THE HISTORY OF TSE KIMBERLEY PUBLIC LIBRARY 1870 - 1902 Febe van Niekerk Submitted to fulfil the requirement of the degree MAGISTER BIBLIOTBECOLOGIAE in the FACULTY OF ARTS DEPARTMENT OF INFORMATION SCIENCE at the • UNIVERSITY OF THE ORANGE FREE STATE Supervisor : Prof D w Fokker September 1990 Co-supervisor: Prof A H Marais FOR MY FAMILY, BEN, PHILIP, NOELINE AND RENETTE AND GRANDSONS, IVAN AND BRYCE. i TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface 1. INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 The problem and its setting 1 1.2 The purpose of the study 2 1.3 The sub-problems 3 1.4 The hypotheses 3 1.5 Assumptions 4 1.6 The delimitations 5 1.7 Definition of terms 5 1.8 Abbreviations 7 1.9 The need for the study 8 1.10 Methodology of study 9 2. ECONOMIC, POLITICAL AND HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 12 2.1 The beginning 12 2.2 The birth of a city 17 2.3 Social and cultural background 18 2.4 Conclusion 22 3. EARLY LIBRARY HISTORY 2·3 3.1 Library development in England 23 3.1.1 The Free Libraries' Act 24 3.1.2 Mechanics' Institutions 25 3.1.3 Book Clubs and Circulating Libraries 26 3.2 Libraries in America 26 3.3 Library conditions at the Cape 27 3.3.1 The South African Library 27 3.3.2. Other South African libraries 29 3.4 Conclusion 30 4. THE FIRST ATTEMPT AT ESTABLISHING A PUBLIC LIBRARY IN KIMBERLEY 3 2 4.1 Early Reading Rooms and Circulating Libraries 32 4.2 The establishment of the first Public Library 39 4.3 Conclusion 54 5. THE SECOND ATTEMPT AT ESTABLISHING A PUBLIC LIBRARY IN KIMBERLEY 5 7 5.1 Conditions on the Diamond Fields after 1876 57 -- ii 5.2 Goch's Circulating Library and other Reading Rooms 58 5.3 The Kimberley Literary Institute· 61 5.4 The second Public Library in Kimberley 63 5.5 The Athenaeum- Club 74 5.6 The opening of the Public Library 76 5.7 The collapse of the library scheme 80 5.8 Conclusion 88 6. THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE KIMBERLEY PUBLIC LIBRARY ' 90 6.1 The liquidation of the second library 90 6.2 The library in New Main Street 91 6.3 Cultural societies in the nineteen-eighties 103 6.3.1 The Presbyterian Literary Society 103 6.3.2 The Young Men's Musical, Dramatic, Literary and Debating Society 104 6.3.3. The Newton Debating and Dramatic Society 105 6.4 Events leading up to the establishment of the Kimberley Public Library 105 6.5 The opening of the Kimberley Public Library 114 6. 6 Conclusion · 115 7. THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A PUBLIC LIBRARY AND INSTITUTE AT BEACONSFIELD 117 8. LIBRARY GROWTH INTO THE 20TH CENTURY 136 8.1 An outline of general progress, 1887-1902 136 8.2 The finances of the Kimberley Public Library 142 8.3 Extension of the lij:>rary service 148 8.4 Books tock 151 8.5 Conclusion 154 9. POLICIES AND PEOPLE IN THE KIM):IERLEY PUBLIC 755 LIBRARY 9.1 Library policies and librarians 155 9.2 Library policies as applied to subscribers 164 9.3 Conclusion 168 10. NOTES ON PROMINENT KIMBERLEY MEN AND AN 170 ASSESSMENT OF THEIR INVOLVEMENT WITH THE LIBRARY 10.1 Members of the Library Committee 170 10.2 Justice Percival Laurence 171 10.3 George H Gach 174 10.4 J B Currey 175 10.5 Moses Cornwall 177 10.6 James Lawrence 177 iii 10.7 Cecil John Rhodes 177 10.8 Barney Barnato 180 10.9 Leander Starr Jameson 181 10.10 Sidney s Mendelssohn 182 10.11 Conclusion 183 11. EVALUATION AND COMMENT 184 Conclusion 195 BIBLIOGRAPHY 199 ANNEXURE : TABLE SHOWING THE KIMBERLEY PUBLIC LIBRARY'S GROWTH FROM 1885 - 1902 BRIEF SUMMARY IN AFRIKAANS. iv ' . LIST OF ILtUSTRATIVE MATERIAL After Map of Diamond Fields, 1873, showing Ch.3 Pniel, Klipdrift, Dutoits Pan, Bultfontein and New Rush. Plan of Kimberley Township 1875, showing Ch 4 streets and mines. Photograph of Kimberley Public Library Ch 5 1882-1886 and a floor plan and photograph of the library erected in 1887. Map of the Diamond Fields 1886, showing Ch 6 the towns of Kimberley and Beaconsfield. Photograph of the Off ices of the London Ch 7 and south African Exploration company, 1889 and an early floor plan of the Beaconsfield Library and Institute. The historical record of a library book Ch 8 as indicated by a series of bookplates. Photographs of s T Solomon, Librarian Ch 9 of Kimberley Public Library, 1883-1889 and B L Dyer, Librarian 1900-1908. Photographs of P M Laurence ChlO G H Goch and J B Currey. ----------------------------------- PREFACE The Kimberley Public Library, which was built in 1886 and officially opened in 1887, was vacated at the beginning of 1984 when a new public library came into use. The old building was in a state of