Israel: records in the IALS Archives

Written by Clare Cowling, IALS Archivist |
Image of archival boxes on shelves

What we hold

The Archives holds a small number of records relating to Israel covering the period 1922-1995.  The records will be found in the following collections:

Papers of Sir William Dale (archives reference: DALE)

 Link to: Papers of Sir William Dale

William Leonard Dale (1906–2000), lawyer and civil servant, was born on 17 June 1906 and trained as a lawyer and barrister.  His illustrious career included working with an English solicitor practising in Jaffa, then part of Palestine.   His personal correspondence in the 1930s describes his experiences of living and working in Jaffa (reference DALE/1) and includes his diary while working there as an advocate (DALE/2).  Other relevant material is at DALE/3 and DALE/4.

In 1961 Dale became the legal adviser to the Commonwealth Relations Office.  A spell in the law officers' department (1967–68) was followed by a decision to move to Beirut as general counsel to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees.  Tributes to his time there plus newspaper cuttings will be found at DALE/6 and DALE/8.

In 1994 Dale was appointed one of the expert advisers appointed to the Overseas Development Administration (ODA) engagement project by the IALS to study the existing Palestinian legal infrastructure of the Gaza Strip and to recommend suitable financial and technical assistance.  His papers relating to this project are at DALE/3.

Records of the International Association of Law Libraries (IALL)

Link to: Records of the International Association of Law Libraries

The International Association of Law Libraries held a conference in Jerusalem in 1984; for these records see IALL/7/2, IALL/8/8 and IALL/14/4.

Link to:  Institute archives of the IALS

The IALS has a Director’s file of correspondence with universities in Israel dated 1975: see IALS/2/5/8/14

Link to: IALS Library archives

Includes some papers of Frederick Maurice GOADBY, a lecturer at the Government Law Classes, Jerusalem, relating to private international law and personal status in Palestine in the 1920s and 1930s (ref: IALSLIB/10).

International Law Association (ILA) Archives, 1866-2019

Link to: ILA Archives 1966-2019

Records in the ILA include conference material (ILA/2/44/2) records of the ILA in Israel, 1953-1988 (ILA/4/48) and ILA Library pamphlets relating to persecution of Jews in Germany and to Palestine from c.1922-1936 (Ref: ILA/6). 

Related material

Though there are only a few specific references to Israel in the records of the Archives, there is doubtless much information of relevance in the records covering the middle east generally.  For these records see the IALS Archives Subject Guide: Colonialism, Decolonisation and the Law. For records relating to Palestine prior to and following the creation of the state of Israel see IALS Archives Jurisdiction Guide: Palestine.  To browse the Archives catalogues generally see this link: https://ials.sas.ac.uk/ials-library/archives/ials-archives-collections

Access

All the records listed may be viewed by prior appointment in the IALS Library.  Requests for an appointment to examine any of the records should be made to the Archivist (IALS.Archives@sas.ac.uk).  

About the IALS Archives

The IALS Archives was established in the 1990s during the Records of Legal Education Project, funded by the Leverhulme Trust to investigate records of legal education. During the project IALS accepted a number of collections from individuals and organisations which otherwise had no institutional archives or were at risk of loss. Since the end of the project IALS has continued to accept deposits of archive material relating to legal education.  

Logo from TNA for an accredited archive service

The IALS Archives have been designated an “Accredited Archive Service” by The National Archives (TNA) in recognition of our archive service and management of this unique legal archives collection.

Clare Cowling

Clare Cowling is the IALS Archivist and an experienced archivist and records manager who has worked in legal archives management for many years.

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