Africana collector

Letters from J.G. Gubbins, mainly to his sister Bertha Tufnell (née Gubbins), 1900-1935, with a gap between 1924 and 1931; wills and testaments, genealogical notes and photographs of the Gubbins Family; letters of Mona Gubbins (wife) and Bertha Tufnell; articles by John Gubbins and Bertha Tufnell; diary kept by Richard Rolls; Gubbins in the South African War 1899-1902; daily diary kept by Bertha Tufnell on a world cruise with Gubbins in 1932, trying to replace the Africana collection destroyed by fire at the University of the Witwatersrand.

The papers relate to Gubbins' experiences in Johannesburg 1902-1903, farming at Ottoshoop in the Western Transvaal, discovery and mining of fluorspar and the building up of a great Africana collection. Other subjects are theosophy, diamond and gold mining, Chinese labour on the mines, description of Bechuanaland and Rhodesia in 1906 and the 1914 Rebellion.

Correspondents include Gen. Louis Botha, Flinders Petrie and Gen J.C. Smuts.