Papers of Silas Modiri Molema

The collection comprises original notebooks and unpublished typescripts including manuscripts for Montshiwa 1815-1896: BaRolong Chief and Patriot , Chief Moroka: His Life, His Country and His People , and The Scapegoat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 Conje , 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.

Silas Modiri Molema was born c. 1891, 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 1940's 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).

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

Given by J. L. Comaroff as part of the Southern African Materials Project 1973-76 organised by the Centre for International and Area Studies (see comp. Brian Willan, ed. Patricia M. Larby The Southern African Materials Project (1980) [Ref WHO16 437019]

Unpublished handlist for the South African Materials Project (SAMP), arranged by MS number.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 Southern African Materials Project , compiled by Brian Willan, edited by Patricia M. Larby, London: University of London, Institute of Commonwealth Studies, 1980.

For permission to publish, please contact Archives & Special Collections, SOAS Library in the first instance