disrepair and could easily have been demolished as has happened to so many old buildings in Kimberley. It is to the credit of the City Council of Kimberley that a decision was taken to renovate and restore the building as a repository of Africana material. The Cape Library Services substantially subsidised the project. The building now houses valuable Africana as well as a large part of the original library stock, which was preserved as part of the assets of the old Public Library when it was affiliated to the Cape Provincial Library Services in 1960. I was privileged to be appointed City Librarian in 1973 and to be given the opportunity of acquainting myself with some of the books and documents which had obviously been acquired in the last century. The odd references in old newspapers to the early library history stimulated my curiosity about the beginnings of the library and the far-sighted people who collected and preserved material which has now become rare and in some cases, unobtainable. Furthermore, Kimberley is a place so steeped in history, that it is difficult not to become immersed in the past. I became acquainted with Miss Olive Mcintyre, a previous librarian, whose reminiscences date back to the beginning of the century, and Mrs Muriel Macey, whose love of books and tireless search for information infected me with enthusiasm. To these librarians I owe a debt of gratitude for inspiring me to document the history of the library. I also wish to record a vote of thanks to the present staff of the Africana Library, in particular Mrs Lesley Brits, for help so willingly given. This thesis is dedicated to all librarians and bibliophiles, especially the truly remarkable Mr Justice Laurence, who was the force behind the early Kimberley Public Library. 1 CHAPTER 1 INTRODU~I6N 1.1 The problem and its setting Kimberley sprang up virtually overnight. Where there had been nothing but veld before the discovery of diamonds, there appeared in the 1870's a settlement of approximately SQ 000 diggers on the. so-called "dry diggings" (Roberts, 1978; p.5). At this particular time there were between 30 000 and 40 000 people living in Cape Town, 12 000 in Port Elizabeth and 17 000 Whites in Natal (Babe, 1872, pp. 73, 77, 81). On the "diggings", the most densely populated area in south Africa, people of all cultures, creeds and races were thrown together and had to make a life for themselves under extremely harsh conditions. A unique city was born, the City of Kimberley. It is interesting to note that as early as April 1871, mention is made of Hurley's Reading Room at Pniel (today · about 20km · from Kimberley). Subsequently, various other attempts at establishing library facilities of some kind were made, but, as a result of financial and other problems, they were destined to failure. Nevertheless, the Kimberley Public Library was already well-established by 1889 and considered a model institution. "The Kimberley Public Library, in a town similar to Johannesburg and the former home of many Johannesburg people,. was always cited as a successful institution, worthy of emulation" (Kennedy, 1970, p. 15) • 2 It was a sore point with the Library Committee of the Johannesburg Library that progress did not come up to expectations and that the Kimberley Library seemed to be better off financially despite very little aid from outside sources. As Bertram Dyer, the Librarian of the Kimberley Public Library at the beginning of the 20th century, pointed out: "The town Kimberley does not owe its library to the benevolence of a Carnegie or a Passmore Edwardsl nor to that of one of its citizens, who, having made a fortune here r designed a useful provision for the rising generations of the. town. The Library has been provided entirely by the collective action of the citizens of Kimberley, practically unaided from any outside source, and it remains as a standing monument of usefulness of ·such collective action" (Dyer, 1903, p.47). 1. 2 l'urpose of study The purpose of this study is to trace the origin and development. of the. Kimberley Public Library and to show that it came into existence as a result of a great need for this facility, which evinced its elf from the start but only reached fruition when the community had stabilised; the origin of the Kimberley Public Library's present branch library, the Beaconsfield Library, will also be established and the role of these institutions in the community life of the time will be assessed. The study will be taking a closer look at the so-called "collective action" of the citizens and will seek to identify 1.