The Humphreys collection includes historical photographs concerning mining, the Anglo Boer War, early Johannesburg, amongst others. Most of the photographs formed part of Humphreys Collection of Africana. The photographs were given to Historical Papers by the Gubbins Africana Library in 1999, and have been added to the existing Humphreys collection of papers. There are loose photographs, albums, images on glass, filmstrips, postcards, and negatives on film and on glass.

The photographs have been sorted and most are stored with the photographic collections, unless indicated otherwise. Some duplicates and some photographs of limited interest have been grouped in their categories and stored with the original collection of papers.

The photographs taken by the Barnett brothers are Copyright 'The Star' newspaper.