Rosa Swanepoel Collection

This collection consists of newsletters, photographs, plans, documents, and related material on the history of Pretoria pre-1900, compiled by Rosa Swanepoel.

Rosa Swanepoel became interested in genealogy after retiring from teaching in 1997. She started researching some of her direct forbearers, the Zeiler and Skinner families. Because the histories of these families are so intimately linked to that of the development of Pretoria, she herself became interested in the development of her home city.

Today she focuses on the personages and places in the history of Pretoria before 1900. She started circulating electronic news letters, the result of her research, to more than 140 people on a monthly basis in 2003. These then are the letters presented in this collection.

Due to her wide-spread knowledge of the subject she has acted as guest speaker at the National Congress of the South African Society for Cultural History at their 150th anniversary of Pretoria’s founding celebrations. She was also awarded the Tshwane Building Heritage Award for Outstanding Service in 2006.

Any queries of interested parties can be directed by email to Rosa Swanepoel

For more information on Pretoria, please consult the Van der Waal Collection ,
Pretoriana (Journal) Collection and Plekke en geboue van Pretoria, vol. 1, vol.2 and vol.3.

Interesting books available on this era is:

- Kruger's Pretoria : buildings and personalities of the city in the nineteenth century by Vivien Allen and drawings by Hannes Meiring

- The Ph.D. Thesis by H. M. Rex : Die lewe en werk van Sytze Wopkes Wierda in Nederland met verwysing na sy betekenis vir die Zuid-Afrikaans Republiek.

- An electronic version: Ph.D. Thesis by H. M. Rex : Die lewe en werk van Sytze Wopkes Wierda in Nederland met verwysing na sy betekenis vir die Zuid-Afrikaans Republiek.

- The MA Thesis by H. M. Rex : Die geskiedenis van die eerste ou goewermentsgebou en sy voorlopers in Pretoria.

- Robert Peacock's book Geskiedenis van Pretoria 1855-1902