Conducts research and collects data on the global history of labour, workers, and labour relations

Library, Documentation, Image & Sound

Books and brochures

From the libraries of the Working Group Kairos and the Netherlands institute for Southern Africa (NiZA) more than 3.000 books and brochures were transferred to the IISH. Most of these have been included in the IISH-catalogue and can be found by searching in the category Books and brochures for Nederlands instituut voor Zuidelijk Afrika or Werkgroep Kairos (and of course on title, author, etc.). Most of these titles relate to the struggle against apartheid and colonialism in Southern Africa and the international relations with the region in the second half of the 20th century. Approximately one-third of these books deal with South Africa; other major selections relate to Namibia, Zimbabwe and Southern Africa as a whole.

Periodicals

The different organisations contributed some 500 periodicals, often with extensive holdings, from and on Southern Africa to the library of the IISH. They are now all integrated in the IISH holdings and can be found in the IISH-catalogue by searching in the category ‘periodicals’ for Nederlands instituut voor Zuidelijk Afrika or Werkgroep Kairos (or on their title).

Documentation

From the Library, Information and Documentation Centre (BIDOC) of NiZA some 50 meters of documents and another 15 meters of press cuttings from the 1970s to 1990s were transferred to the IISH. In 2017 these documents were processed into the Documentation Collection Anti-Apartheid and Southern Africa (1970-1998). They consist of press cuttings, articles, brochures, reports a.o. documents on (the liberation struggles in) Southern Africa and the international campaign against Apartheid in South Africa in the second half of the 20th century, from the documentation collection of the former Dutch Anti-Apartheid Movement, with additional documents of some other former Anti-Apartheid and Southern Africa solidarity groups in The Netherlands.


Subjects: labour/trade unions, education, women, repression and resistance against apartheid in South Africa; (the liberation struggles in) Namibia, Angola, Mozambique, Zimbabwe a.o. countries in Southern Africa; the international boycott/sanctions campaign against apartheid South Africa, international and Dutch political relations with South(ern) Africa; health, churches, sports, culture and militarization in South Africa as well as the political and social-economic situation in South Africa's urban and rural areas and the country in general; history of (the struggle against apartheid in) South Africa and the relations with The Netherlands; biographical dossiers on Dutch, South African and other activists in the struggle against apartheid and colonialism in Southern Africa.

Finally, the press cuttings consist of three chronologically arranged series – mainly from the Dutch press between 1970 and 2000 – on and relating to resp. South Africa, Namibia/Angola and Zimbabwe/Mozambique. These can only be consulted through the archivist Kier Schuringa:

Photo Collections Dutch AAM, Holland Committee on Southern Africa, Mondlane Foundation and Kairos

The photo collections of these organisations were, together with a large number later collected photographs by NiZA, transferred to the IISH – in total more than 20.000 photographs. Approx. 1.000 of these were individually processed into the IISH catalogue; search in Visual documents for photo and niza or Kairos. The remaining photographs were initially made available through four lists, but in 2016 partly re-arranged, more comprehensively described and processed into five IISH-collections and in 2017 augmented by some 2.800 photo’s from Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde:

A latest addition to the photographs is de Photo collection Frits Eisenloeffel which includes a large number of his photographs (negatives and slides) of his travels to Portugal, Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Namibia and Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) between 1974 and 1981.

Slide-collections NiZA and Kairos

Over 6000 slides from the collections of NiZA and Kairos were transferred to the IISH: several dozens of slide series (mostly with accompanying text- and soundmaterial) and the slide-archives of the Dutch AAM and Mondlane Foundation. They can be found in the IISH-catalogue; search in Visual materials for slide and resp. niza or kairos.

Posters

In 2008 the IISH holdings already included a large number of posters from and on Southern Africa, which came largely from the Dutch AAM, Holland Committee on Southern Africa, Kairos, etc. After checking for spares, another 1100 posters were transferred from NiZA to the IISH, processed in the catalogue and almost all of them scanned. They can be found in the IISH-catalogue; search in Visual documents for poster niza.
Over 700 of these posters originate from Southern Africa - mainly South Africa (470), including the posters produced by the ANC c.s. outside South Africa because the organisations were banned in South Africa (1970s and 1980s). Yet, also Angola (100) and Mozambique (70) feature well; some 200 of these posters were produced in The Netherlands.
With this addition, the total number of posters at the IISH from or dealing with Southern Africa now ranges around 3000 - the biggest part of these scanned as well.

Dutch anti-apartheid and Southern Africa posters

From this collection two selections have been made with posters (co-)produced by the anti-apartheid and Southern Africa solidarity groups which merged into NiZA in 1997. These lists present - in chronological order and with the call number in the IISH collection - all the posters produced respectively by the South Africa Committee/Dutch Anti-Apartheid Movement/Broadcasting for Radio Freedom (almost 150) and Angola Committee/Holland Committee on Southern Africa/Eduardo Mondlane Foundation (some 200) - both lists in Dutch only.

See also the selection of posters on anti-apartheid on the IISG Flickr pages.

Other visual items

Moreover, from the NiZA collection a large number of other visual items were added to the visual documents on Southern Africa already available at the IISH: exhibitions, drawings (for instance cartoons on censorship in South Africa), hundreds of textile items like banners, flags, bags and t-shirts, buttons (200), stickers and postcards (almost 400), etc. These can all be found in the IISH-catalogue; search in Visual documents for ‘actie Zuid-Afrika’ (or Angola, Namibia, etc.) for items from The Netherlands or ‘campaign on South Africa’ etc. for items from other countries, combined with textile, button, drawing, postcard, etc.

Music and Sound

Approx. 250 gramophone records and audio cassettes with (struggle) music, freedom songs, radio programmes and recordings of anti-apartheid and solidarity events throughout the years, which can be found in the IISH-catalogue; search in Music and sound for audio-cassette or gramophone record and niza or kairos.

Video’s

NiZA transferred in 2003 and 2008 almost 1100 video’s (with over 1500 video-items) tot he IISH: features films, documentaries, documentaries, news items and other recorded television broadcasts, largely produced between 1973 en 2007. These video’s were initially made available through two lists, but in 2016 combined into one IISH-collection: Anti-Apartheid and Southern Africa Video Collection 1960-2007

Over 1550 video’s and video-items on South(ern) Africa, other African countries and Africa in general from the collections of the Dutch AAM, Holland Committee on Southern Africa, Mondlane Foundation and NiZA; a significant part of these deal with the struggle against apartheid and the international solidarity campaign with the struggles for liberation in Southern Africa.

The 85 video’s from the Kairos collection were individually processed and can be found in the IISH-catalogue; search in Visual documents for video kairos.