Identity area
Type of entity
Person
Authorized form of name
Gubbings, John Gaspard
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
1877-1935
History
John Gubbins was an Africana book collector, antiquarian and writer. He donated his Africana collection of old books, pictures and manuscripts to the University of the Witwatersrand. A disastrous fire in 1931 at the University's central block destroyed thousands of books, and a large part of Gubbins' Africana collection. Gubbins and his patrons, including the South African Institute of Race Relations, started on a new collection which eventually became the 'Gubbins Library' and which he donated to the William Cullen Library at the University of the Witwatersrand, and the Johannesburg's Africana Museum. The University conferred an honorary D.Litt. on him.