Papers of Olive Schreiner

Papers of Olive Schreiner, including:
* 171 letters from Olive Schreiner to Mrs F Hester, 1890-1920;
* 269 letters from Olive Schreiner to Betty Molteno and Alice Greene, 1891-1920;
* 373 letters to W P Schreiner, 1884-1919;
* 35 letters to Mrs Murray Parker, 1913-1920;
* 17 letters to Mrs Justice Saul Solomon.

Olive Schreiner, born 1855 in Herschel, Cape Province, of a German missionary family, was one of seven surviving children. Her younger brother, Wiliam Philip Schreiner, became Prime Minister of the Cape Colony in 1898. When Olive was nineteen she became a governess; seven years later, in 1881, she published her best known book, The Story of an African Farm. Having established herself as a novelist she became increasingly involved in political campaigning and pamphleteering. She attacked Rhodes in Trooper Peter Ballet of Mashonaland and supported the Boer republics in the South African War. Later she was to campaign for womens' rights, (see Women and Labour, 1911, reprinted 1978 by Academy Press), and for the extension of the qualified franchise to all races. She lived in Europe during the First World War and made herself unpopular with the British Government by espousing pacifism. She returned to South Africa in 1920 and died there the same year.

Records are open to the public, subject to the overriding provisions of relevant legislation, including data protection laws.

Olive Schreiner, born 1855 in Herschel, Cape Province, of a German missionary family, was one of seven surviving children. Her younger brother, Wiliam Philip Schreiner, became Prime Minister of the Cape Colony in 1898. When Olive was nineteen she became a governess; seven years later, in 1881, she published her best known book, The Story of an African Farm. Having established herself as a novelist she became increasingly involved in political campaigning and pamphleteering. She attacked Rhodes in Trooper Peter Ballet of Mashonaland and supported the Boer republics in the South African War. Later she was to campaign for womens' rights, (see Women and Labour, 1911, reprinted 1978 by Academy Press), and for the extension of the qualified franchise to all races. She lived in Europe during the First World War and made herself unpopular with the British Government by espousing pacifism. She returned to South Africa in 1920 and died there the same year.

The Olive Schreiner Letters Online (https://www.oliveschreiner.org/). Around 5000 of Schreiner’s letters, written between 1871 and 1920, survive. They appear in The Olive Schreiner Letters Online.

A reprographics service is available to researchers subject to the access restrictions outlined above. Copying will not be undertaken if there is any risk of damage to the document. Copies are supplied in accordance with the Borthwick Institute for Archives' terms and conditions for the supply of copies, and under provisions of any relevant copyright legislation. Permission to reproduce images of documents in the custody of the Borthwick Institute must be sought.

The originals are held at the Jagger Library, University of Cape Town.

Published

GB 193