DIVISION of INFORMATION: Information Files
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UNISA LIBRARY UNITED PARTY ARCHIVES DIVISION OF INFORMATION: information files Inventory Compiled by Marié Coetzee 1987 Revised and updated Marié Coetzee 2012 UNITED PARTY ARCHIVES DIVISION OF INFORMATION: 1905-1990 Information files Introduction In terms of an agreement with the United Party in 1969, Unisa Library became the official custodian and processor of the Party’s political archive. The Archives also include the United Party’s predecessors and its successor the New Republic Party and the records of parties which broke away from the UP e.g. the Progressive Party (later the Progressive Federal Party). The Collection continued to grow even after the dissolution of the UP in 1977 and the final meeting of the trustees of the New Republic Party in 1989. The scope of the archival records of the Division of Information (422 boxes) The Division of Information is part of the larger United Party Archives which are available to national as well as international researchers. The Archives are of particular value in that the records are the official documents of a white South African political party who ruled for 38 years and who were the official opposition for 39 years. Over the years the Archives have been consulted by biographers, historians, politicians, educators, TV and film directors, lawyers, socialists and others. A year after losing the 1948 election against the National Party, the United Party established the Division of Information and Research in Johannesburg. Party officials were sent on official study tours to the United States and the United Kingdom to research marketing, fundraising and campaigning techniques and strategies abroad. On their return, the Division actively launched marketing campaigns, created publicity materials and conducted surveys on behalf of the UP. The marketing campaigns carried slogans such as Election Victory, UP Symbol, Car Sticker and Freedom Cavalcades. New marketing materials were created including United Party ties, tie pins, cuff links, brooches, earrings, table cloths and wall hangings. Fundraising fêtes were organised countrywide to fund elections campaigns. The Division also created, designed and distributed many publications, pamphlets, posters, newspapers and newsletters such as Die Volkstem, Politics Today and Speakers’ Notes to keep party members informed about the political issues of the day. At the same time the Division of Information created an Archive of records, biographical information, materials on other political parties and information resources on issues and persons who played a role in South African politics and society. These files contain valuable reports, pamphlets, press cuttings and photographs. They include interesting information on subjects such as apartheid, banned persons and detentions, church and politics, university education, evidence and photos from commissions of enquiries such as the Snyman Commission on the POQO PAC Paarl riots, Sharpeville, commonwealth issues, race relations and race classification, trade unions, the Freedom Charter, terrorism and sabotage, Springbok Legion and the War Veterans Torch Commando to name but a few. To date about 375 files of the Division’s files on subjects and individuals have been processed. The available files listed, include materials on UP Party leaders General JC Smuts, General Louis Botha, JGN Strauss, Sir De Villiers Graaff and Vause Raw; prime ministers Dr DF Malan, Dr HF Verwoerd, BJ Vorster and PW Botha; politicians Helen Suzman, Cathy Taylor, Anna Scheepers, Dr Moroka, Kaiser Matanzima and Nelson Mandela; religious leaders such as the Rev Beyers Naudé and Bishop Lekganyane and many others. © Unisa Archives. United Party Archives Division of Information Page i The arrangement of the UP Archives From an archival view point, the arrangement and description of the United Party records was problematic. The Archives were created by a few paid party officials, volunteers, individual members – who at times broke away from the UP and created new parties - agents and representatives over many decades. The United Party never had a unified filing system for records – each province, constituency and branch followed its own system. The state of disorder of party materials, made it obvious that there was never a file plan or any control over the creation of party records. The archivist therefore had to design a new filing system to accommodate past and future donations. In order to keep track of all donors a database was created of all donors. Records were not placed under the names of individual donors as it would divide the contents e.g. if the records of Waterkloof constituency were donated by four donors namely a secretary, the MP, the treasurer and / or chairman of a branch, a researcher working on the Waterkloof constituency would need to consult four different donor accessions. In the end, the archivist followed the provenance principle and created a basic party structure for the Central Head Office, the Division of Information, the Cape, Transvaal, Natal, Free State Provinces and