Historic Documents

Here is some exciting news for the heritage community. Dr Ronald Levine, antiquarian book collector and dealer, is offering a remarkable Railway manuscript and some attachments for sale as a single lot, on the Antiquarian Auction in June 2020 (see www.antiquarianauctions.com).

The central item, the manuscript, is an original Cape Railway contract in calligraphic script dated 1858. This document is unique and I concur with the view of Dr Levine that this is one of the earliest and most important items of South African railway history or Railwayana. It is a South African heritage treasure and an extraordinary legacy item from the Cape colonial era of the 19th century. For this reason Dr Levine has restricted sale to South Africa, which will ensure that the sale of the manuscript will comply with the National Heritage Resources Act and remain in South Africa.

The first page of the contract in calligraphy - hand written on parchment

When Dr Levine shared the news of this auction with me, my curiosity was roused and I decided to read up and give the document some historical context.

South Africa was relatively late to acquire its first railway lines. From the early 19th century, Railways and the steam engines revolutionised long distance travel between towns and across...

For reasons that I have never fully understood, between about 1968 and 1972, the Wits campus underwent a period where posters of all colours and sizes proliferated, advertising everything from Rag Ball to intervarsity rugby, from Nusas teach-ins to visiting lecturers, and from Fresher’s Reception to rock and roll festivals. Every now and again the apartheid thugs that ran the country would provoke a rash of political posters, and the SRC elections were always an active time for poster artists. Poster season normally began in February, with student registration, and ended just as suddenly in September, when the SRC elections marked the end of extra-mural activities for the year and the start of serious, last minute swotting. As the saying goes, if you had not started your revision by the time the campus fruit trees came into blossom, then you had left matters too late. I suspect that it was also a time of the year when religious societies started attracting new converts.

Political Poster

Why it all happened is probably worthy of a small dissertation in its own right. In that era, student affairs came under the management of strong and capable SRCs, led by intelligent leaders, such as John Kane-Burman, Robin Margo and Mark Orkin. The tradition might have continued had Rex Heinke remained in the country, but after he...

On Saturday 7th April 2018, the excellent Joburg Collectable Book Fair at the Rand Club saw at least ten dealers displaying their books, antiquarian maps and prints. Many rare and unusual Johannesburg books were on sale. The event was a huge success with visitors able to enjoy tours of the Club led by Brett McDougall and Brian McKechnie, musical entertainment by Tony Bentell and Selwyn Klass and several interesting talks by Isabel Hofmeyr, Hamilton Wende, James Findlay and Kathy Munro.

The Johannesburg Heritage Foundation unveiled the original 1913 blueprint of the Yeoville Water Tower. The blueprint recently came to light and provides the heritage community with the previously unknown technical drawings of the tower. Here we have the essential documentary evidence to date and place this iconic structure in an international context. 

The water tower came to Johannesburg from Germany. It was imported in prefabricated form from Dortmund. The design came from the well-known German structural engineering firm, Aug. Klönne. Klönne's design was state of the art technology at the time. He held a patent for cylindrical spherical shaped water storage tanks which were placed on top of an iron latticed framework that rose about 50 feet above ground. The water tank had a capacity to store 50 000 gallons. It was elegant, simple, cost effective and a powerful statement of engineering excellence. It was a water tower that fitted into Johannesburg's industrial landscape with its dozens of gold mine shafts, headgears and stamp batteries.

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About four years ago I popped into the premises of Cannon & Cannon (auctioneers in Hilton) and, whilst looking around for nothing in particular, came upon a rather battered, leather covered box on which was embossed, if you looked very carefully, ‘His Excellency The Governor’. I asked the attendant if they had a key to the box and was told that they did but were having difficulty in opening it but duly handed it over. After several attempts, I found that if you pushed the key, turned it and then turned it back on itself again, the lock opened.

Inside were about thirty documents which obviously had some age to them and included a couple which had what appeared to bear the signature of Paul Kruger and I decided to take a chance, attend the auction and try to purchase the box.

At this stage, I must say that all of my schooling had been in London and South African history was not a strong point.

I attended the auction and after bidding against two other gentlemen, managed to secure the box for R2 800 – more than I had intended to spend.

Once I got the box home and started to unload its contents, it became clear that I had the deed box of a family named Stockenstrom from the Eastern Cape. The name Stockenstrom meant absolutely nothing to me. The first thing I did was to Google and establish that the Stockenstroms were an extremely important family in the...

Here is an interesting story. Sometimes paper finds, or ephemera, happen in a serendipitous way. A friend bought a book at a recent Johannesburg monthly book auction at Westgate Walding. As he opened the title page, the document below fell out into his hand. Of course all sorts of things are used as bookmarks in old books – I have found bus, airline and parking tickets. There have also been pamphlets and city maps. I have even found out of date bank notes. However, I have never found a property transfer deed. “Acte van overmaking van regt op Standplaats, translates from Dutch as  “Deed of transfer of right to stand”.  

The original title deed

There is an intimate connection between City and Suburban Gold Mining Company and the City and Suburban Township. The land of the township or suburb was part of the land owned by the Mining Company and the suburb lay on land on one of the original farms that make up Johannesburg called Doornfontein. 

This is an unusual document because it is a legally registered transfer deed by the City and Suburban Gold Mining Company Ltd. or as it is also called here City and Suburban Township, of a specific stand Number 35 located at the corner of Goud and Commissioner Streets, Johannesburg to a  John Ford  Bagshaw. The date is 1895.  This is a legal document registered with the state and carrying...