Fonds BC1426 - BELLA SANDERS PAPERS

Reference code

ZA UCT BC1426

Title

BELLA SANDERS PAPERS

Date(s)

  • circa 1893-2000 (Creation)

Level of description

Fonds

Extent and medium

1 box

Name of creator

Sanders, Bella

Biographical history

This collection of 37 letters was donated to Manuscripts and Archives via the Kaplan Centre for Jewish Studies and Research, by Derrick Lewis in 2009. The letters were written to his grandmother, Bella Israelsohn (Sanders, 1875-1968), who was living in Oudtshoorn between 1893 and 1937. Her parents had emigrated from Latvia to South Africa in 1882. The letters are from Bella’s brother, Lazarus, who was working for the departmental store of Cleghorn Harris in Cape Town and in Port Elizabeth; and also from her girlfriends who were living in Kimberley, Calvinia and Uniondale. They provide interesting insights into how young people amused themselves in those days, with visits to the theatre, balls and dances, music and amateur theatricals, contrasting life in the small towns and the cities of South Africa. There is passing mention of Jewish festivals and of the South African War; one letter mentions the celebration of “The Relief of Ladysmith” in Uniondale.

Repository

Archival history

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

Donated to the University of Cape Town Libraries by Derrick Lewis

Scope and content

37 letters to Bella Sanders, plus the collection also includes the manuscript of Derrick Lewis's history of his family: The Sanders Story: A Family Saga, as well as a CD containing family photographs.

1. 1893 February 24: Note from Mr M. Lipschitz to Mr W. Sanders (Bella’s father).

2. 1894 February 2: Lazarus Sanders (Bella’s brother), Cape Town, to Bella, Mossel Bay.

3. 1894 April 1: Sarah (friend), Kimberley.

4. 1894 May 10: Sarah (friend), Kimberley.

5. 1894 June 23 Sarah (friend), Kimberley.

6. 1894 September 1 Sarah (friend), Kimberley.

7. [1894] November 4: Lazarus Sanders to his parents.

8. 1894 November 14: Sarah (friend), Kimberley.

9. 1894 November 28: Lazarus, Cape Town.

10. 1894 December 5: Lazarus, Cape Town.

11. 1895 January 7: To Bella, Mossel Bay, from Rose (friend)

12. 1895 February 14 Rose (friend), Johannesburg.

13. 1895 Thursday 17 Rose, Johannesburg.

14. 1895 February 17: Lazarus, Cape Town.

15. 1896 August 18 Lazarus, Cape Town.

16. 1896 September 29 Lazarus, Cape Town.

17. 1896 December 24 Lazarus, Port Elizabeth.

18. 1897 March 19 Lazarus, Port Elizabeth.

19. 1897 March Lazarus to his parents

20. 1897 July 4 Lazarus, Port Elizabeth

21. 1899 February 23 Rosa, Oudtshoorn

22. 1899 May 31 Rosa, Cape Town

23. 1899 July 11 Rosa, Madeira, Union Steam Ship Co.

24. 1899 August 25 Rosa, Marienbad Health Resort and Watering Place.

25. 1899 November 29 Polly, Posen; with a note from Polly.

26. 1900 June 21 W. Sanders (father), London, Cleghorn Harris & Co.

27. 1900 June 28 Rosa, Posen

28. 1900 August 24 H. Lasowski, Braimsberg, Ostpreufsen, Germany, in Yiddish.

29. 1900 December 4 Ida (future sister-in-law), Calvinia

30. [1901?] March 4, Hannali Bernstein (friend) Uniondale, “Relief of Ladysmith.”

31. 1901 April 9 Ida (future sister-in-law), Calvinia

32. 1901 May 16 Ida Rappaport, Good Hope Seminary, Cape Town

33. 1901 August 29 Ida (future daughter-in-law), Calvinia to the Sanders.

34. 1918 March 13 Harry Nurick, Johannesburg, to Aunt Bella.

35. 1929 June 28: Ethel (sister)

36. 1934 August 22 Trude, Berlin, to Bella & Isidore Israelsohn, George.

37. 1937 August 26 Miriam Koblentz, Tel-Aviv, Palestine.

Accruals

System of arrangement

Conditions governing access

Contact University of Cape Town Libraries: Special Collections for information about accessing this collection.

Conditions governing reproduction

Language of material

  • English

Script of material

Language and script notes

English

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