In the wake of the fire on campus, The Archive and Public Culture Research Initiative at UCT has created a space to update concerned researchers, ethusiasts and members of the public about the state of various collections. Click here to view.

In response to the devastating fire at UCT’s Special Collections Library on 18 April 2021, the APC has received numerous enquiries from concerned researchers. In particular, the valuable African Studies Collection has been central to many research projects and houses a trove of materials that have yet to be explored. This has prompted us to set up a space on our website to provide information about the fate of specific collections. We will provide regular updates here directly from those responsible.

This space will also serve as a point for rallying volunteers for any possible assistance required by the Special Collection’s teams. We will use this space to communicate information about the digital reconvening of any materials that might have been lost, copies of which researchers might hold.  

For the moment, we have set-up a dedicated email address apcfiremail@uct.ac.za  where you are welcome to send suggestions, indicate support and send details of the research materials you may hold from collections once we know what has been affected. We will compile lists of volunteers and any other pertinent information and pass it on as appropriate but please note that we do not have capacity to respond to emails; they will be processed and general queries addressed on the site.

We are doing this initially as an interim measure, but please keep in mind that we are not able to speak for the Library or respond on Library issues. We simply wish to keep the archive and history community abreast of whatever we can. Our focus and efforts may in due course be superseded by whatever the Library sets up.