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These collections comprise material mostly from Africa, with a special
emphasis on southern Africa. Some of the older collections include
objects from all over the world for comparative purposes, such as
Inuit material as an example of hunter-gatherer material culture in
environmental conditions very different from those in Africa. The
collections reflect a long tradition of research and collecting work
conducted by Museum staff and their associates on material culture
of Khoe-San hunter-gatherers and pastoralists. Studies have also been
undertaken on indigenous technologies, such as pottery and basketry
in southern Africa.
The development of the ethnographic collections traces the history
of anthropological enquiry as well as changes in museological practice.
Since the opening of the accession register in the 1870s, successive
additions to the collection have built up an important record of ways
of life that have now vanished while processes of cultural change
in the population of southern Africa have also been documented through
this material record and photographs. Significant figures in southern
African history have made contributions of both ethnographic and historical
value. Notable are the objects from Oceania and the north-west coast
of North America that were reputedly brought to the Cape by Captain
Cook in the late eighteenth century, and a Tswana bone ornament collection
collected in 1836 by Dr Andrew Smith, the founder of the South African
Museum, on a journey of exploration in the interior of South Africa.
The collections of early anthropologists in South Africa, such as
D. Bleek, A.W. Hoernlé, I. Schapera and E.J. Krige, provide
a material record that complements their published work as part of
the history of the discipline of anthropology.
The photographic holdings include series of photographs and transparencies
from field expeditions by staff members, photographs from donors,
and a photographic record of specimens in the Collections. Like the
ethnographic collections themselves, the photographic record reflects
the changing research interests in anthropology and has been enriched
by contributions from historically significant figures.
A section of this collection is on display in the
South African Museum. |
