,
By Prof. H.B. Thorn.
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The time when historical rgsearch in South ~fric~ ~~s
carried out by erie or two amat.s ur s , with t.h h- 1[- of é.. f~'vi c.trcrd v~s documents anc u ,ErE c-,t GE·c.,.lof or-eL tr.s,ci tion - c:..ncp- r he.ps t.h- ex- ercise of an ~qual amount of imagination - is fortunately a thing of the past. For ye ar s nm! thoroWsht.-anó acierrt i.fi.c re s7.'o.rch work has bt?En done in our ',_rcl-:.iVPS by ''';t':r,,-tr(...in.:6 historians.
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But the best historical l~bour in South Africa is not ~e- nerally that which finds c... puo l is he r Vr:rJ .-:'&sily. Publishers
look chiefly for c; vdd,... rC-:&din.Gput.Li.c , o.nc. on t.he.t. our u:-st his- torical productlons CuD spldom depen(.
The ordinary r~dóEr do£s not usuo.lly show ctny inter~st in
\;v€ll-lNfighed opinions, for whi.ch , wit.h t.h- c:A.ssistanc€ of numsr ous footnotes and oth~r crltical eeiGs, proofs of int~grity arE o~f~rpd.
Fer oovious r eas ons t.h= c r-cin..r y rian pr:.:f-:=-Tst.h- dramatic anc} sen- sational.
Scientific histori~ns, th€r~iore oft~n Go not know how to dispo se of el€' results of t:-.E'ir s t.uc.i c s. OftEn) 0y rn-c..ns of serious and Labor ious r-ss-e.r'c h , vh.i c h s om=tirn=s has to be c ar-r i.ed
out OV2r & p2ri06 of many y~~rs, our historians mctYm~ke most im-
portant discoveries ctn( additj.ons to our historicbl knowl€Gg~, but th~ manuscripts ho.vE to lie on th~ shelves in privat~ hom~s or
in Liorari·:s, where oc c as a one.Ll.y the cus t is shaken off when ~ n. w r-es= ar'c he r c omrs to consult tb, wor-k c..lrf b.G.ydone.
In' this young country of ours, . vvr"o'r· t.h- re ar. no .sis - toric~l Soci-ti~s ~nd p~riodicals, or Cniv-rsity presses ~s in th~
oLó er' c ount.r-Les of Surop-, to ~ssist U·J.c historian Liy puc.l i sr.Lng t.h. r;csu Lt.s of his arduous luoours , t.h- nc'E6 for c<. proper medium of pub l Lcat.Lcn VVc..Sv- ry s· rious. It Wc-.S in or'd- r to r ~.m<:dy this n.::ed t.h., t t.he ",rcti v· s Y-aT Book for South Af'r i.can Eistory Came . into bein.§:,.
[,I though various syrnpat.hetic pr r-aons , ~mong oth€' rs Dr. C.
Graham Botha (form~rly Chipf Archivist):; Pro:::-. A.J.E. va.n der Walt (no\v Director of External 6tuGi~s in Pretoria) and the writ?r of this article? hé..G.6iscussed the need unG sought Cl. rt:'medy~ it was actually Prof. J .L.r1. Franken of StellEnbosch whe hit the nail on the head and came forward with the happy sug, estion of the Archi- ves Year Book.
In an article in t.h= Stellenbosch OudstuoEnt of Sept€m - ber 1837,
rr.
Frankfn expl~ined his id~Q. IT~1&ke-an-appedl~ he states, "f'o r th,€' publication of b. Yeé.A.rBook, in which t.he r=aul, ts of hd s t.or Lca.L r-sse ar ch in our ëi:,chI'v'Z'S-ë-nb£. published'! Hs expr'<s s ed the conviction t.ha.t such a s cherne wouLe succ= ed if itWE rE carried cut by t.h- Govt-rnm--·nt. "I c e,n only sUcbESt t.hs in- troduction of such á puo l Lcat ion if i t E'mo.nCA.t~sfrom the Govprnment,
• in association with t.r.e Archivf's\!
