The Development of Settler Towns
Item set
- Alternative Title
- Eastern Cape Settler Towns Historical Collection
- Description
- The Development of Settler Towns is a major digitised archival collection from the Cory Library and Historical Archives at Rhodes University, forming part of The Frontier Collection. It brings together nearly 468 digitised resources documenting the historical emergence, expansion, and material culture of settler towns across the Eastern Cape, South Africa during the colonial and frontier period. The collection includes sub-sets on towns such as Alice, Bathurst, Bedford, Cathcart, Cradock, East London, Grahamstown, King William’s Town, Port Alfred, Port Elizabeth, Queenstown and others, illustrating a range of urban development patterns, community activities, built environments, maps, plans, and visual materials that reflect the social, economic, and geographic histories of these settlements. As an overarching thematic grouping within the Cory Library’s frontier history holdings, this item set supports comparative and place-based research into settler town origins, colonial infrastructure, demographic change, and regional interactions in the Eastern Cape.
- Language
- English
- Type
- Collection
- Spatial Coverage
- Eastern Cape, South Africa (multiple towns)
- Temporal Coverage
- Primarily 19th – early 20th century
- Format
- Digital images
- Maps
Items
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Photograph of a man admiring vast landscapes in "Port Alfred" -
Facebook post (dated 22 February 2021) by Gareth Angelbeck: "A reproduction of a pen-and-ink sketch by W. Guybon Atherstone from the steps of the Drostdy looking down High Street, dated 3 May 1830. The three-storied building at the corner of High Street (now Major Frasiers) is known to have been built by Pieter Retief. All subsequent illustrations show it with two stories only, and the alteration must have taken place several decades before the advent of photography. The sketch also shows an open water furrow, leading from the bottom right corner to the top of High Street. This was the public water supply of the town in 1830, which was led to open tanks at various points in the town. Colonel Graham's mimosa tree is shown, in the middle of High Street, a short distance from St. George's Church (later, the Cathedral). This tree, marking the traditional spot where the decision to found Grahamstown was made on 14 August 1812, was destroyed in a gale in 1844. (Ref- Grahamstown in Early Photographs, F van der Riet, David Philip pub, CT, 1974)." -
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F G Butler (donor) -
View of a corner of the ruins of Fort Willshire and detail of the stone work showing method of construction. Una Long : photographer -
View of a corner of the ruins of Fort Willshire and detail of the stone work showing method of construction. Una Long : photographer -
Glass negative : View of a crowd surrounding an unidentified man and woman standing on an outdoor platform, with Union Jack flags hanging above them. A banner proclaiming 'Welkom' is in the background. -
Glass negative : Set of 5 negatives: Four views of a farm dam and one view of a [farm] house: River View, taken in January 1932. Possibly connected to the Hyam family of Cradock. -
Glass negative : Set of 5 negatives: Four views of a farm dam and one view of a [farm] house: River View, taken in January 1932. Possibly connected to the Hyam family of Cradock. -
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Added to the lantern slide collection by Dr Charles GE Cory, son of Sir George Cory. -
Glass negative : View of Cradock showing vegetable gardens in the foreground, Victorian houses and a church spire in the background. -
Glass negative : View of Cradock showing a tennis court, a back view of the Queen's Central Hospital, and houses in the background. -
Glass negative : View of Cradock, 1902, showing part of the Queen's Central Hospital, and houses in the background. -
Glass negative : View of Cradock showing houses taken from an elevated position. -
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Glass negative : View of Dundas Street, Cradock, with an ox- team, September 1901. -
