At the Cape a Guidebook for Beginner Researchers
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Places at the Cape A Guidebook for Beginner Researchers Carohn Cornell and Antonia Malan Places at the Cape (text).indd 1 2012/11/06 11:44 AM This book is made possible by funding from the Government of The Netherlands and the support of the Universities of Cape Town and the Western Cape. We draw on published and unpublished research, the proceedings of workshops and seminars, and conversations with many people. Thank you to all who contributed information and ideas, and we apologise for mistakes and omissions. Special thanks to: Contributors to this book The Ambassador and staff of the Royal Netherlands Embassy, Pretoria The Consul-General and staff of the Royal Netherlands Consultate-General, Cape Town The Head, Reading Room staff, archivists and staff of the Western Cape Archives & Records Service Dr Pieter Koenders and staff of the Nationaal Archief in Den Haag The TEPC Transcription Team Sentrum vir Besigheids- en Taaldiens TEPC Workshop participants Brenda Beneke and members of the Department of Historical Studies, UCT Nigel Worden and Sue Newton-King Lalou Meltzer and Iziko Museums Cape Town Peter Stuckey and Nicola Dolby © Copyright: Historical Studies Department, UCT You are welcome to reproduce any part of this book for educational purposes on condition that it is not sold for profit and that the source is acknowledged. Published May 2008 with financial assistance from the TEPC Project funded by the Government of The Netherlands. Available from the Secretary, Historical Studies, UCT, tel 021 650 2742, fax 021 689 7581, or from [email protected]. To give comments, corrections and ideas for improving the book, email [email protected]. Design and DTP by Peter Stuckey Printed by CJ Printers ISBN 978-0-620-41021-2 Cover: Table Bay and Table Mountain, sepia wash S C Malan, (1812-1894) University of Stellenbosch Places at the Cape (text).indd 2 2012/11/06 11:44 AM Contents 1 Researching places: An introduction ................................................................................................. 1 ‘Layered history’ ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 1 ‘Cultural landscape’ .............................................................................................................................................................................. 2 ‘Sense of place’ ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 2 ‘Nothing there?’ ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 2 2 A very brief history: people and places in the Western Cape ...... 4 The indigenous people of the Cape ........................................................................................................................................ 4 How the small settlement spread under the VOC ..................................................................................................... 5 The Cape colony under British rule ........................................................................................................................................ 6 The changing face of the city ........................................................................................................................................................ 6 The changing face of the Cape Flats ..................................................................................................................................... 6 After 1994 ....................................................................................................................................................................................................... 7 3 Timeline for the Cape .......................................................................... 8 4 How to research pieces of land/property ........................................ 12 Land tenure and property rights ................................................................................................................................................ 14 Sources for researching properties and the people who owned or occupied them ...................... 15 5 Looking at buildings people made .................................................... 22 Looking at architecture in books and pictures ............................................................................................................... 22 Looking at architecture and cultural landscapes ......................................................................................................... 24 6 How to research a building ................................................................ 27 Interpreting a building as an historical source .............................................................................................................. 27 Look for documentary sources and images ...................................................................................................................... 30 What people know: Oral history ................................................................................................................................................ 32 Digging deeper: Archaeological sources ............................................................................................................................. 32 7 Peopling the places: Who lived where? ............................................ 34 Where did people come from? ..................................................................................................................................................... 34 Who lived where in the 17th and 18th centuries? ....................................................................................................... 35 Who lived where, 1800-1902? ........................................................................................................................................................ 40 Who were the builders and carpenters? .............................................................................................................................. 42 Places at the Cape (text).indd 3 2012/11/06 11:44 AM 8 Detective stories: How people have researched places ................ 43 District One of De Waterkant ....................................................................................................................................................... 44 District One: the Cape Quarter ................................................................................................................................................... 46 Slave washerwomen’s places on Platteklip Stream .................................................................................................. 48 The Woodstock Memory Project ............................................................................................................................................... 49 Melbourne Terrace, Woodstock: 1900-2000 ...................................................................................................................... 50 Hidden history around Cavendish Square in Claremont .................................................................................... 51 Schools’ oral history research: Forced removals in Constantia ...................................................................... 54 Porter Estate, Tokai: Layers of history .................................................................................................................................. 57 Project Phoenix: Community research .................................................................................................................................. 60 ‘If trees could speak’: the Trojan Horse story Athlone and Crossroads .................................................. 62 Crossroads research: Mayenzeke Street Names Project ....................................................................................... 64 Historical precinct in the heart of Somerset West ....................................................................................................... 65 Lwandle Migrant Labour Museum ......................................................................................................................................... 67 Researching family roots and the Strand Muslim community ...................................................................... 69 Research to ‘transform’ museums in Caledon, Swellendam and Worcester ...................................... 71 Stanford 150: Portrait of a Village ............................................................................................................................................. 73 Digging deeper at Genadendal .................................................................................................................................................... 74 A tour leader’s research: Mamre and Pacaltsdorp ..................................................................................................... 78 Breede Vallei Sosiaal-Historiese Vereniging .................................................................................................................... 80 The mission village of Saron: Memory of water