The papers consist partly of administrative records and partly of the records of political actions undertaken by Black Sash. There is also a large part of press cuttings and scrap books.

Laura Pollecutt's political activism started with her involvement in the Progressive Party. She later became a prominent member of the Southern Transvaal branch of the Black Sash, participating in numerous alliances and campaigns. She worked for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in 1997, first as Communication Officer, and later as special researcher for the hearing into the Media Under Apartheid. This led to her role in research and co-ordination for the TRC hearing on the Media and Apartheid in September 1997. Pollecutt wrote the final report with the assistance of Hugh Lewin.

Books on a variety of topics relating to South and Southern Africa donated to the South African History Archive (SAHA) by the Netherlands Institute of Southern Africa to allow researchers to consult while vising at SAHA. Also includes posters.

As a research institute, the CSVR has generated a substantial archive documenting all areas of its activities. Materials in this collection were collected from its Transition and Reconciliation Unit (TRU) and in particular, from the office of Brandon Hamber, who served as a senior researcher and co-ordinator of the TRU.

Some documents of particular note in the collection include: submissions to the TRC by various individuals and organisations in relation to the TRC Special Hearings on Business, the Media and the role of the Judiciary, submissions from various political parties, documents from conferences and coalitions held at the time in response to issues relating to the formation and execution of a TRC in South Africa, papers, minutes and interview notes relating to reparations, three databases used by the CSVR as it undertook studies relating to the amnesty process and the HRV hearings, and articles and documents collected or written by Brandon Hamber.

Materials collected from TRC Archival Audit.

The TRC Archival Audit

Between 2003 and 2006, SAHA and Historical Papers, University of Witwatersrand embarked on a project to locate, retrieve and make available records relating to the South African Truth and Reconciliation Committee (TRC). The project entailed conducting an archival audit of all existing TRC records in order to identify and locate documentation in danger of being lost.

In the process of conducting the archival audit, SAHA and HP located many collections from individuals and organizations that participated in the TRC process, including this collection. Selections from these materials as well as TRC related material found in the freedom of Information Collection and other pre-existing SAHA and HP collections, were digitized and can be accessed online at http://truth.wwl.wits.ac.za/

A guide to archival resources relating to South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission can also be found at http://www.saha.org.za/pdf/trc_directory.pdf

Please note: The listing of items often contains the racial language and terms used at the time.

While the Brian Currin Collection is a private collection, the records do give substantial insight into the professional life of the donor. As a private collection it is incomplete in the sense that a number of items that were regarded as being too personal for the public domain were removed from the Collection. Some items were faxed transmissions and had faded to the point of being illegible.

These documents were disposed of, while those that had maintained a certain degree of legibility have been photocopied and form part of the collection. This was done in collaboration with Currin himself.

The processor of this Collection was given several lever arch files of documents. After a number of bouts of sorting, the records were divided into three discrete groups:

Personal letters, which provide insight into personal and working relationships with individuals and organisations

Diary files that covers events over a period of 7 years, from 1987 to 1993

Subject files including topics such as: Political prisoners and Indemnity

The records are paper-based records and comprise correspondence, diary entries, invitations to events, programmes of conferences and the like, newspaper clippings and cards. However, an audio cassette entitled: 'Diakonia Breakfast Briefing 4/8/94. Brian Currin on the Truth Commission,' forms part of an otherwise entirely paper-based collection. [Ethel appears to have misplaces this cassette as it is not in the boxes.]

As the largest part of the collection comprises 'diary files' consisting of multiple types of documents - traditional diary entries, letters, newspaper articles, drafts of addresses and press statements - the methodology employed was to arrange and classify the records/records accumulations strictly chronologically - but taking into account how the donor had arranged his documents in the lever arch files.

Some records are not dated. These have been identified as such and have been arranged in the order and as part of the fonds which Currin himself had created when compiling his diary. This methodology applies to the letters as well. (In some instances Currin placed newspaper articles in his 'Letters' lever arch file).

In cases where it might be reasonably presumed that a record had been erroneously dated, this circumstance was indicated as such. In some cases the archivist undertook research to establish when certain undated records may have been created in that particular form. In these instances errors may have crept in.

The collection comprises digital and physical material. Hard copy items are marked with a single asterisk (*); digital items with two asterisks (*) and items that appear in both digital and physical form with a single + two asterisks symbol (+**) Some parts of the digital collection are located on CD's.