Prof. Fr-anke n then referrAd to what had a Lr= ady been done in r~gard to the pres~rv&tion, drran&fmfnt and accEssibility of t.h= rEcords kept in our L;,rchiv~'s d--pct.s, anó corrt inue-d~ "I vpn- tur-2 to go a StEp furth~r, unc to State<: that an archivé's only completely carries out its purpose, its ideal int~ntion whpn it
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also offers the opportunity for making the sources, as interpreted by thE? researcher, aVéiilc;;lble to a wider circle by mSans of publi- cation in cases where othe rwd se funds would be lc.lcking'J
Finally ~ hf c;;l::,_pe&le0to the Idnister for tne Interior - under whose cont.rol tht3 Archives f.all - with the urgent request
ttThat he should e s siat, in making the geed work which has already been done in this mattf-r eVEn more v.::..luable by plé.icing, in the fu-
ture, an additional sum of £500 on thf' estimates for t.he printing of a year Book for the pub Li cat.Lon of wor-k directly based on sci€n- tific rese&rch done in thL sph~re of South African history in our Archives in th~ four Frivonces~
ThE idea of 5. Yi?:C-.rBook Wé:tSr~'c.:::iv€d \lvith appr-ova.l , It 'v~b.S givEn favourdble notice in thE-' Fr2ss, ,-"nd hist.ori&ns welcomed it.
lVIast important of c.ll \:s..s the fc:ct t.hat the t.he n Chief Archivist, Dr. Bothó. (who t.ouay still Sé;;rves on t.h. Eói t.oria.L ,staff), strong- ly supported the idea dnd referreó it to th..:'. MinistEr for his ap- proval.
The r<:-.sult of these (&nd m2i.nyoth-r) preliminary steps, was that the Minister granted CAne;.made. ava iLac Le the amount asked for. To th~' Edi t.or-LaL 3~c.:,ff h e nominated the Chief Archivist (Dr.
Bothi;;\.), the' then Assiat.e.rrt Archivist (:Jr. C. Bf-yt'rs), Prof. Frank,c.n and the writer, with the then Cape Archivist (Lr. P.J. Venter) as secretary.
Thereupon the Editors set about the task of layiIl£ down re- gulations for the issue of t.h- YE:o.rbook. '.':ith a few alterations
t.heir' draft approved by the Ministe.r. Among other matters, a name had to oe decided upon for the sf-.ries, THE J.RCEIVES YEARBOOK FOR SOUTHAFRICANHISTORY. a name which, in the li~ht of the foun- ding of the publication, Wo.Svery apposite, WQSfinally selected.
The Editors immediately b=gan to collect suitable materia.l for the Year Book. Notices él.pp~·ared in the newspapers, the Univer ....
sity authorities 1:<.11received intimations, and Qirect contact was made with a numb- r of research workers. 'lithin &.. short time a num- b0r suitabl~ anel cclrefully prepared historical studies had been of- fered, which plainly showed how great was the need for such a pu- blicat.i ori-
1:1 1938 it was possiblê to publish the first Year Book which appeared in two fairly bulky veïl.umes , It WaS an ',important event, not only for those Vi'hoae work Wéi.Scontained in the volumes, but also for South African historical research in 62neral. In his pr-e z'ac e to the first volume, the Chief Ar-chivist st.ct.ed e "Re -
sear-cbe r-s doing t.hor ough scientific work in t.h- .\rchives should thus find a means of pub.Lásh i.ng the r=aul. ts of t.r.e ir Lnve s t.Lgations and t.hus make t.h. m .;;.tv<:...iL;."blefor ot.he r s .Ir - And in t.his fact l.ies the great value of the Year Eook.
In Volume I three wor-ks apr:.·ec...reG. Two of these were shor-t ''::SSt:lys; one written 'I.;'y t.he \i}:_ll-rr.;r..lel:lbered l ....te lro:L~. 'BlolThYiaE,rt.
