Cory Library and Historical Archives

Item sets

• 1820--Settlers
  The 1820-Settlers collection is a digitized thematic grouping within the Frontier Collection of the Cory Library and Historical Archives, documenting the arrival, settlement, and early lives of British settlers who landed at Algoa Bay (now Port Elizabeth) and established communities in the Eastern Cape of South Africa beginning in 1820. The collection includes maps, portraits, printed programmes, topographical plans, and photographs that reflect key aspects of settler experience, town development, military engagements, family histories, and settlement patterns in Albany and surrounding regions. Representative materials include images of settler arrival, early town plans and surveys, portraits of individuals, and printed material relating to centenary celebrations of the settlement. This collection supports research into colonial frontier history, contact with Indigenous communities, town formation, and the legacy of settler societies in South African history.
• 1910 - pre-1994 Map Collection
  This digital collection comprises 119 historical maps housed in the Cory Library for Humanities Research at Rhodes University, dating from 1910 up to the early 1990s. The maps encompass a wide range of geographical and thematic materials, including urban plans, railway networks, regional studies, survey charts, and specialised maps used for planning and statistical purposes. Key map types include standard railway maps of South Africa, municipal plans (such as early Grahamstown and Port Alfred layouts), topographic and aeronautical charts, and maps associated with academic theses and regional planning documents. The maps reflect major socio-economic, infrastructural, and administrative developments in South Africa and its Eastern Cape region over eight decades. They are invaluable resources for researchers working in urban history, transportation history, regional planning, colonial and post-colonial studies, and environmental change. This collection supports investigation into historical spatial relationships, transportation networks, and settlement patterns across different periods of the 20th century.
• Adolph Schauder Collection
  The Adolph Schauder Collection provides a glimpse into the public service and social impact of Adolph Schauder (1880–1968), a prominent figure in Port Elizabeth civic life who served as a City Councillor for 40 years and Mayor from 1940 to 1942. The material's primary focus is Schauder's lifelong dedication to mass housing and slum clearance, which earned him the title “Father of Housing” in Port Elizabeth. The collection documents his instrumental role in building over 30,000 houses for all races and the establishment of sub-economic housing schemes, such as Schauderville (named after him) and McNamee Village. Archival records related to Schauder's legacy—including administrative files, photographs, and personal papers—are held by various South African institutions, such as the Port Elizabeth Jewish Museum and the National Archives and Records Service. The collection is a source for researchers studying local government, social policy, Jewish community history, and urban development in mid-20th-century Port Elizabeth, reflecting his service on the Municipal Housing Committee and the National Housing and Planning Commission.
• African Heritage Collections
  The African Heritage Collections preserve and celebrate Africa’s rich historical and cultural legacy. The collections bring together genealogies of clans, tribes, and nations; images of Africans, including chiefs, kings, and rulers; and creative works by African poets and writers. They offer valuable insights into African leadership, lineage, and artistic expression, and support learning, teaching, and research into Africa’s past and present.
• African Literary and Intellectual Works Collection
  The Works by African Poets, Writers, and Intellectuals collection is a digitised archival grouping from the Cory Library and Historical Archives at Rhodes University, highlighting the literary, intellectual, and cultural contributions of African authors and thinkers preserved in the library’s holdings. Situated within the African Heritage Collections, this item set brings together materials that reflect creative expression, literary production, and intellectual discourse from prominent African poets, writers, and scholars. The collection encompasses sub-collections and individual item groups such as works and related archival material by authors including Henry Masila Ndawo, Malcolm Everitt Mlungiseleli Nyoka, pieces associated with the S.E.K. Mqhayi Collection, and materials linked to jazz-era cultural figure Todd Matshikiza (including parts of a King Kong thematic grouping). Collectively, these materials document a range of literary voices and intellectual traditions from the African continent, with a particular focus on South Africa, spanning poetry, prose, correspondence, manuscript materials, and related cultural artefacts. By foregrounding African creative and intellectual heritage, this collection supports research in literature, cultural studies, history, and African studies.
• Alan Paton Letters to Todd Matshikiza
  he Alan Paton Letters to Todd Matshikiza item set is a digitised archival group of correspondence between South African author and anti-apartheid activist Alan Paton and jazz musician/composer Todd Matshikiza, held within the African Heritage Collections at the Cory Library for Humanities Research. This set comprises five letters exchanged during the early 1960s, including both outgoing letters from Paton to Matshikiza and an incoming letter to Paton regarding the musical Mkhumbane and associated artistic collaborations. The letters shed light on creative collaboration, cultural production, and artistic networks in South Africa during a transformative period of social and political history. They are valuable for research into South African literature, music, theatre, cross-cultural communication, and heritage.
• Albany Rugby Football Club Collection
  The Albany Rugby Football Club Collection offers a distinct photographic record of a key community sports club, capturing decades of rugby heritage in the Eastern Cape. It serves both as a sporting archive and as a cultural resource, illustrating how local rugby clubs nurtured talent, fostered community ties, and contributed to the social fabric of Grahamstown/Makhanda throughout the 20th century.
