On the 18^th of April 2021, library and history professionals all over the country and the world watched in horror as the Jagger Library at the University of Cape Town was destroyed in a wildfire. The Jagger Library housed the Special Collections Department which included the African Studies collections, rare book collections, specialist collections and one of the largest African film collections in the world.

Sindi-Leigh McBride and Julia Rensing compiled this publication as a way to make sense of the tragedy. They invited the curators as well as artists and academics interested in archives, art history, and related topics to a workshop to consider the question “What surfaces when a library is burnt, and archive lost? What merges from the ashes and ruins?” This book is the result of that workshop.

The perspectives presented in this publication come from photographers, writers, curators, artists, and various different academic disciplines. The book itself could be called a work of art, beautifully bound in blue cloth, featuring the artwork “Flaming Mountain” by Lady Skollie on the cover. Each author is introduced with a short biography typed up onto a catalogue card which has been pasted into the book. A limited number of books were printed, and the book was not made for sale, but rather distributed to university environments, public libraries, research institutions and specialised libraries through South Africa and beyond.

The UP Special Collections Unit was thrilled to receive a copy of this extraordinary publication from the editors. It is now part of our Africana collection, and can be viewed in our Reading Room on level 5 of the Meresnky 2 library.

An ebook is also available for download at this link

Catalogue access: https://UnivofPretoria.on.worldcat.org/oclc/1376252669

The Special Collections unit of the Department of Library Services plays a stewardship role in the acquisition and preservation of the Library's rare and valuable information resources, making them accessible to students, staff and researchers, as well as safeguarding them for future generations.