The Guides provide an overview of all collections at the Historical Papers Research Archive. The descriptions are provided on Fonds level.

The collections housed at Historical Papers include diaries, letters, memoranda, reports, minute-books, press clippings, pamphlets, photographs, drawings, maps, oral interviews, trial transcripts and financial, legal and personal documents. They are contained in various formats such as paper based records, microfiche, microfilm, photographs, slides, negative and positive film, tapes, DVD and CDs, audiovisual formats and digital formats.

The Ruth First collection relates predominantly to the years 1946-1982, and includes personal material, papers relating to her work as a journalist in South Africa, as university lecturer, anti-apartheid activist, and author and editor of books and articles.

Includes minutes of evidence (incomplete pages 1-3388), and memoranda presented by individuals and corporate bodies to the Commission.

Collection of documents relating to various subjects.

Contains records relating to St. peter's College from its origins in Rosettenville and during its subsequent moves to Alice, when it became a constituent College of the Federal Theological Seminary, to St. Bede's in the then Transkei and finally to Imbali near Pietermaritzburg.

This collection comprises an assortment of Rheinhallt Jones and SAIRR papers, and complements and supplements other records of the Institute housed at Wits.

Again the emphasis is on 'Native Affairs' and 'race relations' in the broadest sense, primarily from the mid 1930's to 1950's. Section 5 - 'Administration of Africans' is particularly rich in this respect.

The papers contain correspondence, notes, typescripts, theses, photographs and a scrapbook.

This collection of Smuts' papers relates to the two World Wars and in particular to the German East African and German South West African campaigns of Worid War I and to the creation of the British Royal Air Force. Subjects relating to South Africa are the establishment of an oil industry, politics and native policy. Other subjects are South West Africa, the League of Nations, colonialism, Ireland and astronomy. A large part of the papers is made up of draft typescripts of books, submitted to Smuts for his criticisms.

The interviews with Jackson Hlungwani were made by Reverend Theo Schneider at Mbhokota, Limpopo province, also including Marcelle Manley.

The 3 interviews relate to Jackson Hlungwani's childhood, upbringing and spiritual and religious beliefs.

Unpublished literary manuscripts of novels, plays, short stories and poetry, in English and Sesotho. The subject matter is primarily the relationship between the black and white peoples of Southern Africa and the problems of the urban Black. Included are a collection of short stories on Tongoland and an autobiographical sketch in which he describes the clash between the Basuto and the authorities during the Witsiehoek Commission of Enquiry, 1949.