| Description | Scope and Content
Including photographs of East End walks by Fishman, locations and street scenes in the East End of London, 1907-1990s; papers, press cuttings and correspondence regarding the Battle of Cable Street, 19 Princelet Street, Spitalfields and East End history, 1980s-2007.
Further archives of Bill Fishman, also held by Tower Hamlets Local History Library and Archives are uncatalogued. Please contact staff for further details on arranging access to files by appointment.
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| AdminHistory | William Jack (Bill) Fishman was a historian and author of several books on topics ranging from revolutionary advocacy in Europe during the late 19th and early 20th centuries to the history of the East End and Jewish community.
Born in 1921, he was son of an immigrant tailor. He spent his formative years in the East End of London. At 15, he was an eyewitness to the Battle of Cable Street in 1936. He was educated at the Central Foundation Grammar School for Boys, Wandsworth Teachers Training College and the London School of Economics. He served in the British army in the Second World War, completing his service in the Far East. After the war he worked as a teacher and was appointed principal of Tower Hamlets College of Further Education. In 1965 he was elected to a studentship at Balliol College, Oxford. In 1967 he was Visiting Professor of History at Columbia University, New York. He was visiting professor of history at the University of Wisconsin, Madison from 196970 and was awarded an Acton Society Fellowship. In 1972 he was appointed Barnet Shine Senior Research Fellow in Labour Studies with special reference to Jews at Queen Mary, University of London. He was made an honorary fellow of Queen Mary in 1999 and was later Visiting Professor to the Centre for the Study of Migration.
Bill died in 2014. |
| CustodialHistory | Formerly deposited with the Bishopsgate Institute via David Rosenberg, 9 January 2012. These files were catalogued at Bishopsgate Institute Special Collections and Archives under reference: FISHMAN by Colleen Cox, June 2016. They were transferred to Tower Hamlets Local History Library and Archives on 22 July 2024. |