Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1800s-2000s (Creation)
Level of description
Fonds
Extent and medium
199 boxes
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
South African historian and a world authority on the history of the South African mining industry, early trade unionism, medical history and the history of Johannesburg.
She will be remembered for her two masterful works of South African historical scholarship, which were based respectively on her M.A., earned in 1974 at the University of the Witwatersrand and on her Doctoral dissertation for which she was awarded her PhD by Wits in 1990. Her first impressive study was 'A Trade Union Aristocracy: the Transvaal White Working Class and the General Strike of 1913' (1976), published by the African Studies Institute at Wits. In 1994, Wits University Press published her authoritative study, 'White Death: Silicosis on the Witwatersrand Gold Mines 1886-1918'. These two works established Elaine's reputation as a leading historian of the South African gold mining industry. She gathered international accolades and her reputation was enhanced by her journal publications and presentations to a range of international conferences on mining history.
In 1995, Elaine achieved the by no means minor distinction in academic circles of publishing a pioneering article in one of the top rated economic history journals of the time, the Economic History Review (UK) with a path-breaking critical article on a key debate of the decade, 'Outcrop and deep level mining in South Africa before the Anglo-Boer War: re-examining the Blainey thesis'. This frequently cited article brought her scholarship to the attention of an overseas audience and fostered much interest in the complexities of the South African version of mining capitalism and the links between technology, geology and labour issues.
Elaine is additionally remembered for her work, together with Eric Axelson and Edward Tabler, on the publication Baines on the Zambezi, 1858-1859, a prestige collector's limited edition published by the Brenthurst Press in 1982. This book was the eighth book in the first Brenthurst Africana series and remains one of the most sought after.
In 2008, Elaine contributed a major piece on Johannesburg to the New Encyclopaedia of Africa, published in the USA and edited by John Middleton. In her final years, her research took her into the subject of the role of American mining engineers and mining technology in the Witwatersrand gold mining industry; a recent talk on this subject at the Rand Club was received with accolades. Elaine also became interested in Jewish genealogy and in her own extensive family history, and applied her skills of careful scholarly research and data gathering to this new area of interest.
Elaine Katz taught at Wits for many years and she was an excellent, demanding yet· encouraging lecturer and teacher. She was versatile, serving successively as a lecturer and later senior lecturer in the Departments of History, Economic History and Communications Studies at Wits and, following her formal retirement, she held an honorary research fellowship in the Wits History Department from 1995 until her passing.
Extracts with permission from an Obituary, written by Kathy Munroe and published in 'Jewish Affairs', Vol. 72, No. 2.
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
The working papers of Elaine Katz were deposited by the family after her death in 2017.
Content and structure area
Scope and content
The collection contains the research working papers of Elaine Katz, which mainly relate to gold mining on the Witwatersrand, Silicosis in miners, Labour and South African politics, particularly in the Transvaal at the turn of the 20th century.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
The arrangements of the files and index cards have been largely retained in the order in which they were kept by Elaine Katz in her filing cabinets and index card boxes.
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Conditions governing reproduction
Language of material
Script of material
Language and script notes
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Finding aids
Compiled by Khumbudzo Netshituni, November 2017-May 2018
Uploaded finding aid
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related units of description
Notes area
Note
SECTION B - INDEX CARDS has been fully digitised and uploaded.
Alternative identifier(s)
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
Genre access points
Description control area
Description identifier
Institution identifier
Rules and/or conventions used
Status
Level of detail
Dates of creation revision deletion
2019