:'H;: tInvoeren VL..nd e ~jlé...vernij "",dn de Kaap'; ,c...nc.one uy t.n- CatJe
"rchi vist lJr. P."T. Venter, «nt.t t.Led , liThe i);, struction of Records in 30uth Af'rica" Tf..? third oont.r icu ticn ';Jc...S t.h-. cis s er-tetion submit- t'cc[ by Prof. ~.~ . Y;uLer cf Potc~~(?fstrocm for [ds Godtord.t€, a di'- t<..ili,:'d and s cirnt.i.f'Lc study e nt.a t.Le.c tI~)i= T!f:[s ne, (He St:'e'J With t.his last cont.r tout ion which oc cupi ..'s t.h- Elajor portion of Volume I,
~n6 which reveals thE si[nific~nc~ of the Ea~t COc...3t-cs~~ci~11y of Fortu~uese East Africa - in reg~r~ to Loer Follcy 0~forF 1877, - the yFar Eook made lts uow in 0. Jilo.nnfr CF'fittif'-é, its purpo s e ;
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Volume II of the first Year Book is devoted to one important atudy , namely I'Die Geskiede:c.is van die Luterst\e - Kerk aan die K~ap~~ by Dr. J. HOgA of Stellenbosch. This work, the result of intensive archival rpsearch over a number of
years, is an e xam oLe of oain staking anr'ltho r ou gh research, ann will un~oubtedlv lonp re~Ain the stanr'lar~nork on the History
of the Luthe r an obu r ch at th= Ca'Jf':. .
In th= Later Year Bo ok s a va rLetv of contributi oris
have ap~eared. 7he eBa of the Dutch Fast Innia C:::JmDanyis re- nresented by a numbpr of fine monograrhp. This period, which is unfortunately s:::Jl"'}ptimesstill regarrien as the "nark Middle Ages" of SOl'~h Afri:;an nistcr-v , if) on= which is of the gr-eate st
importance ~J us, since the ~ost Gignj~icant foutir'lationsof our whole national anil cultural e xisten ce ''TereLaid at this tIrne.
The importance of this period ie aPDarent i~ we ex- amine the contents of the matter nealt ~ith urider this head.
In 194~ "rof. -'ranken "s "Ka8DSE' Huishoue in die Agtieni1e 'i'eu"
aD~eared. In this me are given an insight into the social and economic conr'litions of a distinguished old Cape household, by
nlfUU1S of extracts from. the ~etterbo:)ks end memoranda of Van Dessin. In the same vear Dr. P.J. Venter's~Landdrost en Heem- rade~" was published, a useful d i.ssertat ion , presented for a doutorate, in which thR writer first takes us far back into our nolitical Dast, an(l then explains the ~orking and the mean- ing of these old CaDe governmental institutions.
Two years later Dr. C.F.·J. rt~uller,now senior lecturer in the Department of external Studies in Pretoria, carne forward with his study of the first hundred years of the history of South Africa's oldest industry, the fisheries; and later Miss M. ~a- rais' "Armsorg aan die Kaap orid erc.d ie Kompanjie" apneared, a
study which, .ecause of its contents.and scientific value at the present time - when so much intere st is shown in soc ial work - desArve~ special considera~ion. The latest issue of the Year Book is also concerned ~ith a study of the Company's period, narneLv Dr. Anna J. Boeseken's "Nederlandse KornrtIsaa rLsse en die Agtiende Eeuse Samele~ing aan die Kaap~ which in my opinion is
an example of excellent scientific resear~h.
As can be expected, ho~eryerj most of the pdblications deal with the nineteenth century. In 1939 the sixth-and last- volume ·of Sir George Cory's weLl=-known "Rise of South Africa" - or, rather, the first six chapters of the sixth volume, the only Dortion completed at th8 time of Sir George's death,- was published in the Year Book. By issuing this work, which chief- ly deals with the period of Sir George Grey's governorship, we have not only enriched our historical ~ritings but have also paid suitable tribute to the memory of the well-know historian.
A number of other useful studies dealing with the his- tory of the Cape have also apneared: C."R.G. Schutte's work:
"Dr. John Philip's Observations regarding the Hottentots of South Africa~ for example, is a critical essay of a high stan- r3ard, while Phyllis Lewsen's l1First Crisis in Responsible Go- vernment in the Cape CcLonv" gives in clear outline a descrip -
tiJn of a difficult question. -
The Free State and Natal are represented by nr. T.J.S.
Grobbelaar's "VrystaA.tse Republiek en die Basoetoe-vraagstuk"
an-t Dr. A.J. du Plessis's "Republiek Nata.lLa't • 'I'hese are two
very valuable scientifi~ studies, ann should be known to all who are interested in Boer history.
Transvaal/ ...
Transvaal history is well represented. There is e.g. a con' tribution by the late Dr.
P.J.
