Fire: UCT scrambles to recover lost material

Researchers urged to contribute with photocopies or images of destroyed documents

THE UCT community, including the alumni, have urged researchers across the world who have photocopies or images of documents destroyed in the Jagger Library fire to contribute those to help recover some of the lost records.

Dr Maha Rafi Atal, a post-doctoral research fellow at the Copenhagen Business School in Frederiksberg, Denmark, took an initiative to establish a registry of copies of materials that researchers have among their collections.

Atal, who is collecting the information online, said in light of the fire at the UCT on Sunday, academics and other researchers across the world who have worked in those special collections and have taken photocopies or cellphone images of documents may be able to contribute those to help recover some of the lost records.

Historian, professor Carolyn Hamilton, who chairs the archive and public culture initiative at the National Research Foundation at UCT, said Atal had written to them, indicating that she would deposit the spreadsheet in the online library, whenever the it was ready to receive it.

Hamilton said the library could then mine it for material over time for reconstitution projects, and that would be a valuable register.

Higher Education, Science and Innovation Minister Blade Nzimande said he was saddened that the fire destroyed, among others, the iconic African Studies Library. He said the library housed the ANC archives and record of underground publications.

“This library is also repository of the Bleek Lloyd collection of recorded stories and notebooks of their engagement with the /Xam and !Kun Cape San people of the mid-19th century, as well as original copies of pioneering isiXhosa newspapers like Imvo ZabaNtsundu,” said Nzimande.

UCT spokesperson Elijah Moholola said the university acknowledged the outpouring of messages of support and offers of assistance from national entities and international institutions.

He said the archived and published print collections kept in the reading room were consumed by the flames.

These included the vast majority of the African Studies Published Print Collection (about 70000 items), the entire African Studies Film Collection on DVD (about 3500), all the UCT university calendars, some of the heavily used government publication documents from South Africa and across the continent, and manuscripts and archives kept in the reading room for processing, digitisation or awaiting transfer after being digitised.

Black Academic Caucus (BAC) at UCT welcomed the widespread support to assist in restoring academic material lost from the Jagger Library.

BAC encouraged the university to speedily prioritise the digitisation of all historically important materials and academic documents.

UCT Association of Black Alumni deputy president advocate Rod Solomons said they particularly wanted to assist with the “rebuilding” of the African Studies department.

“We have reached out to the dean of that faculty and indicated our intention to provide support that might be technical, professional, or financial.”

National Library of SA spokesperson Jolene Bhadais said they stood in solidarity with UCT libraries in the wake of the devastating fires.

Bhadais said as UCT Libraries identify specific needs during their journey of recovering and rebuilding, the NLSA pledged to support and assist where possible. She said research queries or requests for appointments to access “Special Collections” could be emailed to their librarians on info@nlsa.ac.za (Cape Town) or infodesk@nlsa.ac.za (Pretoria).

SANParks has appointed an independent forensic investigator to determine the cause of the fire. Chief executive Fundisile Mketeni said a briefing would be held once an investigative report was concluded in two weeks.