.
Mandate period:
Construction of the historical city hall building in 1930 (used until 1993)
From 1948: to be completed.
Repository
Archival history
The services of the Municipality have been relocated several times, causing the archives to be kept in different premises. This could explain why the archives are identified with box numbers, instead of a codification and the name of the service.
Moreover, this record group has been filed and inventoried at least twice in the past. In fact, the files present three different codifications:
The number of the box (ex. B 832)
The original codification, done during the first work of inventory (ex. A/13/40)
The present codification, done by the last work of inventory (ex. 1-1-1).
In order to keep all information about this record group and the work of filing done, it has been decided to mention these three codifications in the inventory.
Finally, it appeared during this work of inventory that a lot of files weren’t in the right box : the inventory (written during the first work of classification) classified them in a box but, during the second work of inventory, they were removed in another box, without modifying the inventory. With the authorisation of the director of the archives office, it has been decided to put them back in the box mentioned in the inventory.
The Jerusalem City Archives usually includes in each file a list of its records. Thus, each file includes a list and all the documents listed. The file n° B837/1-61/11/3 is an exception because it includes a list of 253 documents that are actually missing.
The box 842 doesn't exist.
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Transfer from the creator services.
Content and structure area
Scope and content
This record group is supposed to be the documents created by the service of the town clerk during the British Mandate. However, most of the documents have been created between the end of the 1920s and the beginning of the 1950s. The gap into the records for the first years of the Mandate remains unexplained.
This record group mainly consists of correspondence and reports which show the organisation of the Municipality. Moreover, a section of this record group deals with the security of the City during the 1930s and 1940s.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
The collection is closed.
System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Subject to the authorization of the head of the Archives office of Jerusalem City Archives.
Conditions governing reproduction
Language of material
Script of material
Language and script notes
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Finding aids
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related units of description
Publication note
To be completed.
Notes area
Alternative identifier(s)
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
Genre access points
Description control area
Description identifier
Institution identifier
Rules and/or conventions used
ISAD(G): Second Edition, Ottawa 2000.
Status
Level of detail
Dates of creation revision deletion
Catalogue prepared on March 2016
Language(s)
Script(s)
Sources
Archivist's note
Inventory of the Record group of the Municipal Archives of Jerusalem during the British Mandate
(1912-1950, 593 items) held by Jerusalem municipal Archives, first made by Menachem Levin, previous head of the Archives office, and Michael Mahler, actual head of the Archives office, then modified by Héléna Rigaud within the framework of the ERC Open Jerusalem Project, directed by Dr Vincent Lemire, 2016.