Research endeavours in the museum
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The History section conducts research on a variety of topics relating to King William's Town and Eastern Cape history. Much of the research is collections-based, drawing on the strengths available in the store room. This includes excellent information and objects relating to Eastern Cape missionary endeavours, local genealogy and objects relating to the German Settlers (1857-1859). The museum also serves as the official repository of the Cape Mounted Riflemen (CMR).
 The museum is a very popular genealogical resource centre. Apart from individual enquiries, the computerised biographical records have assisted two local group claimants, from Brownlee Station and Leightonville respectively, with their restitution claims. The Historian subsequently extended her research to include pre-apartheid housing in King William's Town as the subject of her Masters thesis.
Other research interests include local biographies. In this regard, several publications are in the pipeline. This includes biographies on Andries Botha (resident of the Kat River and alleged 1850 rebel, and his descendants), Mesach Pelem (local boarding house owner and an early Vice-President of the ANC) and Griffiths Mxenge, ex-Robben Islander and struggle stalwart who was killed in November 1981.
The Historian has also conducted several community outreach programmes. In 2005, a reunion for the erstwhile people of Old Town, the District Six of King William's Town, was held at the museum. For Heritage Day 2007 we invited Ginsberg residents who knew Stephen Bantu Biko, the well-known Black Consciousness leader, to share their reminiscences with an audience of local learners. The scholars, in return, recited their poetry and took part in a theatrical drama production on the life of Biko. The event was facilitated by the Museum and the Steve Biko Foundation.
An Old Town band, The Merrymakers, c. 1950. |
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Mammal research in the museum is centred around the Shortridge Mammal Collection, consisting of over 40,000 specimens of African mammals. A tremendous resource for mammalogists interested in systematics, biodiversity, distribution and related spheres, most of the specimens consist of skins & skulls collected in southern Africa.
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The librarian assists researchers with sourcing literature.
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SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
ALBERTI L. 1807/1968. Account of the Tribal Life and Customs of the Xhosa. (Trans. William Fehr.) Balkema: Cape Town.
AYLIFF J. & J. WHITESIDE 1912/1962. History of the Abambo generally known as Fingoes. Struik: Cape Town.
BEINART W. 1982. The Political Economy of Pondoland 1860 to 1930. Cambridge University Press.
BEINART W. & C. BUNDY (Eds.) 1987. Hidden struggles in rural South Africa: Politics and popular movements in the Transkei and Eastern Cape 1890-1930. Ravan Press: Johannesburg.
BENNIE W. G. 1939. The Ciskei and Southern Transkei Tribes (Xhosa and Thembu). In: A. M. Duggan-Cronin 1939. The Nguni - the Xhosa and Thembu. The Bantu Tribes of South Africa 3:1: 19-42.
BROWNLEE C. 1916/1977. Reminiscences of Kaffir Life and History. Killie Campbell Africana Library: Durban.
BUNDY C. 1988. The Rise and Fall of the South African Peasantry. (2 Edition) David Philip: Cape Town.
CALLAWAY C. 1868. Nursery Tales, Traditions, and Histories of the Zulus. Vol. I. Davis & Sons: Pietermaritzburg.
COBBING J. 1988. <<The Mfecane as alibi: Thoughts on Dithakong and Mbolompo.>>Journal of African History 29: 487-519
COPLAN D. 1985. In Township Tonight: South Africa’s Black City Music and Theatre. Ravan Press: Johannesburg.
DOKE C. M. & B. W. VILAKAZI 1953. A Zulu-English Dictionary. Witwatersrand University Press: Johannesburg.
EDGAR R. R. & H. SAPIRE 2000. African Apocalypse: The Story of Nontetha Nkwenkwe, A Twentieth Century South African Prophet. Witwatersrand University Press: Johannesburg.
HAMMOND-TOOKE W. D. 1962. Bhaca Society. Oxford University Press: Cape Town.
HAMMOND-TOOKE W. D. 1975. <<The Symbolic Structure of Cape Nguni Cosmology.>> in: M. G. WHISSON & M. WEST (Eds.) Religion and Social Change in Southern Africa: Anthropological Essays in Honour of Monica Wilson. David Philip: Cape Town.
HAMMOND-TOOKE W. D. 1980. (Ed.) The Bantu-Speaking Peoples of Southern Africa. Routledge & Kegan Paul: London.
HAMMOND-TOOKE W. D. 1985. << Who worships whom: Agnates and ancestors among Nguni.>> African Studies 44(1): 47-64.
HIRST M.M. 1985. <<A Quarrel between Half-Brothers.>> The Amathole Museum Xhosa History Series No.1. [Second Edition] Amathole Museum: King William's Town.
HIRST M. M. 1986. <<Two Bulls in One Byre.>> The Amathole Museum Xhosa History Series No. 2. [Second Edition] Amathole Museum: King William's Town.
HIRST M. 1990.The Healer’s Art: Cape Nguni Diviners in the Townships of Grahamstown. Unpublished doctoral thesis, Rhodes University: Grahamstown.
