Molema, Silas Modiri

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0102 MS 380268
Held at	: School of Oriental and African Studies   Click here to find out how to view this collection at http://www.soas.ac.uk/Archives/home.html ›
Full title	: Molema, Silas Modiri
Date(s)	: Created 1941-1966
Level of description	: Collection (fonds)
Extent	: 2 boxes
Name of creator(s)	: Molema | Silas Modiri | c1891-1965 | South African political activist

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

Silas Modiri Molema was born c1891, in Mafeking, South Africa. He attended the Lovedale Institution and the University of Georgia, qualifying in medicine in 1919. In 1921 he returned to Mafeking to work as a doctor. From the 1940s he was involved in the African National Congress, and was elected National Treasurer in December 1949. He resigned in 1953. He died in 1965.

His publications included The Bantu Past and Present: An Ethnographical and Historical Study of the Native Races of South Africa (1920); Montshiwa 1815-1896: BaRolong Chief and Patriot (1966); and Chief Moroka: His Life, His Country and His People (1987).

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Papers, 1941-1966, of Silas Modiri Molema, comprising original notebooks and unpublished typescripts, including manuscripts for Montshiwa 1815-1896: BaRolong Chief and Patriot, Chief Moroka: His Life, His Country and His People, and The Scapegoat of the Boer War: General Piet Cronje, which was never published. Notebooks contain details of meetings of Tshidi Barolong Chiefs (1947-1961), genealogical, medical and historical information on the Barolong in addition to general South African history.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
Notes on the Barolong in unidentified languages.

System of arrangement:

Conditions governing access:

Unrestricted.

Conditions governing reproduction:

No publication without written permission. Apply to archivist in the first instance.

Finding aids:

Unpublished handlist for the South African Materials Project (SAMP) arranged by MS number. For an alphabetical listing of all SAMP materials (including material deposited at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies) refer to The South African Materials Project, compiled by Brian Willan, edited by Patricia M Larby (Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London, London, 1980).

Archival Information

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Donated as part of the Southern African Materials Project 1973-1976 organised by the Centre for International and Area Studies.

Allied Materials

Related material:

The School of Oriental and African Studies holds a typescript inventory (Ref: MS 380266) of Silas Modiri Molema's collection of political ephemera relating to the African National Congress, Yale University Library.

Papers (1874-1932) of Solomon Tshekisho Plaatje, including the literary manuscripts of Silas Modiri Molema and the personal papers of the Molema family, are held at the Historical Papers section of the Library, University of Witwatersrand, South Africa. Silas Modiri Molema's collection of political ephemera relating to the African National Congress is held at Yale University Library.

National Register of Archives: Click here to view NRA record

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's note:

Rules or conventions:

Date(s) of descriptions:
15 May 2000