Identity area
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Date(s)
- 1882 - 1970 (Creation)
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Administrative history
The Anglican Church of Southern Africa, previously known as the Church of the Province of Southern Africa, is the province of the Anglican Communion in Southern Africa. Its primate is the Archbishop of Cape Town. The church includes dioceses in present day South Africa, Mozambique, Namibia, Angola, Lesotho, Swaziland and St. Helena.
An agreement was signed in 1937 between the Church of the Province of South Africa (CPSA) - now known as the Anglican Church of Southern Africa (ACSA) - and the University of the Witwatersrand, whereby the church's central record library was places on loan with the University. The library consisted of books, pamphlets, periodicals and manuscripts. The richness of the Anglican Church's manuscript collection is due to the efforts of the provincial archivists appointed by the church to collect material and transfer it to the university. The first, 1937-1957, was Father Osmund Victor, followed by Canon Cecil Thomas Wood from 1958-1979. Mrs AR Kotze then took over from 1979-2000, until Carol Archibald was appointed as Provincial Archivist in 2001.
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
The Tobias papers were obtained from the estate of the late Hev. Basil Henry Capes Purvey who intended writing a biography of Bishop George Wolfe Robert Tobias. Unfortunately he died in 1975 before he was able to carry out his work. The papers have been transferred to the C.P.S.A. Record Library which is in the custody of this Library.
Content and structure area
Scope and content
The papers relate mostly to the life of George Wolfe Robert Tobias (1882-1974). This correspondence gives an excellent description of the Church's work in South West Africa and also of the conditions and customs of the tribes living there, both written and pictorially. The papers also touch on the Kwanyaaa language in which George became so successful. He translated the Prayer Book and produced a hymnal. Ho also translated Hermann Tones 'Kwanyama Ora Emar' from German into English.
Canon Charles Frederick Tobias (ca 1850-1939), George's father, and a converted Jew, in correspondence to his wife, Ethel, also gives an interesting account of life in the field, where he served as Chaplain in the Boer War 1900-1901.
The papers also consist of the skeletal draft of the biography of George Tobias by Rev. Basil I. C. Turvey which contains a vivid description of the life of George and his work on the mission station and the people connected with him and a brief description from the Encyclopaedia of Southern African South West Africa.
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Note
Alternate title: Tobias, Bp. George Wolfe Robert
Note
Biographical and administrative history: He used to walk to Weekday Mass at Christ, the King, Claremont, and as he became very deaf, he appreciated the deaf-aid equipment there. It was here that he celebrated his 90th birthday. He contracted Parkinsons Disease and died at Pinelands Nursing Home, May 3rd, 1974, aged 92.
Note
Preferred citation: Copyright Historical Papers Research Archive, The Library, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa