Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1878 - 1976 (Creation)
Level of description
Fonds
Extent and medium
Extent168 boxes
Context area
Name of creator
Administrative history
On the 9th July 1875, two young missionaries, Ernest Creux and Paul Berthoud founded the Swiss Mission station of Valdezia in the Northern Transvaal. It was on many occasions a hard hit and tested society. The field of action was in the unhealthy Lowveld, on the Transvaal side as well as beyond the Portuguese East African border, into Mozambique. The mission has constantly developed, not only geographically, but in the nature of its work and variety of its undertakings
Its hospitals were famous for the efficiency of their work and the practical help which they rendered to patients. There are hospitals and clinics, three of the hospitals having training schools for nurses. Female missionaries were of great importance in teaching and social work. Its schools and Normal College have done outstanding work. From the scientific standpoint, writers such as H.A. Junod, H.P. Junod, A.A. Jacques and others have contributed much to Bantu studies in all its branches, especially in linguistics and social anthropology. The church has helped to foster good race relations
There is a feeling of affinity and friendship between the Reformed Church of Switzerland, including the Mission Suisse Romande and a large section of South Africans of the same religious faith. There is a strong desire for union between the Presbyterian Church of Southern Africa Presbyterian/Congregational and the Tsonga Presbyterian Church (Swiss Mission in South Africa). Among the tribes of Portuguese East Africa as well in the Northern Transvaal, in Pretoria and Johannesburg, thousands of African people have been built into the fabric of a church whose standards are unusually high. Its relations with other missionary societies have been most cordial and brotherly.
The principal task of the mission was evangelisation, but another very important function was education. Schools were opened at Shiluvane, Lemana Training Institution, near Elim, and Rikatla Bible School for the Mozambicans. Some schools had an industrial and agricultural syllabus
Church organization, Shangaan literature, the Blue Croat (temperance movement), scout and guide troops, teaching patrols who were went out from the stations Into the bush, are all part of the work of the Swiss Mission.
Archival history
In 1976, the Swiss Mission agreed to send their archives to Historical Papers, which Professor Tim Couzens collected and brought down in December 1976. A second part arrived in November 1977. A formal agreement was drawn up in 1981 between the Swiss Mission and the University of the Witwatersrand. At a later stage the Bible Translation Project was added and at a further date, M. Beuchat's Tsonga lexicographic material for a Tsonga dictionary, consisting of 6 boxes and 2 box files were despatched and are kept here until a decision regarding publication is reached.
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Part 70.19 - The Bible in Standard Tsonga. There is a listing of the items, stored in 58 boxes, which is attached to the hardcopy inventory.
Part S 1-8 - Schneider Papers. The items stored in these S 1-8 boxes are referred to in the inventory. The listing of the items is attached to the hardcopy inventory.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
The original classification provided by the Swiss Mission has been retained, keeping the 2nd additions in like order as far as possible, making adjustments where necessary during integration. The Education section was done in detail by a former member of staff, which is kept in the same order in which she sorted that section of the collection.
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Conditions governing reproduction
Copyright Historical Papers Research Archive, The Library, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
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Uploaded finding aid
Allied materials area
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Notes area
Note
Searching this collection is challenging due to the fact that many place names, mission names, names of tribes etc., are spelled in the French manner of the time.
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Archivist's note
Compiled by Joan Knoesen, 1987