Each year the history honours cohort in the Department of Historical and Heritage Studies (DHHS) at the University of Pretoria (UP) is brought into the quiet of the archives to give voice to documents untouched since their disposal. Starting out as a sort of rescue mission for a large number of documents by the UP Archives, about 300 boxes, the project now forms an integral part of the theory and methodology module for History honours students at UP. The project puts the students into the position of archivist allowing them to put some of the theory they have learnt into practice. Once the boxes are randomly assigned to student groups, the students are expected to appraise and catalogue the sources they find inside so that they can be added to the collective memory housed in the archives. On the evening of 5 June, students again presented their findings at a seminar opened by the Dean of the Faculty of Humanities, Prof Kevin Thomas.

Group A: Anri Labuschagne and Kuhlekonke Makanya and Henro Heyneke

The sources largely pertain to education in South Africa over a vast period. This year’s collection went as far back as the Union of South Africa in 1910. To quote the archivist Verne Harris, these sources provide a “sliver of a window” into South Africa’s social memory by illustrating both official educational policies and life as a student. For instance, this year’s boxes contained documents such as yearbooks from various schools, official photographs from Johannesburg Girls’ Highschool as well as commission of enquiry reports into troublesome organisations and regulations for the schooling of coloured children. Of particular interest in this year’s boxes were insights into the lived experiences of students in South Africa in the 20^th century. In line with this, the three boxes spoke well to each other in piecing together student culture in 20th-century South Africa.

Group B: Thabang Mabitle, Alison De Ponte De Gouveia and Evan Parr

Group C’s box gave the audience, and any potential researchers, the broader context of South African education under apartheid with interesting documents that assessed movements encouraging students to rebel against the regime and reports on schooling for non-white pupils. The other two groups, however, provided a deeper examination of individual schools and students during this time. They contained information regarding the Jewish community, specific graduate classes and girls who took field trips to Ezenzeleni, a special needs school for black children. The other two groups, therefore, gave a glimpse into white students living within the segregated context established by group C.

Group C: Tyrone Solomons, Aiden Schutte and Khangwelo Hadzhi

The honours students themselves found this to be a rewarding experience and came face to face with the research process as well as its challenges. One of the students, Evan Parr, described the difficulties in finding information on the Ezenzeleni school, with only a few paragraphs available which translated into even less compiled research. This is a frustration that many historians and heritage practitioners are familiar with and gave the students an appreciation for the strenuous research which goes into the neatly packaged narratives and well-argued work that has been published. Another member of the honours group, Alison de Ponte de Gouveia, enjoyed getting a feel for the profession and the thrill that all researchers get when stumbling across something on which little to no scholarship has been done.

Overall, it is clear that the ‘What’s in the Box’ project is an exciting one for both the honours students and the DHHS at large. This is indicative of the diverse documents still waiting in boxes to come and their potential for future Historical and Heritage research