l82 HISTORICAL RESEARCH IN SOUTH AFRICA. ^ 



fully appreciated only in the lig'ht of documents which at pre- 

 sent, to the great majority, are unknown." To some extent this 

 is true as far as South Africa is concerned, but, through the aid 

 of the above gentlemen, we have been able to gain an insight 

 into some of the documents. Yet much remains to be done. 

 There is scope for all those who take a pleasure in the work 

 and feel it a duty to take up the subject. The field is wide, and 

 can sustain many workers, each of whom will take his 

 allotment, dig it up, and bring forth the fruits for the benefit 

 of mankind. 



Coming to the last decade, it is interesting to see what has 

 been done. The Cape Archives has become more than ever the 

 hunting-ground of the professor and the student. Every year 

 sees an increase in interest and number of workers. While some 

 are using the result of their investigations for magazine articles, 

 monographs, etc., others are seriously attempting to unravel 

 several of the problems of our early history. This is the genera- 

 tion of monograph writing, and much good work can be done 

 in this direction. If each student takes up a particular period 

 of our history and collaborates with his co-workers, a great 

 advance will be made in the enlightenment of the nation as a 

 whole on many points which are yet obscure. Within recent 

 years essays and lectures have appeared dealing witb the social 

 life of the people, legal constitution, economic questions, and 

 other matters which indicate a real, interest in the early history 

 of the past. The publications dealing with the lives and doings 

 of the voortrekkers, the pioneers of the late Northern Republics, 

 have shown us how much we have still to know. The material 

 is here, and so is the opportunity. Since the old Cape Univer- 

 sity required research to be made in the Archives by a student 

 in order to obtain his degree in history, a number have been 

 obliged to come to the Record Ofiice to attain this end. It has 

 now come to be recognised that the Archives is a centre to 

 which all must wend their way to learn and understand properly 

 our past history. In Cape Town, close to which are two Univer- 

 sities of the Union, a school of historv can be developed, for the 

 material is at hand, but it requires the aid of scholars to assist 

 in expanding the same. If workers could be obtained in greater 

 numbers it would be well to divide the work. The men bent on 

 economic questions, constitutional history, ecclesiastical matters, 

 social life and other kindred subjects which go to make up 

 history, could each take their special lines, and so give the world 

 the benefit of their lahours. From the record kept of the people 

 who have made use of the Cape Archives since 1912 one pleasing 

 feature is evident, i.e., that there is a steady increase in the use 

 made of the records. This applies also to the number of those 

 who visit the Archives to inspect some of the old and valuable 

 papers in the show cases, and includes people of every walk in 

 life within and without the Union. All this is a strong indica- 

 tion of an aroused interest in our national muniments. But of 



