Archives & Special Collections

Welcome to our Archives & Special Collections platform for Research and Community Engagement!

The Historical Papers Research Archive is one of the most comprehensive public archives in Southern Africa, with over 3400 collections. We are the official repository of the South African Institute of Race Relations, and the Anglican Church in Southern Africa. Over and above we have in our custody collections which we received from trade unions, political parties, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), women's organisations, church bodies, as well as records of political trials and the personal papers of individuals, many of which have shaped South Africa's past and present.

More recently the University has received two large historical archives, the Barlow World Rand Mines archive and the archive of the Johannesburg Consolidated Investment company (JCI) from Anglo Platinum Rustenburg. These large holdings are now housed in the basement of the Education Library, which is a new archival space under the oversight of Historical Papers.

We have also been joined by the South African History Archive (SAHA), which has moved its holdings to Wits. It is housed in our new archival spaces in the basement of the Education Library.