HIRST M. 1993. <<The Healer’s Art: Cape Nguni Diviners in the Townships of Grahamstown, Eastern Cape, South Africa.>> Curare 16: 97-114.
HIRST M., COOK J. & M. KAHN 1996. <<Shades, Witches and Somatisation in the narratives of Illness and Disorder among the Cape Nguni in the Eastern Cape, South Africa.>> Curare 19: 2: 255-282.
HIRST M. 1997. <<A River of Metaphors: Interpreting the Xhosa Diviner’s Myth.>> In: P. McALLISTER (Ed.) Culture and the Commonplace. Witwatersrand University Press: Johannesburg.
HIRST M. M. 1997. <<The Utilization of Catha edulis in the Household Economy of Xhosa Farm Inhabitants of the Bolo Reserve, Eastern Cape.>> Journal of Contemporary African Studies 15:1: 119-143.
HIRST M. 1998. Chapter on the Xhosa. In MAGUBANE P. Vanishing Cultures of South Africa. Struik: Cape Town.
HIRST M. 2000. <<Root, Dream and Myth: The Use of the Oneirogenic Plant Silene Capensis among the Xhosa of South Africa.>> Eleusis (The Italian Journal of Psychoactive Plants & Compounds): NEW SERIES 4: 121-149.
HIRST M. 2001. <<Khotso: legendary herbalist.>> Imvubu (Amathole Museum Newsletter) 13:3: 1&6.
HIRST M. 2002/2003. <<Catha edulis And Its Utilization: Local Knowledge In The Eastern Cape.>> Eleusis (The Italian Journal of Psychoactive Plants & Compounds) NEW SERIES 6/7: 3-28.
HIRST M. 2003. <<Kat, the Law and the Somalian Who Got Away.>> PlantLife 28: 11-12.
HIRST M. 2005. <<Dreams and Medicines: The Perspective of Xhosa Diviners and Novices in the Eastern Cape, South Africa.>> Indo-Pacific Journal Of Phenomenology 5:2: 1-22.
HOERNLE W. 1937. <<Magic and Medicine among the Bantu-speaking Peoples of South Africa.>> in: P. CARSTENS (Ed.) The Social Organization of the Nama and Other Essays. Witwatersrand University Press: Johannesburg, 126-47.
HUNTER M. 1936. Reaction to Conquest: Effects of Contact with Europeans on the Pondo of South Africa. Oxford University Press.
KROPF A. & R. GODFREY 1915. A Kaffir-English Dictionary. Lovedale Press: Alice.
MAYER P. 1970. (Ed.) Socialization: the Approach from Social Anthropology. A. S. A. Monograph 8. Tavistock: London.
MAYER P. & I. MAYER 1974 (1961). Townsmen or Tribesmen. Oxford University Press: Cape Town.
MEINTJIES G. 1998. <<Manhood at a price: socio-medical perspectives on Xhosa traditional circumcision.>> Working Papers New Series No. 1. Institute for Social and Economic Research, Rhodes University: Grahamstown.
PEIRES J. B. 1981. The House of Phalo. Ravan Press: Johannesburg.
PEIRES J. B. 1989. The Dead Will Arise: Nongqawuse and the Great Cattle-Killing Movement of 1856-57. Ravan Press: Johannesburg.
SMITH M. T., CROUCH N. R., GERICKE N. & M. HIRST 1996. <<Psychoactive constituents of the genus Sceletium N. E. BR. And other mesembryanthemaceae: a review.>> Journal of Ethnopharmacology 50: 119-130.
SMITH M. T., FIELD C. R., CROUCH N. R. & M. HIRST 1998. <<The Distribution Of mesaembrine Alkaloids In Selected Taxa Of The Mesembryanthemaceae And Their Modification In The Sceletium Derived ‘Kougoed’.>> Pharmaceutical Biology 36: 3: 1-7.
SOGA J. H. 1930. The South-Eastern Bantu. Witwatersrand University Press: Johannesburg.
SOGA J. H. 1932. The Ama-Xosa: Life and Customs. Lovedale Press: Alice.
THEAL G. M. 1882. Kaffir Folk-Lore. W. Swan Sonnenschein & CO: London.
WEST M. 1975. Bishops and Prophets in a Black City: African Independent Churches in Soweto, Johannesburg. David Philip: Cape Town.
WILLIAMS D. 1967. When Races Meet: The Life and Times of William Ritchie Thomson. Afrikaanse Pers: Johannesburg.
WILSON M. 1982. <<The Nguni People.>> In: M. WILSON & L. THOMPSON (Eds.) A History of South Africa to 1870. David Philip: Cape Town.
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Anthropology-Xhosa healers |
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The Missionary Museum was constructed in 1855 as a Wesleyan Chapel. In 1894 it was sold to the Baptists who used it as a mission church until the enforcement of the Group Areas Act led to the closure of the church. The museum opened it doors to the public in 1976 and functions as a satellite of the Amathole Museum.
