The Jewish Country Houses Project - The Royal Oak Foundation

By Juliet Carey, Senior Curator, Waddesdon Manor

The project, ‘Jewish’ Country Houses: Objects, Networks, People, grew out of curatorial initiatives at Waddesdon Manor that were beginning to explore the Jewish contexts of the house. Waddesdon, built soon after the battle for Jewish emancipation was won, was built by Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild, of the pan-European Jewish banking dynasty, who was born in Paris, raised in Frankfurt and Vienna, and settled in England. Curators wanted to bring Baron Ferdinand’s Jewishness back into the story of a house that both staged and enabled his social, cultural and political activities.

It quickly became clear that the subject went far beyond the history of one house or one family and that there was a wealth of brilliant research that could illuminate its broadest contexts. Working together with leading scholars in several fields is opening up new vistas in the study of country houses and Jewish cultural history. A groundbreaking and inspirational partnership with the University of Oxford has grown into a major interdisciplinary collaboration, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, led by Professor Abigail Green at Oxford and involving academics at the universities of Durham and Cardiff, curators at the National Trust and Waddesdon Manor, and an ever expanding network of colleagues in heritage organizations and museums across the world—among them, France’s Centre des monuments nationaux and Jewish museums in Amsterdam, Berlin and Rome.

Through conferences, publications and exhibitions, staff training and public events, the Jewish Country Houses project is transforming interpretation of the dozens of houses whose Jewish stories are often hidden in plain sight. Working at Waddesdon, I am all too aware of sensitivities around religion and race that often inhibit people from engaging with the Jewish facets of the history of these houses. The fear of drawing attention to ‘rich Jews’ is a natural response to antisemitism, but it has been thrilling to witness the openness of guides and visitors to these narratives, many finding their own Jewish histories reflected in the properties for the first time. Jewish Heritage Days, run in partnership with the AEPJ, incorporating tours and storytelling sessions, engage new audiences and offer established audiences new ways of seeing. A heritage trail “Palaces, Villas, and Country Houses”, launched as part of the AEPJ’s European Routes of Jewish Heritage allows people to explore some of these houses virtually, particularly welcome in these times of Covid.

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The Jewish Country House Project

By Juliet Carey, Senior Curator, Waddesdon Manor

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