Africana	Jurriaanse Collection (JUR)
UP Publications (TUK)	Reserved Collection (RES)
Netherlands Cultural History Library Collection (KHI & KHN)	South African Music Collections
Digital Collections	Documents Collections

 

Africana

The Africana collection consists of books in all disciplines limited to Africa south of the Sahara. Since 1980, the emphasis is on the Southern African region with special interest in material, published or unpublished, pertaining to Pretoria. The collection is divided into an old (ZAOUV : pre-1980 publications) and new (ZA : 1980+) component.

Housed and labelled separately but including many Africana works, are the collections of a number of eminent persons which have been acquired since the 1920’s:

• Prof. J du Plessis, theologian at Stellenbosch. Much of the Du Plessis Africana Collection has been digitised and is available on the Internet Archive.
• The NHK (Nederduits Hervormde Kerk) group of collections made up of the collections of Prof. P.J. Muller (ZHM), 1854-1922, Rev. Jac van Belkum (ZHvB), 1851-1933, and Rev. L.E. Brandt (ZHB). The latter incorporates the collection of Rev. N.J. van Warmelo whose daughter, the colourful author Johanna Brandt, was married to Rev. LE Brandt.
• Lutherse Seminarium (ZHL), a collection donated by the Holland-Zuid-Afrikaanse Unie in 1939.
• Adv. J. de V Roos (ZR), 1884-1940, auditor-general of the Union of South Africa, 1918-1929.
• Dr M.M. Nolte (ZN), attorney and notary based at Ermelo.
• Sir J. H. Brand, President of the Orange Free State (1864 - 1888) and his father Sir Christoffel Brand, jurist and politician, first Speaker of the Cape Parliament.
• T.F. Burgers, President of the South African Republic 1872 – 1877.
• A pamphlet collection consisting of approximately 11 000 items covering a wide range of subjects. It includes items dating from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

 

Jurriaanse Collection (JUR)

Kept separately in its own room is the Jurriaanse Collection. Dr Aart Jurriaanse, a Dutchman, studied medicine in the Netherlands and came to South Africa during the Anglo Boer War with a medical corps in aid of the Boers. He stayed on in South Africa after the war and worked as a general practitioner in the Ermelo district of the old Transvaal where he also farmed until the end of his life. His collection of books covers the classics in literature and medicine.

 

UP Publications (TUK)

This collection consists of publications by the staff, research units/student bodies or any association/organization of the University of Pretoria. Also included are all publications that deal with the University of Pretoria or publications that were published with financial assistance from the University of Pretoria.

Masters & Doctoral research outputs of UP students are regarded and preserved as special UP Publications (ZAPR and ZAPROUV). This collection contains a copy of each dissertation/thesis by Masters and Doctoral students enrolled at all the faculties at the University of Pretoria.

 

Reserved Collection (RES)

This collection is made up of non-Africana books of antiquarian value and so-called high risk books that require protection/preservation. It includes classic works in the fields of medicine and mathematics. Other interesting items are first edition facsimiles of Da Vinci's notebooks, 17th and 18th century Bibles and 19th century works on European arts and literature.

 

Netherlands Cultural History Library Collection (KHI & KHN)

This collection is the most extensive Dutch collection in the Southern Hemisphere and consists of approximately 20 000 volumes covering all disciplines. Most of the old and rare books of this collection published before 1900 have been catalogued and separated from the main collection. Some of the modern works have been integrated with the general collection of the Library, while the rest are housed in the Old Merensky Library. They are accessible only via a card catalogue.

 

South African Music Collections

• Anna Bender Collection (ZAMUS BENDER), 1919-2004
• Mimi Coertse Collection (ZAMUS COERTSE)
• Stefans Grové Collection (ZAMUS FZ GROVE, STEFANS), 1922-2014
• Sarie Lamprecht Collection (ZAMUS LAMPRECHT), 1923-2005
• Marita Napier Collection, 1939-2004
• FZ van der Merwe Collection (ZAMUS FZ)

 

Digital Collections

These collections can be found on UPSpace, the digital research repository of the University of Pretoria.

 

Documents Collections

 

Adv. J. de Villiers Roos Collection (Finding Aid)

Advocate Jacob de Villiers Roos (1869-1940) was a journalist, secretary of the Judicial Department of Transvaal, Secretary of Justice, director of Prisons and Auditor-general of the Union of South Africa from 1918-1929. His collection was donated to the university by his daughter, Ms D.C. Malan, in 1958. The donation included his book collection as well as his private archive which consists of private correspondence, documents of the Hobhouse trust, documents on his coin collection, documents on the first years of the Mapunguwbe archaeological excavations (originals now housed at the Mapungubwe Archives), historical manuscripts, law statues and documents, lectures, telegrams and articles on the Boer War, photo albums (1894-1930) as well as maps.

 

The Van Warmelo Collection (Finding Aid)

The van Warmelo Collection, donated to the University after Dr van Warmelo’s death, comprises 540 manuscripts in 97 boxes, concerning different South African indigenous groups and collected whilst he was in the employment of the Department of Bantu affairs as the State Ethnologist. These include manuscripts on the Xhosa, Zulu, Swazi, Tsonga, South Sotho (Sesotho, Tswana, North-Sotho (Sepedi) and Venda (Tshivenḓa). Most of these manuscripts were written in the original black language. These manuscripts include detailed information about the history, traditions, way of life, dress, laws, warfare and religion of the groups as well as the traditional life-stages that an individual goes through from birth to death. Dr van Warmelo collected this information over a period of 30 to 40 years and it forms part of his unpublished legacy, which will be invaluable to future generations of researchers. The collection also includes a number of photographs, albums, and cultural samples.