Namibia. This system enabled the archivist to place all Pinelands constituency files in one place. Within this system, the files are arranged alphabetically and chronologically. The United Party Archives are arranged as follows: • Central Head Office • Division of Information and Research (administrative files, files on people and subject files) • Division of Organisation • Provincial Offices of the Cape, Natal, Free State, Transvaal and Namibia. These offices were sub-divided into regional offices, constituencies, branches, subject files and files on people. • Photograph and cartoon collection • Film Collection • Banner Collection • Map Collection • Party periodicals and newspapers • Speeches on tape • Posters • Private papers of individual members To assist with the identification of records, a database of all candidates of all parties who took part in elections and by-elections from 1910 to 1987 in South Africa and Namibia, was created. A perpetual calendar – also known as a forever calendar - was used to find the year in cases where items were only marked with a day and a month. © Unisa Archives. United Party Archives Division of Information Page ii UNITED PARTY ARCHIVES: DIVISION OF INFORMATION AND RESEARCH ADMINISTRATIVE FILES 1. Committees 1.1 Central Advisory Committee on Publicity minutes, correspondence, reports and circulars 1949-52;1958 1.2 Technical Advisory Committee minutes and annexures 1949-1953 1.3 Technical Sub-Committee minutes and annexures 1949-53;1958 2. Correspondence 1957-1963 3. Finances 3.1 accounts 1952-1958 3.2 cash-books 1953-1955 3.3 petty cash 1955-1958 4. Fundraising methods 1948-1968 memoranda, reports, circulars, pamphlets and press cuttings. 5. Function and aims of the Division of Information and Research 1964-1976 6. Newspapers and magazines fraudulent claims as being official UP organs 1950-1953 7. Pamphlets and posters 7.1 The design, production and distribution of pamphlets and posters (general & 1938 Baster poster) 1949-1958 7.2 Cost of living: memoranda and drafts 1950 7.3 Soil conservation: correspondence, drafts and memoranda 1951 7.4 Meidner (Nazi): correspondence and annexures 1952 7.5 Resistance to folly: correspondence and annexures 1954 7.6 Native policy: correspondence and annexures 1954-1956 7.7 Krisis (Senate Bill): correspondence 1955 7.8 NP policy (Baby): correspondence and annexures 1958 8. The press and the UP 8.1 advertising in newspapers 1951-1958 8.2 UP Press Syndication Service 1949-1952 8.3 correspondence with editors 1954 8.4 press liaison 1958 9. Public opinion surveys 1949-1966 memoranda, correspondence and annexures 10. Publications (UP) 10.1 Challenge / Ons Blad Press Commission questionnaire, correspondence, 1950-1955 memoranda, reports and circulars 10.2 Politics Today / Huidige Politiek 1957-1958 subscriptions 10.3 Newsletter 1955-1958 subscriptions © Unisa Archives. United Party Archives Division of Information Page 1 10.4 Speakers' Notes 1957-1958 subscriptions and distribution 10.5 Die Volkstem 1949-1951 correspondence 10.6 The Voter 1949-1950 correspondence 10.7 Weekblad 1962 minutes 11. Publicity and propaganda 11.1 Political campaign techniques (also American and British) 1950-1972 memoranda, pamphlets and press cuttings 11.2 UP political campaigns and schemes 11.2.1 Election victory campaign 1951-1953 11.2.2 Insurance policy scheme 1949-1951 11.2.3 Freedom cavalcade 1952-1953 11.2.4 UP symbol campaign 1951 11.2.5 Pay-envelope campaign 1953 11.2.6 Car sticker campaign 1958 12. Publicity liaison officer system 1951-1952 memoranda and correspondence 13. Publicity material 13.1 photographs and drawings 1951-1953 13.2 posters and stamps 1950-1953 13.3 metal badges, ash-trays and banners 1951-1957 14. Publicity methods 14.1 Film strips and slides 1950-1953 14.2 Mobile daylight cinemas 1950-1953 14.3 Political broadcasts 1950-1953 14.4 Stage shows 1950-1952 15. Registration drive correspondence, memoranda and drafts 1950 16. Sales journal 1951-1955 17. Study group 1965-1967 minutes, correspondence and memoranda 18. Trust funds 18.1 UP Fighting Fund 1941;1948 18.2 United South Africa Trust Fund 1950-1953 19. UP offices address list c1962 20. Verenigde Afrikaner-Persfonds 1952-1957 proposals for a bi-weekly Afrikaans newspaper, minutes, correspondence, memoranda and annexures © Unisa Archives. United Party Archives Division of Information Page 2 SUBJECT FILES 21. Advisory Boards 1954-1968 press cuttings 22. African National Congress 1958-1966 press cuttings 23. African People's Conference 1961 press cuttings 24. Afrikaner Party 1940-1942 pamphlets and press cuttings 25. Agriculture 1939-1974 memoranda, pamphlets, notes and press cuttings 26. Amnesty Bill 1954 press cuttings 27. Anti-Semitism 1937-1960 correspondence, pamphlets and press cuttings 28. Apartheid 1951-1974 memoranda, press cuttings and notes 29. Army (See also Defense) 1950-1953;1963 press cuttings 30. Australia and SA 1969-1971 press cuttings 31. Banking in SA 1948 Social and Economic Planning Council report 32. Banned persons 1966-1972 press cuttings 33. Bantu Investment Corporation 1958-1975 press cuttings 34. Bantu Self Government Bill 1958-1965 press cuttings 35.