Abstract:
Voluntary societies and government initiatives stimulated
the growth of reading communities in South Africa in the second half
of the nineteenth century. A system of parliamentary grants to
establish public libraries in country towns and villages nurtured a
lively reading culture. A condition was that the library should be
open free of charge to the general public. This became one more
reading space, and others included book societies, reading societies,
literary societies, debating societies, mechanics institutes, and mutual
improvement societies. This Element explains how reading
communities used these spaces to promote cultural and literary
development in a unique ethos of improvement, and to raise political
awareness in South Africa’s colonial transition to a Union
government and racial segregation.
