Africana Library
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The Africana Library on Dutoitspan Road is housed in what was the original Kimberley Public Library. The public library first opened on 23rd July 1887 in a building designed by the architect JR Elton.
The Public Library and the Africana Library were inextricably linked until 1984 when the public and Africana sections of the Library were separated and the Kimberley Africana Library was opened to the public in 1986. It was the exceptional collections of Africana and rare books which distinguished the Kimberley Public Library and the main factor which bound the history of these two institutions. |
Bronze bust of Bernard Klisser
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Today the library houses about 14,000 books, 640 manuscripts and 12,000 photographs. Included in the collection are early printed editions of African indigenous languages (San, Tswana, Zulu, Xhosa), early books related to diamond mining and records dating back to the first diamond rush in the 1870s, newspapers from the 1870s and books by early European travellers in the region, and books and maps from the South African War (also known as the Anglo-Boer War).
An intriguing collection of photographs is also available for viewing, featuring early diamond discoveries, the South African War, the social history of the inhabitants of southern Africa, the siege of Kimberley and Northern Cape architecture.
An intriguing collection of photographs is also available for viewing, featuring early diamond discoveries, the South African War, the social history of the inhabitants of southern Africa, the siege of Kimberley and Northern Cape architecture.
The Public Library opened in 1887
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The building now houses the Africana Library
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Academic Thesis
THE HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE KIMBERLEY AFRICANA LIBRARY AND ITS RELATIONSHIP WITH THE KIMBERLEY PUBLIC LIBRARY This 327-page thesis (click on the page icon, bottom right-hand corner of the Scribd menu) deals with a subject which is vast. It is one which embraces more than 100 years of the history of two exceptional institutions in Kimberley, the origins of which correspond with the genesis of industrial South Africa. The study traces the development of the Kimberley Public Library, the mother institution of the present-day Africana Library, within the context of its environment – geographic, economic, political and social and assesses its contribution towards the development of the library movement in South Africa. |
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