The collection consists of personal and political papers and photographs.

The Helen Joseph Papers consist of correspondence, diaries, speeches, memoranda, articles, printed items, press cuttings, posters and photographs.

The papers were built up by Helen Joseph during her life time and relate to her personal fight against apartheid. Her papers cover her involvement in politics, the Human Rights Welfare Committee, the 1956 Treason Trial, bannings, banishments, house arrests, detentions, relocations, women's issues, churches and universities.

The collection consists of letters written by Helen Joseph to Joan McLagen and her husband Philip during the Apartheid era in South Africa, covering the years between 1962 and 1992. Helen Joseph was a major human rights defender and anti-Apartheid opponent for more than 40 years.
The letters tell of Helen Joseph's experience in the fight against Apartheid, and her life in general during that period in South Africa. The correspondence between her and Joan and Philip commenced shortly after Helen was placed under the house arrest in 1962. The McLagen family provided financial assistance to victims of Apartheid and their families. Through this correspondence they developed a warm and lasting friendship.
The anti-Apartheid campaign in Australia was supported not only by the State of Victoria but also joined by the other regions of Australia. Helen Joseph became a central point of contact, enabling members of the Amnesty International organisation in Australia to help victims of Apartheid in South Africa.

The collection gives an insight into the history of the PAC and black consciousness as well as providing a first-hand picture of Sobukwe, one of South Africa's greatest anti-apartheid figures.

It contains extensive correspondence between Sobukwe and Pogrund and Sobukwe and his wife Veronica, as well as photographs and publications, some of which were research material for Pogrund's book 'How can man die better...Sobukwe and Apartheid'.

The cartoons reflect on political parties and events in South Africa in the 1970s. Some of the themes are Taxation, the National Party Congress, Divestment, the Afrikaans Press, Political party alliances, United Party, Progressive Reform Party (PRP) and Colin Eglin.

Correspondence, memoranda and press clippings on unrest, banishments and removals.

The collection consists of black and white digital images, sorted by year from 1983 to 1989.

Gille De Vlieg started her photographic career in 1983, and this collection documents her journey through the different provinces of South Africa (North West, Mpumalanga, Gauteng, Limpopo, Northern Cape, Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal) to explore and capture events and issues as they happened. She has been meticulous in dating her photographs, so events unfold chronologically through her lens.

She manages to reflect the tranquility of typical day to day life in a serene rural setting, in contrast to the more harsh township lifestyle, against the stark contrast of the sometimes violent political activities of the era. The repetition of certain themes through the years, such as land removals, mass funerals, political protests, etc. further strengthens her body of work as a document to the turbulent political past. Capturing gender and lifestyle issues, for example depicting women embroidering, making batik patterns on cloth, pottery, basket-making, always remain an important part of her work throughout.

Each year, however, is marked by specific political, cultural or other events:-

1983 is a small collection of 7 photo’s of rural lifestyle in the mostly North West province.

1984 focuses on the political activities of the UDF, Cosas and ECC, while 1985, still focusing on the UDF, also shifts to detentions, police brutality and the Mandela Rally in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal.

1986 is dominated by images of the anti-harassment campaign, death penalty protest, Black Sash activities, and protests against the anti-incorporation into Bophutatswana. Many prominent people feature in these photos, amongst others, David Webster, Winnie Mandela, Sheena Duncan, Frank Chikane, Beyers Naude, Albertina Sisulu, Helen Joseph and Helen Suzman.

1987 contains a smaller number of photographs, and focuses mostly on the effect of the apartheid land removals on women’s everyday existence. Prison releases show photos of activist lawyer Priscilla Jana, Epinette and Govan Mbeki, Albertina Sisulu.

1988 brings an interesting angle to the collection as De Vlieg captures Afrikaner nationalism in all its glory during the 150th Celebration of the Groot Trek (unfortunately not in this collection), and Day of the Vow (Gelofte Dag) celebrations at the Voortrekker Monument in Pretoria. With people like Betsie Verwoerd, PW Botha, FW de Klerk, Pik Botha, Eugene Terreblanche on his horse, she catches the essence of the Afrikaner of the day! She also photographs the AWB swinging their flag with a swastika against the Voortrekker Monument as backdrop.This year also features a large number of photos of the REEA Care Centre.

1989 contains a small collection of photos of street scenes in Harare, Zimbabwe and of Namibia, including Herero and Himba people. Back in South Africa the images of this year focus on street children, evicted and homeless people, and township lifestyle of Tembisa and Eureka, and the ANC Welcome Home Rally for Robben Island leaders.

19 photographs taken by De Vlieg in the township of Tembisa in 1984-1990 were added to the collection in 2011. These photographs were part of an exhibition 'Entering Tembisa - an oral and photographic exploration of the community' which was hosted in the Tembisa West Library to celebrate Heritage Day 2011. This exhibition forms part of an oral history and archival collection project on Tembisa, conducted by SAHA in 2010 and 2011.

While Gille de Vlieg is responsible for the digitisation of some of her photographs, the majority was digitised by Africa Media Online (AMO), a Pietermaritzburg based organisation, in 2009.