HISTORICAL PAPERS: A PLATFORM FOR RESEARCH AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
The Historical Papers research archive, situated in the William Cullen Library, was established in 1966. We are a friendly, vastly used, valued and popular service as well as unique and accessible hub for human rights research serving civil society, scholars and researchers. Historical Papers is one of the largest and most comprehensive independent archives in Southern Africa. We house over 3300 collections of historical, political and cultural importance, encompassing the mid 17th Century to the Present.
Our primary aim is to serve the broader community as well as the university and to transform archives into accessible centres for research. Included are the records of many human rights NGOs, trade unions, labour federations, political parties, women's organisations, churches and church bodies, and the papers of human rights activists. We are also home to a huge volume of political trials, photographs, press clippings, oral interviews, and material collected by several research institutions and individual researchers.
With generous funding from the Atlantic Philanthropies Foundation we are continually building up our web-based delivery of digitized resources. More
On the 17 February 2011 Historical Papers and Museum Africa jointly held the opening of the FOSATU exhibition and the book launch of " 'The future is in the Hands of the Workers' A History of FOSATU". You can now download the book for FREE.
NEWS
Sol Plaatje's Diary restored
Solomon Plaatje, one of South Africa’s most gifted writers, recorded a rare eye-witness account of the Siege of Mafeking in his Diary (1899-1900). The diary has now been restored by Paper conservators and is also available online.
THE STAR newspaper has deposited their Barnett photograph collection with Historical Papers. The collection of photographs by Joseph and David Barnett comprises more than 2000 glass negatives and photographic prints from the turn of the last century.
The Ruth First Papers, which have been deposited by the Ruth First Memorial Trust at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London, are now available on microfilm at Historical Papers.
Papers from ASWEA (Association for Social Work Education in Africa) have now returned to Africa and have been deposited with Historical Papers at Wits University. They are also available online, as all papers have been scanned and linked to the inventory.
