Kotie Roodt-Coetzee se bydrae tot die kultuurhistoriese museumwese in Suid-Afrika - die Transvaalmuseumfase, 1933-1964

Abstract

This article highlights Kotie Roodt-Coetzee's contribution to cultural history museology in South Africa. Her interest in cultural history resulted in her first visit to the Old Museum in Boom Street, Pretoria (at that stage managed by the Transvaal Museum), where she found an exceptional collection of Afrikaner cultural objects. These were regarded as the history collection, as cultural history as an academic subject was in an early stage of development and not recognized as a museum subject on par with archaeology and anthropology. Many of the objects had been collected by the Staatsmuseum of the South African Republic. Roodt-Coetzee was concerned about the poor conditions that prevailed at the Old Museum, and raised the matter on several occasions. The fact that the public saw little of the collection was also a bone of contention. She made use of two opportunities to rectify this matter: objects from the collection were exhibited at the inauguration of the Voortrekker Monument in 1949 and the Van Riebeeck Festival in 1952. After her appointment as curator at the Transvaal Museum in 1953 she planned and put up many new exhibitions, such as the display to commemorate the Centenary of Pretoria in 1955 and the well-known Cape Silver Exhibition in 1962. She succeeded in assembling an exceptional collection of cultural history objects, one of the largest in the country. She regarded the conservation of the collection and the detailed documentation of the objects as priorities. She also gave the necessary attention to the Old Museum, the Kruger House and the museum at the Voortrekker Monument. Her ideal of an independent cultural history section was realized with the establishment of the National Cultural History and Open-Air Museum in 1964.