Welcome to our platform for Research and Community Engagement!
We are one of the most comprehensive public archives in Southern Africa, with over 3400 collections from NGOs, trade unions, political parties, women's organisations, church bodies, human rights activists and political trials. Many of the photographs, press clippings, oral interviews, and documents, have been digitised and can be accessed on our digital platform 'AtoM', an acronymn for Access to Memory. More
In 2019 Historical Papers was part of an initiative launching ‘A People's Guide to Archives in South Africa’, which can be accessed through the Historical Papers NEWS item no. 2.
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
COVID-19 INFORMATION
Historical Papers is open for research. However we can only accommodate a limited number of 3 researchers in our Reading Room. Please make arrangements with us before your visit.
This photo "Up in flames: The UCT Jagger Library Reading Room was destroyed and incalculable archives lost in a fire that tore through the surroundings last week" (David Harrison/M&G) has recently send shock waves across South Africa.
The article was published by the Mail & Guardian newspaper, and highlights some of the challenges at South African libraries and archives.
LAUNCH of A People's Guide to Archives in South Africa
How can civil society navigate the many obstacles of obtaining access to archives in South Africa? Who has access to archives? What does the Right to Know, being the Right to Information mean for the citizen? These and other questions will be address by a web based Guide to the Archives in South Africa. The Guide will be made available on the websites of leading organisations, particularly from the R2K Network, archives and NGOs.
The Ernest Cole Family Trust has entrusted Historical Papers with the photographic archive of South African Photographer Ernest Cole. The images in his book "House of Bondage", published in 1967, brought the realities of Apartheid South Africa to the world.
Adopted by the UNESCO on the 10th November 2011, in Papiamentu, the Declaration is an important step for the understanding and awareness of archives and a powerful, succinct statement of the relevance of archives in modern society.
You can now search for your family history relating to the Anglican Church in Southern Africa on the Historical Papers AtoM search platform, by clicking "Search across all collections" on our Homepage.
The registers can be accessed and downloaded in PDF format through our collection AB3208.
