SCOLMA 60th Anniversary Seminar : The Jagger Library After the Fire

SCOLMA 60th Anniversary Seminar

The Jagger Library After the Fire

Salvage and Recovery of the Special Collections at the University of Cape Town

Wednesday 29 June 2022

13:00 (UK)/14:00 (South Africa)

Online via Zoom
(registration details below)

Mandy Noble (UCT Principal Librarian: Published Collections, Special Collections)

Michal Singer (UCT Principal Archivist: Primary Collections, Special Collections)

A view of the Jagger Library’s Upper Galleries from the south side of the building, now open to the sky.
Photo: Michal Singer

A large part of the Special Collections Department, housed in the Jagger Library at the University of Cape Town, was destroyed by the Table Mountain wildfire of 18 April 2021. The bulk of the losses in the fire occurred in the African Studies Collection (part of the published collections), as they were shelved in the Jagger Reading Room, which was completely destroyed. Most of the archives were salvaged from the basements of Jagger and a complex reconciliation project is still ongoing.

This talk will give an update on the extraordinary rescue effort that followed the fire, and inform us about the current situation.

Mandy Noble is Principal Librarian managing all the published collections in UCT Libraries – that is: the African Studies Collection; Government Publications; and Rare and Antiquarian books. The published collections contain materials in a wide variety of formats – books, monographs, journals, microfilm, maps, pamphlets, posters and government publications. Until 2017 she was Section Manager of Cataloguing and Metadata.

Michal Singer is Principal Archivist for Primary Collections, or unpublished holdings, within the Special Collections of UCT Libraries, including manuscripts and archives, photography and audio-visual materials. Until 2019 she ran the archives at the Cape Town Holocaust and Genocide Centre.

Please register in advance via Eventbrite You will receive the Zoom link via email from Eventbrite prior to the seminar.