Pieterse, curing h~s lifetime Ar - chivist in Cape Town and Pretoria, entitled "Transvaal en BritseSt.:.:~ereini teit , 1881 - 1884; a historicci.l-topo.sraphicalstuë.y by B.Hi Dicke entitled "The Northern Trd.nsvaal \-,oortrekkers; a de - - tailed work by Dr. F .A.? Wichmann on "Die 1'jordingsé:,eskiedenis van de Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek, 1838-186011; and a very read- able study by the present Cape Archivist, Dr. Breytenbach, viz
ItAndries Fr&ncois du Toit en sy AanG.eel in die Transvaalse Ge- skiedenis '.'
Al.t.houghwe have not by any means g rven an exhaustiv s list of what has aLready appeared, Wé h-.ve at least Sihown the rich variety and the wide scope of contents of thE Year Book.
Historians anó Librarians would be wise to order from the Government Printer, any volumes which they co no~ as yet pOSSESS~
while the vo l.umes are still 'obt.a.inabLe , There are already twelve lar§ e volumes of hand some api:'ed.rull.ce. 'I'r.eselling price is 12/6
f:er volume, at present a very 10Vi price, act.uaLl.y uelow the ~ , _ ~ cost of production. After a few years, the price wiLl. un-
doubtedly rise, as has pappened again and óg8.in with Africana"
During thE first five years of the existencê of the Year Book it was customary to publish two vollli~esannually, but later only one volLill1ewas issued per year. In addition, the Year Book fot a few years in arrears, as is plain from the fact thó.t the volume issued at t.hebeginning of this year bears the date 1944.
This was due to the strict need for economy in money and p&per during the years of th""war. Sometimes during that period it seemed as if the publicéttion would have to cease, but after long negotiations between the Editors and ~h~ Government ct means was found to carryon, and the Eë.itors conSidEred thems8lves fortunate in that they could continue the work.
It is however to tJer-eg r=t.t.edthat the Year'Book is at present a few volumes behind scheduilie. But the Ecitors have had
to decide whether they would allow a hici.tusof a few years to re- main in the series or whether they wcu.Ldrne.ke a g reat effort:.t.o catch up the lost volumes. '
. The first alternative was ~y far thf easier, but the Editors did not choose it. Since they had in hand the nécessary material for all the volumes of the s,::,ries,and wer-e an~ous to avoid the break in publicdtion, they decideë. to continue a few years mn arrears, hOiJing that in course of time they would be ab Le to cat.ch up aga.in , It seems now as if this dac LsLon was a wise one, for the Government has recently made avó.ilable an dd- dit.ional. sum of money ~ so that t.h= opportunity seems favourable for the completion of the series to uate, that is to Sdy, if the problem of our times, the serious shortage of printing facilities, does not h~ld up the work ctgain.
It seems as if young research workers today still do not know what a valuable means of pULlication they h&ve in the Ar- chives Year Booko Often they still ssarch -- sometimes in vain - for financial assist~nce for ths publication of their work, and, it does not occur to them to offer their ffic..nuscriptsto the Editors of the Archives Year Book. The Year Book is not only a suitable means of public&tion, but for the youthful historian it has also
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this great advantage, that it briI1fs his work prominéltly before the eyes of the people who are really interested, such as li - brarians, archivists ~nd historians .
Contributions may b2 in Afrikuctns, English or Neder- lands, and must GE' sent to the 3ecri::'tary,Archives Year Book for South African History, c/o of the Archives, QU8en Victoria 3tr8€t, Cape Town. Th~ Editors are eager to make thé Year Book as r-2- presE-ntative of thE whole Union as possitlE:, but at the same time they must ~illphasls~thQ importdnt conóition for accept~nce, Gamely high scL:ntific st.andar-d • They wouLo rather not publish a Year Book at all tha.npublish on~ containi% compilations of poor quality.
Contributars rcc?i~e bo honorarium dnd th8 Editors also give their s~rvices freE - for all of us it is a work of love, in the servicc of our ne tiona.l.mstory . but everyone
who corrt.r-Lbut.e s to t.h- Yea.r Book must offer wo r'kof a high stan- dard so that the Year Book will lJc what Vye all óesLre it to be,
á live and fruitful factor in our intsllectua.l and cultural life.