Dr Barbara Harmel was born in December 1942 in Johannesburg. Harmel is the daughter of Ray Harmel, a trade unionist, founding member of the Garment Workers' Union and a life-long member of the South African Communist Party, and Michael Harmel who was a member of the central committee of this the South African Communist Party and the first Editor of the African Communist.

Dr Harmel joined the underground movement in 1963 and, after narrowly avoiding arrest, went into exile in 1964. Harmel graduated with a B.A. (Hons.) in Philosophy and a Masters in sub-Saharan African Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies from the University of London. While reading for a Ph.D. at the University of Essex, she was awarded a travel scholarship to do her research at Yale University. She was also an Associate Fellow of the Southern Africa Research Programme at Yale and taught several courses on the politics of South Africa. In 1984 Barbara moved to Washington D.C. where she worked for four years promoting Congressional awareness of conditions in South Africa and campaigning for U.S. sanctions against South Africa.

In 1988 she was awarded a two-year scholarship at Harvard University's Center for International Affairs where she ran a weekly seminar on South African politics presented by many speakers from South Africa. In 1990 she became the Director of the South Africa Program at the Albert Einstein Institution in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It was in this capacity and under their auspices that she returned to South Africa in 1992. In 1995 Dr Harmel trained as a psychologist in London and is currently in private practice in Johannesburg.

Robey Leibbrandt was an Olympic boxer, winning the light heavyweight bronze medal for South Africa at the 1934 Empire Games. He later returned to Berlin to study Sports. He joined the German Army during the Second World War, was trained as a paratrooper and dropped on the Cape Town coast in 1941. He formed the Nasionaal Sosialistiese Rebelle, drumming up anti-British support until his arrest in 1943, after which he was sentenced to death for high treason. His sentence was commuted to life imprisonment by General Smuts.

Joseph Barnett was born in 1861(?) in Brynmawr, Wales as one of 6 children of Barnett and Ellen Isaacs. He came to Johannesburg around 1888/9, where he started a photographic business in 1895, later joined by his brother David. Both brothers obtained contracts with periodical publications like the illustrated London journal "Black & White". Joseph Barnett died while on holiday in Wales and was buried at his birthplace on the 23 July 1897.

His brother David not only continued with the business Barnett & Co., but also took over Joseph's appointment as special correspondent of "Black and White", taking the photographic work of the brothers further. In the years to follow he contributed many of his pictures of the South African War (1899-1902), published by 'Black and White', and later launched a series of postcards in about 1902.By the time he decided to sell his photographic business, he was approached by Mr C.D. Don, Editor of The Star from 1915 to 1938, persuading him to sell the collection to The Star, which he did in the 1920s. David Barnett died at the age of 90 in 1964.

The photographs of Joseph and David Barnett cover the early years of Johannesburg, its buildings and streets; gold mining, mainly on the Witwatersrand, but also as far as Barberton; events like the Jameson Raid in 1895, the Matabele Rebellion in 1896, the Queen Victoria Jubilee in 1897, and the South African War (Anglo Boer War) in 1899-1902; as well as personalities like Cecil Rhodes and Paul Kruger.

Sr Priscilla Dlamini was the receipient of various awards for her work at the Hospice, amongst others "Community Builder of the Year" award by the Department of Social Welfare in 2001; "The woman of the year Finalist award" in Social Services by Shoprite Checkers; and she was nominated as "100 Top Women achiever in South Africa" in 2005.

The South African Post Office released a special edition postage stamp in 2012, depicting the Delegation of the South African Native National Congress (SANNC) to England in 1914.

The image originates from a photographic collection which is held at Historical Papers in the collection A1384f Plaatje, Solomon Tshekisho, which shows the members of the delegation being Thomas Mapikela, Doctor Walter Rubusana, Reverend John Dube, Saul Msane and Sol Plaatje.

The special edition postage stamp was issued in commemoration of the 100th Anniversary of the founding of the ANC, and was released with as a stamp and first-day cover on the 6 January 2012, designed by Martin Rossouw. Following its release the South African Post Office donated a sheet of the stamps and first-day cover to Historical Papers, accompanied by a text explaining in short the historical events from the founding of the South African Native National Congress (SANNC) in January 1912 in Bloemfontein, to the renaming of the SANNC to African National Congress (ANC) in 1923.

Carien Engelbrecht was the Project Manager of the Alexandra Renewal Project, which was a Special Presidential Project for Urban Renewal, and of the Katorus Project, which was a Special Presidential Project for Housing. Her Papers contain reports and notebooks with personal notes of minutes and accounts relating to the two projects as well as earlier projects she was involved in.

Vishwas Satgar was a member of the SACP for 18 years until his expulsion from the party in September 2009.

Vishwas Satgar's early political involvement started in the 1980s when he became active in the Natal Indian Congress, Pietermaritzburg. At the University of Natal Pietermaritzburg (UNP) he was the Secretary of the black Students Society, which he represented in the United Democratic Front. After the unbanning of the ANC and the SACP he became a member of both organisations. He held the position of the Gauteng Provincial Secretary of the SACP from 2001 until 2007, and sat on the Central Committee of the SACP. He was actively involved with the Alliance partners of the SACP in the Tripartite Alliance of the African National Congress (ANC), the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) and the SACP.

Vishwas Satgar published widely on issues of left movements, worker's issues and grass roots community initiatives, and is now closely involved with the Conference of the Democratic Left (CDL) and Democratic Left Front.

Glenn Moss was born in Pretoria in 1952. He obtained a BA, BA (hons) and MA at the University of Witwatersand, where he served as Wits chair of the National Union of South African Students (Nusas), and president of the Students Representative Council, in addition to a number of other student leadership positions.

Detained under Section 6 of the Terrorism Act in 1975, he was the first accused in the Nusas trial of 1976. He subsequently worked as a legal consultant in the defence of political trialists for a number of years, and was a founder editor of Work in Progress and the South African Review. In the late 1980s and 1990s, he was managing director of the Ravan Press publishing house, and served as chair of the Independent Publishers Association and as South African representative on the African Publishers Network (APNET).

Following South Africas first inclusive democratic elections, he was seconded to the Central Statistics Service (subsequently Statistics South Africa), where for 13 years he played a central role in transforming the Department and its outputs.

His latest project (2012) involves a book on the politics of the 1970s.

The artist Madelaine Georgette was born in New York in 1947, and lived in South Africa for the first 27 years of her life. The project "A Just Society" was supported in part by public and private grants in the USA.

Babette Kabak was Madelaine Georgette's mother, who lived in Johannesburg for many years. She was an activist and involved in the American Field Service Organisation.

Historical note relating to Radio ANC, as remembered by Lionel S. Gray. Being a member of the South African Communist Party since 1962, and a Lecturer of Physics at the University of the Witwatersrand, he was approached by the African National Congress (ANC) and the South African Communist Party (SACP) to develop a radio transmitter. One of his radio transmitters was found at Liliesleaf Farm during the raid in 1963 and subsequently became an exhibit in the Rivonia Trial 1964.