Forbes Family Diary, National Archives Depository, Pretoria

Please reference as: Liz Stanley (2019) ‘Collections: Forbes Diary’ www.whiteswritingwhiteness.ed.ac.uk/Collections/Collections-Portal/Forbes-Diary-Collection.

The first Forbes Family diary was written in 1850 and the last in 1917 and the first two months of 1918. The 24 year-diaries that survive provide an unparalleled source of substantive information about the lives and activities of African workers and the white settler community in the eastern Transvaal and more widely, and it also takes an innovative form in terms of diary-writing and what is ‘a diary’. To find out more, go to the pages below for detailed information on all aspects of this fascinating ‘document of life’.

• The Forbes diary in a nutshell
• Introducing the Forbes diary
• Forbes diary dramatis personae
• Forbes diary overviews
• Forbes diary: working conventions

Last updated: 28 August 2019