This collection consists of an Honours thesis with research notes and source material including papers, press cuttings, interviews etc. It deals with the 1980s crisis in Alexandra Township, the collapse of local government and the shift in control brought about by new urbanisation strategies.

The collection relates to a number of Trade Unions in South Africa, amongst others the Federation of South African Trade Unions (FOSATU) and the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU). Other trade unions represented are the Commercial, Catering and Allied Workers' Union of S.A., Metal and Allied Workers' Union, National Automobile and Allied Workers' Union, Paper, Wood and Allied Workers' Union, South African Railway and Harbour Workers' Union, Sweet Food and Allied Workers' Union and Transport and General Workers' Union.

The initial part of the collection contains material which had been rescued from Khotso House after the bomb blast in August 1988. In 2012 the larger part of the collection was received and incorporated.

Photographic copies of paintings, 19th century.

Paintings by C.J. Andersson and his wife Sarah, including some copies of Burchell paintings, portraits of C.J. Andersson, his wife and his father (Llewellyn Lloyd), lithographs from his book Lake Ngami (London, 1856) and water-colours by W.J. Burchell. They relate mainly to South West Africa and a few to South Africa.

There is a detailed inventory of the Andersson collection, but the collection itself (including the originals of the above paintings) is not held at Historical Papers.

The collection almost entirely contains handwritten notes for speeches, talks and addresses. Dr Mary McLarty was a Transvaal Provincial Councillor and educationist, and the speeches are prepared in that capacity. Apart from politics, she was vastly interested in education, churches, Hospitals and nursing, girl guides, the role of women and adolescents, race relations and literary subjects, plus a range of notes on various places of the world.