Junod Archives: Henri Alexandre Junod & Henri Phillipe Junod

Abstract

The papers, books and artefacts of Henri Alexandre Junod (1863 - 1934) and his son Henri Phillipe Junod (1897 - 1987), were given to the Library and the Department of Anthropology of Unisa in trust in 1974. The materials in the Junod Archives deal mainly with the Tsonga people of Northern Transvaal, where the Junods were missionaries of the Mission Suisse Romande. The Junod Archives comprises 1,5 linear metres of documents written in French, English and Tsonga. The Junod Archives is of great research value to national and international scholars as the papers reflect the history and work of two Swiss missionaries who devoted their lives to the upliftment of South Africans of all races for almost a century.

Henri Alexandre Junod was born in Switzerland and trained as a Protestant minister at Neuchâtel, Basle and Berlin. His first appointment was at the Rikatla Mission in Mozambique in 1893. Within a short time he published a Ronga grammar, soon followed by publications on the way of life and language of the Ronga. The life of a South African Tribe, HA Junod's anthropology guide, appeared in 1912. The documents in the Junod Archives reflect Henri Alexandre's understanding of the Ronga / Tsonga peoples' culture and language. As a missionary he respected indigenous culture and spread the teachings of the gospel with tribal customs in mind.

Henri Phillipe Junod was born in 1897 in Switzerland. He came to South Africa as a missionary in 1920. Dr Junod, a respected criminologist and prison chaplain, was a life-long campaigner against the death penalty. During his life-time he wrote many articles, pamphlets and manuscripts on the subject of penal and prison reform in English and French. He also published extensively on the Ronga / Tsonga culture, folklore and language. In 1987 Dr Junod died at the age of ninety, after a life of service, epitomised by the motto: man only lives through other men (a Tsonga proverb).