convincingly arguing that these notions a meaningful link between themselves and emphasised successful integration and the most famous Jew of the time, the distancing from the peripheries of the petitions – very often asking for material European project. Dvora Bregman (Ber help - reflect the needs of a much broader Sheva) devoted her talk to the authors of group of people expressing their hope to find a hearing in a world which looked pretty bleak at times. Finally, thousands of congratulatory messages glued into eight very weighty volumes in the collections of the Endowment have not been catalogued so far, not to speak of a digitization or transcription. Taken together, these three groups of documents indeed represent a the many examples of poetry in the very substantial collection of documents tributes, which she described as poets of offering new insights into Jewish culture limited literary value, but in some of the 19th century, including unchartered instances breaking new ground from a perspectives for genealogical research. poetological point of view – not in the Let’s hope our department, the least because they were celebrating the Endowment and research funding bodies achievements of a new type of leader. will find the best way to take this As the collection now is online fascinating field of research forward. (www.ucl.ac.uk/library/montefiore), the As was pointed out many times during question arises what lies ahead. The the seminar on that bright sunny day after cooperation between our department and a very stormy night, the project would not the Montefiore Endowment has have been possible without the sustained established a solid working relationship commitment by the Montefiore worthy to be continued. In the concluding Endowment, the Department of Hebrew discussion, several speakers emphasised and Jewish Studies, the very substantial the complementary nature of the tributes assistance from UCL Special Collections, on the one hand and the petitions on the the photographic mastery of Mary other. Whereas the tributes can be safely Hinkley from UCL Media Services, and qualified as the product of the communal the generous support offered by Martin elites around the world trying to establish
convincingly arguing that these notions emphasised successful integration and distancing from the peripheries of the European project. Dvora Bregman (Ber Sheva) devoted her talk to the authors of the many examples of poetry in the tributes, which she described as poets of limited literary value, but in some instances breaking new ground from a poetological point of view – not in the least because they were celebrating the achievements of a new type of leader. As the collection now is online (www.ucl.ac.uk/library/montefiore), the question arises what lies ahead. The cooperation between our department and the Montefiore Endowment has established a solid working relationship worthy to be continued. In the concluding discussion, several speakers emphasised the complementary nature of the tributes on the one hand and the petitions on the other. Whereas the tributes can be safely qualified as the product of the communal elites around the world trying to establish a meaningful link between themselves and the most famous Jew of the time, the petitions – very often asking for material help - reflect the needs of a much broader group of people expressing their hope to find a hearing in a world which looked pretty bleak at times. Finally, thousands of congratulatory messages glued into eight very weighty volumes in the collections of the Endowment have not been catalogued so far, not to speak of a digitization or transcription. Taken together, these three groups of documents indeed represent a very substantial collection of documents offering new insights into Jewish culture of the 19th century, including unchartered perspectives for genealogical research. Let’s hope our department, the Endowment and research funding bodies will find the best way to take this fascinating field of research forward. As was pointed out many times during the seminar on that bright sunny day after a very stormy night, the project would not have been possible without the sustained commitment by the Montefiore Endowment, the Department of Hebrew and Jewish Studies, the very substantial assistance from UCL Special Collections, the photographic mastery of Mary Hinkley from UCL Media Services, and the generous support offered by Martin
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