People worldwide are being encouraged by researchers to submit their information to help recover the UCT Special Collections African Studies Library.
Cape Town, South Africa (20 April 2021) – It was a devastating knock to scholars, researchers and the world as a whole when the University of Cape Town’s Library went up in flames. So much work and history were lost in mere hours.
A wildfire broke out early on Sunday morning, 18 April 2021, at Rhodes Memorial and spread to UCT a short while later. The fire jumped and spread to the UCT Reading Room at Jaggar Library, which housed over 200 years worth of history.
Thankfully the library’s fire system kicked in, and only this part of the library was damaged. The system has prevented even further loss.
The loss of the Reading Room has been a massive one, but people are working tirelessly to try and restore some of the lost information. This is specifically being done to restore the Special Collections African Studies Library.
Researchers from around the world that have had the pleasure of working with this collection or who have contributed to it are encouraged to help in restoring it.
“In light of the fire at the University of Cape Town on April 18th, academics and other researchers around the world who have worked in these special collections and have taken photocopies or mobile phone images of documents may be able to contribute these to help recover some of the lost records. Please fill in the form one time for each document you have. The results will be collated by Dr Maha Rafi Atal, Copenhagen Business School, and passed to UCT.”
If you are able to contribute, you can do so by filling out the Google form here.
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