George Wyndham Hamilton Knight-Bruce (1852-1896) was the Bishop of Bloemfontein (1886-1891) and the Bishop of Mashonaland (1891-1894).
His Diary contains the account of a pioneer trek through Mashonaland.

Text of the original Constitution, inscribed by Sophia Gray, and signed and sealed by the Bishops of Cape Town, Grahamstown, St Helena and Maritzburg, amongst others.

The sketch book includes drawings of the Malays of Cape Town, Khoisan of Algoa Bay and Swellendam, Fingoes of Algoa Bay and Zulus of Natal. Also scenes such as an ox wagon on trek; Wynberg Church and the Botanical Garden, 1852; Umlass Lake, Natal; cartoons of M. Jourdan of Mauritius, 1868 and a flower painting of sparaxis.

Kept by Sophy Gray, the wife of Robert Gray, first Bishop of Cape Town, this volume contains the chronicle of the Province, together with an index. The entries were done in fine calligraphy.

Journey: August 8, 1854 – November 11, 1854

The James Lycett Journal describes a “Journey to Namaqualand from Cape Town, commenced on Tuesday August 8th, 1854 in company with J. Calvert Esq., Coachman John Southgate, and Daangie, a Hottentot” (p.1) Another man named March, described as a “Hottentot boy,” also travelled with them. The Journal ends on November 11, 1854, with Lycett alone in Hondeklip Bay.

The Lycett party was part of the Namaqualand copper boom of 1854, and crossed paths with other prospectors, local farmers, and some government officials, including Charles Davidson Bell, Surveyor General, and Dr. William Guybon Atherstone, who later reported on the geology of the region to the Government. Atherstone kept three notebooks of his 1854 trip to Namaqualand, which describe similar struggles of travel but offer a different perspective on the people he met - including John Calvert.

The Atherstone notebooks are held in the Albany Museum in Grahamstown (Makhanda) in the Section that used to be the Settler Museum. My thanks to Dr. Elizabeth van Heyningen, Honorary Research Associate [HRA], History Department, University of Stellenbosch, for this information.

In her diary she describes social activities in India and at the Cape of Good Hope. 44 pages relate to the Cape, where she was married on 19 April 1836, and where she and her husband stayed for two periods from 22 April to the 22 September 1836 and again from 9 February 1839 to the 17 September 1840.

The notebook contains observations made by De la Caille at the Cape and elsewhere; a list of expenses in connection with his observatory at St. Martin (Paris); and details of the mathematical basis for his calculations, including lists of formulae and trigonometrical proofs, used as an aide-memoire during his travels. There are calculations of some star coordinates, apparently made at the Cape, and, most important of all, a calculation of the difference in latitude between the Cape and Klipfontein for his determination of an arc of the meridian.

The photographs of Joseph and David Barnett cover the early years of Johannesburg, its buildings and streets; gold mining, mainly on the Witwatersrand, but also as far as Barberton; events like the Jameson Raid in 1895, the Matabele Rebellion in 1896, the Queen Victoria Jubilee in 1897, and the South African War (Anglo Boer War) in 1899-1902; as well as personalities like Cecil Rhodes and Paul Kruger.

The collection contains the personal papers of Alexandre (Alex) Moumbaris, particularly his arrest, trial and imprisonment in South Africa. Also included are related documents covering the various anti-Apartheid movements in France, over and above Alex Moumbaris' records relating to his work for the African National Congress (ANC) and political activism, including the work of his wife Marie-José for BIAA and the ANC and anti-Apartheid movements, as well as documents relating to 'Okhela'.

The collection of digital photographs contains images depicting the interior and exterior of the Johannesburg Art Gallery, and its immediate surroundings being Joubert Park in the heart of Johannesburg.
Including photographs of the foundation stone, laid by Henry John Hofmeyr on the 11 October 1911, subsequent construction of the building in 1913, arial photographs of JAG in Joubert Park, images of interior exhibition spaces and of the building, as well as extensive construction work in later years.