Dr. Wolf (Bill) Matsdorf collection

Document | Digitized | Accession Number: 2012.138 | RG Number: RG-69.009M

Overview

Description: This collection contains the papers of Wolf (Bill) Matsdorf, a social worker and one of the originators of the Australian Jewish Welfare Society Sheltered Workshop, established in 1955. He was also involved in other activities within the Jewish community including the Jewish Council to Combat Fascism and Anti-Semitism and the Society for the Rescue of European Jewry. Papers include: documents of the Australian Jewish Welfare Society, the Jewish Council to Combat Fascism and Anti-Semitism, the Australia-Israel Society for Cultural Exchange; the Kimberley plan; personal records and papers on trends in deviant behavior among Jewish people in New South Wales, the problems of migrants, prison after-care, the aged and mental health. Includes copies of Matsdorf's previously unpublished work, "No Time to Grow. The Story of the Gros-Breeseners in Australia", numerous journal and newspaper articles as well as 14 photographs of Australian Jewish Welfare Society activities, 4 photographs from the Beth Hatefutsoth Exhibition "Jews on the Land, 1983"; and personal family photographs.
Date: inclusive: 1940-1989

Language: English
Genre/Form: Photographs. Clippings (Books, newspapers, etc.)
Extent: 554 digital images : PDF ; 139 MB.
1 microfilm reel ; 35 mm.
1 DVD-ROM ; 4 3/4 in..
System of Arrangement: Arranged in the folllowing series: Series 1: Publications on prisons and mental health, 1960-67, Social Services for the aged by Matsdorf 1957, various correspondence on the Kimberley Plan, newspaper clippings; Series 2: The Australian Jewish News (AJN) articles "Can we Help You," Australia and Immigration, study on the postwar Jewish community in Australia; Series 3: Variety of correspondence including Jewish welfare, Nazism, mental health, migrants, article "A New Jerusalem in Australia-the Kimberly Plan," "No Time to Grow. The Story of Gross-Breeseners."

Conditions on Access: This material can only be accessed in a Museum reading room or other on-campus viewing stations. No other access restrictions apply to this material.
Conditions on Use: Permission must be obtained from the University of Sydney, Archive of Australian Judaica for any type of use other than research.
Copyright Holder: University of Sydney. Archive of Australian Judaica - Fisher Library

Topical Term: Children of immigrants--Australia. Jewish refugees--Australia. Jews--Australia--Sydney (N.S.W.) World War, 1939-1945--Concentration camps--Australia--Periodicals. Prisoner-of-war camps--Australia--Victoria--History. Jewish committees (ushmm) Anti-fascist movements.
Geographic Name: Melbourne (Vic.)
Personal Name: Matsdorf, W. S.
Corporate Name: Australian Jewish Welfare Society

Holder of Originals: University of Sydney. Archive of Australian Judaica - Fisher Library
Legal Status: Permanent Collection
Provenance: From the University of Sydney. Archive of Australian Judaica. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives received the microfiche in July 2012 via the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum International Archives Project.