The John Michael Smalberger Collection was donated from the estate of J.M. Smalberger in 1977. It occupies 23 archive boxes (approximately 5 748 items). The collection consists largely of material collected for his M.A. thesis on the history of copper mining in Namaqualand, and his planned Ph.D. thesis on the history of diamond mining in Griqualand West, 1869-1888. The copper mining section contains much photocopied material from the Archives of the Springbok magistracy, including annual reports on prices and wages, statistics, and native affairs, and other correspondence. There are also government publications relevant to Namaqualand, some information on the individual copper mines, photographs, and extracts from k books and articles, most of these being photocopies. There is also information on reference cards. The material on the diamond fields (which constitutes the largest section of the Collection) consists mainly of photocopies from the Griqualand West Archives in the Cape Archives Depot. The emphasis is on the labour aspect, and shows how I.D.B. and the concern about Blacks buying firearms and carrying them back to their tribes through the Boer Republics led to the institution of the compound and pass systems, and so has relevance to many of South Africa's present problems. There is material on the labour-recruiting expedi­tions to the interior, gaols and convict stations, labour statistics, and I.D.B. There is also material on the various diggers' associations of 1871 to 1875, whose agitation led to the dismissal of Southey. There are many photocopies from the Griqualand West newspapers of the 1870's and 1880's. There is also information on reference cards. The collection includes typescripts of articles on the diamond fields, planned and published, and material collected for these articles. Also in the collection is material on labour in S.A. history (history of Black strikes, supply of native labour in the 19th century), on individuals (A.A.S. le Fleur of Griqualand East, Herbert Rhodes), racial discrimination in the 20th century, detentions and bannings, and the history of homosexuals in South Africa from 1652 to 1977.