• Algoa Bay area, including Port Elizabeth
  The Algoa Bay area, including Port Elizabeth item set is a digitised collection of historical images and visual resources documenting the coastal region of Algoa Bay in the Eastern Cape, South Africa, with a particular focus on Port Elizabeth (today Gqeberha) and its early development. The set includes seventeen images, such as photographs and historical sketches, featuring landmarks including the South Jetty at Port Elizabeth, early town scenes, the Pearson Conservatory in St. George’s Park, Market Square, the Donkin Reserve lighthouse and monument, and views of the bay and surrounding areas. These items are part of the Frontier Collection of the Cory Library and Historical Archives, illustrating aspects of settler town growth, urban development, coastal infrastructure, and daily life in Port Elizabeth in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The collection supports research in urban history, colonial settlement, maritime infrastructure, and regional geography.
• Alice, Eastern Cape, South Africa
  The Alice (Eastern Cape) Collection is a thematic digital grouping within the Cory Library and Historical Archives that documents the historical development of the town of Alice and its surrounding area in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. The collection brings together visual, cartographic, and documentary materials illustrating Alice’s origins as a frontier settlement, its growth as an administrative and educational centre, and its role within the broader colonial and mission landscape of the Eastern Cape. Materials in this collection reflect key aspects of Alice’s history, including settler and missionary activity, frontier conflict and military presence, town planning and infrastructure, and the social and cultural life of the area. The collection also provides contextual insight into Alice’s close associations with nearby mission institutions and later educational establishments, making it a valuable resource for research into local history, frontier studies, colonial urban development, and Eastern Cape heritage.
• Anti-Apartheid Movement and Acts of Defiance
  The Anti-Apartheid Movement and Acts of Defiance item set is a curated collection of seven digitised primary sources held by the Cory Library for Humanities Research at Rhodes University. This set brings together pamphlets, newsletters, inventories, and correspondence that reflect resistance to apartheid and civic actions within South Africa, particularly relating to grassroots organisations and political pressure groups active in the 1980s. Included are materials documenting criticisms of state actions, commentary on youth political mobilisation, inventories of activism-related archival collections (e.g., the Rosemary Smith Collection), and letters from civil society actors such as IDASA and the Black Sash. These items illustrate a range of responses to apartheid policies and provide insight into public dissent, civil society networks, and the mobilisation of activists and organisations during a period of intensifying struggle against the apartheid regime.
• Apartheid - Legal Frameworks
  The Apartheid – Legal Frameworks item set is a digitised archival grouping within the Cory Library and Historical Archives at Rhodes University. This set brings together primary legal and analytical sources that document aspects of South Africa’s apartheid legal regime and its legislative foundations. The item set includes two key documents that elucidate state policies and laws underpinning racial segregation and control during the apartheid era.
• Ann Palm Photo Collection
• A.P.A. Chubb Collection (1936-1938)
  The A.P.A. Chubb Collection comprises photographs collected by A.P.A. Chubb of buildings, sports, and student activities from 1936 to 1938 at the then Rhodes University College in Grahamstown. A.P.A. Chubb, then residing in East London, donated this collection to the Cory Library at Rhodes University in April 1992.
• Arthur Marsh Collection
  The Arthur Marsh Collection provides a rich primary account of hunting and fishing culture in Southern Africa during the mid-20th century. While Marsh was publicly known as Port Elizabeth’s "Sausage King," his private records reveal a life dedicated to pursuing big game and coastal angling. The collection is particularly significant for its detailed documentation of hunting expeditions throughout the Eastern Cape and broader Southern African interior. It includes photographic records of trophies, campsites, and the natural landscapes of a bygone era, alongside personal narratives of life in the bush. These papers serve as a unique intersection of commercial success and the colonial tradition of the "sporting life," offering a window into the recreational habits and environmental interactions of the period’s merchant class.
• Bathurst, Eastern Cape, South Africa
  The Bathurst, Eastern Cape, South Africa collection is a curated set of digitised historical resources held by the Cory Library and Historical Archives at Rhodes University. It documents the town of Bathurst in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa, including visual and cartographic materials that illustrate the town’s landscape, architecture, and historical development within the broader context of Eastern Cape frontier history. The items span the early settlement and colonial periods, including aerial views, architectural photographs (such as those of St. John’s Church, built in 1832), historical plans and maps of the town, and images of notable local features like Round Hill and old settler houses. This collection contributes to understanding the patterns of settlement, religious and civic infrastructure, and geographical context of a key 19th century colonial town on the Albany frontier. The collection sits within the Frontier Collection and contributes to research on settler town development, local history, and material culture in the Eastern Cape.
