African Studies Book Collection
Published Collections included the significant African Studies collections of published monographs and pamphlets. This collection was founded in 1953.
Jagger Fire
Previously housed in the Jagger Building, the monograph collection consisted of approximately 73,000 volumes, including up-to-date materials as well as works on Africa and South Africa printed post-1925, and many hard-to-find volumes in a wide range of European and African languages. Losses included books in the social sciences, including anthropology, media studies, economics, development studies, political studies, gender studies, education, languages and linguistics, law, religious studies and philosophy. Fortunately, not all of the African Studies Collection was destroyed - 30 700 books that were not shelved in the Jagger Reading room were salvaged.
The pamphlet collection consists of just under 31,000 titles, with a further 800 rare or old titles, published before 1925, in the BAAP collection. The contemporary pamphlet collection was shelved in the basement of the Jagger Building and was also salvaged. This collection has been checked in on the catalogue and is now shelved in temporary premises occupied by Special Collections.
Follow our recovery
Previously housed in the Jagger Building, the monograph collection consisted of approximately 73,000 volumes, including up-to-date materials as well as works on Africa and South Africa printed post-1925, and many hard-to-find volumes in a wide range of European and African languages. Losses included books in the social sciences, including anthropology, media studies, economics, development studies, political studies, gender studies, education, languages and linguistics, law, religious studies and philosophy. Fortunately, not all of the African Studies Collection was destroyed - 30 700 books that were not shelved in the Jagger Reading room were salvaged.
The pamphlet collection consists of just under 31,000 titles, with a further 800 rare or old titles, published before 1925, in the BAAP collection. The contemporary pamphlet collection was shelved in the basement of the Jagger Building and was also salvaged. This collection has been checked in on the catalogue and is now shelved in temporary premises occupied by Special Collections.
Follow our recovery
How to Find
Find African Studies books on Primo. Salvaged books can be identified by a note: survived the fire.
Special Collections
Special Collections is the preservation library and archive of UCT Libraries, with an array of rare holdings in a
range of formats.
Published Collections
Our published collections include African studies books, films, maps, newspapers, government publications, rare and Antiquarian books, and pamphlets.
Primary Collections
Our primary collections consist of archival holdings such as manuscripts, audiovisual archives, photographs and the UCT Historical Pamphlets and Photographs Collection.