Fonds AL2460 - Julie Frederikse Collection

Identity area

Reference code

ZA SAHA AL2460

Title

Julie Frederikse Collection

Date(s)

  • 1979 - 1990 (Accumulation)

Level of description

Fonds

Extent and medium

5.2 linear meters (52 archival boxes); 472 sound recordings

Context area

Name of creator

Biographical history

This collection of interviews covers the period 1979-1990 when Julie Frederikse worked as a journalist and an author. During this period Frederikse worked as a journalist for the National Public Radio (NPR) in the USA, covering Southern Africa. She then wrote the book, 'South Africa: A Different Kind of War: From Soweto to Pretoria, 1986', and thereafter she wrote 'The Unbreakable Thread: Non-racialism in South Africa', 1990.

For the writing of 'The Unbreakable Thread', Frederikse was based at the Popular History Trust (PHT) in Harare, Zimbabwe. It was at PHT, where most of the interviews conducted for the purposes of this book, were transcribed. 140 interviews were further edited and a database for these interviews was created using Notebook (see section S). In 1990, the South African History Archive (SAHA) and PHT merged. This collection of interviews were part of the PHT material that came to SAHA.

The audio interviews were subsequently digitised. Due to their fragile condition, the interview transcripts were digitised as part of SAHA's Non-Racialism Project. The first phase of this project included the curation of a 25th anniversary commemorative edition of 'The Unbreakable Thread: Non-racialism in South Africa', by SAHA in 2015, in consultation with Julie Frederikse.

During this time Frederikse made a further donation of materials that relates to her earlier books, 'None But Ourselves: Masses vs Media (1982), 'South Africa: A Different Kind of War' (1986) as well as to 'The Unbreakable Thread'. While the bulk of the material consists of research materials for her books, especially 'The Unbreakable Thread', it also includes a collection of ephemera such as her press passes, badges and stickers. She also made a large collection of correspondence, book reviews, photographs and other documents available to SAHA to be digitised for inclusion in the virtual exhibition ‘Tracing the Unbreakable Thread: Non-racialism in South Africa'. The digitised items have been processed as part of the Julie Frederikse collection.

NPR - National Public Radio

PHT - Popular History Trust

SAHA - South African History Archive

Archival history

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

Content and structure area

Scope and content

I have first arranged all the transcripts (A - P). In many instances these are transcripts of the audio-cassettes under T. Where possible I have tried to indicate that an audio-cassette of the interview exists, I have added 'T' after the description to indicate this. Please refer to Section T to find the audio-cassette number.

The audio-cassettes have been numerically numbered in the order that they were kept at PHT. This was done to accommodate the fact that in some instances, one cassette would have more than one interview. I have added a prefix T to the number to denote that it is a tape and the figure in brackets denotes the length of the tape in minutes. However, under T in this inventory I have arranged the list of interviewees alphabetically by surname and have attempted to group the other interviews.

Section S contains 140 edited interviews of those found under section A. These are also arranged alphabetically by surname.

Furthermore, the individual interviews under A, N and T have not been included in the index. The alphabetical arrangement is sufficient in finding the relevant interviewee

See Acknowledgments in South Africa: A Different Kind of War and Author's Notes in The Unbreakable Thread for more information concerning this collection.

Section S: The Notebook Collection is missing from the entire collection

Materials donated by Julie Frederikse in the course of SAHA's Non-racialism Project during 2015 have been processed as series U and V of this collection.

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling

Accruals

System of arrangement

Conditions of access and use area

Conditions governing access

This collection is open for research

Conditions governing reproduction

Language of material

Script of material

Language and script notes

Physical characteristics and technical requirements

Finding aids

Uploaded finding aid

Allied materials area

Existence and location of originals

Existence and location of copies

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Related descriptions

Notes area

Alternative identifier(s)

Access points

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Description control area

Description identifier

Institution identifier

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Status

Level of detail

Dates of creation revision deletion

20090805

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