• Bedford, Eastern Cape, South Africa
  The Bedford, Eastern Cape, South Africa collection is a digitised archival resource from the Cory Library and Historical Archives at Rhodes University documenting the town of Bedford in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. This collection forms part of The Frontier Collection and specifically relates to the development of settler towns established during the colonial era in the Eastern Cape. It contains visual and contextual material that reflects the historical character, built environment, community life, and geographical setting of Bedford, including at least one key image or item that captures aspects of local activities such as children engaged in school or community life. The collection contributes to research on settler town histories, social and cultural development in the Eastern Cape, and the material heritage of small township communities in colonial and post-colonial South Africa. The digital material is made available under an open Creative Commons license to support historical research, education, and public engagement with regional heritage.
• Beth Behrmann Collection
• Bishop William Burnett Collection
  The Bishop William Burnett Collection is an archival series of 110 digitised documents and letters, primarily consisting of condolence letters addressed to Sheila Burnett on the occasion of the death of her husband, Bill (William) Bendyshe Burnett, who passed away on August 23, 1994. The letters were written by a diverse range of correspondents, including friends, family members, clergy, colleagues, and notable figures in the South African religious and civic communities—among them Rev. Desmond Tutu and other prominent religious leaders.
• Bokwe, John Knox, 1855-1922
• Brenda Nicholls Collection
  A curated set of 13 early-to-mid-19th-century paintings, sketches and manuscript items related to colonial frontier and landscape history in Southern Africa.
• Bubonic plague collection -- Port Elizabeth in 1938
  This collection is a specialised photographic and archival set held by the Cory Library for Humanities Research. It documents a critical public health event in South African history: the 1938 outbreak of bubonic plague in Port Elizabeth (now Gqeberha). This collection provides a visual and record-based account of the anti-plague measures and the socio-spatial impact of the 1938 outbreak, particularly affecting the Black and Coloured communities.
• Butler Family Collection
  The Butler Family Collection (also known as the Butler Family Photograph Collection) is a digital archive curated by the Cory Library and Historical Archives. It consists of 346 items, primarily photographs and related ephemera. The collection provides a visual record of the Butler family and their social circles, including significant historical and cultural markers in the Eastern Cape. Highlights of the collection include: * Family History: Portraits, wedding photos (such as the 1920 wedding of Harold Butler and Ruth Brown), and candid images of children and relatives. * Community & Organisations: Documentation of youth movements like the Wayfarers, Sunbeams, and Pathfinders in Cradock during the 1930s. *Historical Landscapes: Photographs of regional landmarks, such as the Karel Landman Monument in the Sundays River Valley and views of the Fish River. * Social Documentation: The collection includes photograph albums compiled by Mary Butler, featuring figures like Rev. James Arthur Calata.
• C.J. Skead Photograph Collection
  The Jack (Cuthbert John) Skead Collection comprises a substantial body of photographic material that documents the natural environments, vegetation types, and ecological habitats of the Eastern Cape and the wider southern African region. The photographs—taken over several decades—capture landscapes, plant communities, wetlands, forests, grasslands, and other habitat formations that were central to Skead’s extensive research interests. Many images also document environmental change, land use patterns, and field sites associated with his ornithological and botanical studies. The collection provides a valuable visual record for researchers working in the fields of environmental history, ecology, biogeography, conservation, and Eastern Cape natural heritage. The photographs complement Skead’s published and unpublished work held at Cory Library, including field notes, correspondence, and research manuscripts.
• Cape Town Tour, 1891
  The Cape Town Tour, 1891 collection comprises 19 digitised photographic views capturing scenes from Cape Town and its environs in 1891. These images record urban and landscape views of the city during the late colonial period, including iconic landmarks such as Table Mountain and Lion’s Head, Parliament House, the Botanical Gardens, and street scenes on Adderley Street. Other subjects include docks, Simon’s Town, bridges over the Liesbeeck River in Mowbray, and dwellings in the Cape Colony. Many of the photographs bear a personal inscription: “To dear Ethel, from Joe, Xmas 1891”, suggesting the album was compiled as a memento of a tour of Cape Town at the close of the 19th century. This collection provides valuable visual documentation of Cape Town’s built environment and social life on the eve of major 20th-century transformations. It illustrates colonial-era photographic practices and offers rich source material for researchers in urban history, visual culture, colonial studies, and South African heritage.
• Cathcart, Eastern Cape, South Africa
  The Cathcart collection is part of The Frontier Collection held and made accessible by the Cory Library and Historical Archives within the Rhodes University Digital Archives. It documents historical resources relating to Cathcart, a small town in the Eastern Cape, South Africa, within the broader scope of frontier history and the development of settler towns. As part of the Development of Settler Towns series, the collection presents images and archival materials that reflect the town’s historical character and its place in the colonial frontier landscape of the Eastern Cape. Through photographs and other items, researchers gain insight into local built heritage, settlement patterns, and social life. This collection supports historical, social, and cultural research on frontier towns established during the 19th century and contributes to preserving local heritage.