Library fire and the Bleek and Lloyd Collection

I have received dozens of messages of concern, shock and support from scholars around the world who are desperately worried about the Bleek and Lloyd collection, as well as about the African Studies library in general. If you are one of the Bleek and Lloyd community of scholars, we invite you to send any suggestions, indications of support or information about material you hold related to the collection to bleeklloydcollection@gmail.com. You can also upload images and documents related to the collection, here. 

This is an opportunity to gauge the holdings of individual collections, notes, transcriptions and so on, and keep a record of sorts, of this time. We will post updates on the safety of the collection as soon as we receive these so as to keep colleagues informed of the status of these materials.

 In addition, the Archive and Public Culture initiative has set up  a dedicated space on their website, where they will collate the latest updates on the destruction, and hopefully survival, of the African Studies collection and other sections of the UCT’s Special Collections Library. You can email them at a dedicated email address apcfiremail@uct.ac.za where you are also welcome to send suggestions, indicate support and send details of the research materials you may hold from the collections.

Pippa Skotnes