Abstract:
Dr. FZ van der Merwe was a medical doctor with an exceptional interest in the identification, collection and preservation of South African sheet music. His collection, which he bequeathed to the University of Pretoria, now forms the basis of the F Z van der Merwe Sheet Music Collection. However, he also left a sum of money of which the interest is used on an ongoing basis for the further expansion of the collection. Why is this collection not integrated with the rest of the University of Pretoria's music collection? In deference to the wishes of Dr. F Z van der Merwe the collection is maintained separately and made available, under supervision, to researchers only. This collection may rightly be described as the largest and most comprehensive collection of South African sheet music in the world.