UNITED PARTY ORANGE FREE STATE PROVINCIAL OFFICE: 1936-1982

Abstract

United Party :Orange Free State Provincial Office 1936-1982 In terms of an agreement with the United Party in 1969, Unisa Library became the official custodian and processor of the Party’s political archives. The Archives also include the United Party’s predecessors and its successor the New Republic Party and the records of parties which broke away from the UP e.g. the Progressive Party (later the Progressive Federal Party). The Collection continued to grow even after the dissolution of the UP in 1977 and the final meeting of the trustees of the New Republic Party in 1989.

The scope of the archival records The Orange Free State Provincial Office files consist of 2,7 linear metres of records (27 boxes). This Office is part of the larger - approximate 500 linear metes - United Party Archives which are available to national as well as international researchers. The Archives are of particular value in that the records are the official documents of a white South African political party who ruled for 38 years and who were the official opposition for 39 years. Over the years the Archives have been consulted by biographers, historians, politicians, educators, TV and film directors, lawyers, socialists and others. The constituency files are important as they show the social changes of communities over time. After the nineteen-fifties, the urban population grew in sharp contrast to the diminishing rural population. As a result of urbanization, successive Delimitation Commissions created new urban constituencies and abolished or merged rural constituencies.

The arrangement of the UP Archives A new filing system was designed to accommodate past and future donations. To assist with the identification of records, a database of all candidates of all parties who took part in elections and by-elections from 1910 to 1987 in South Africa and Namibia, was created. Thanks to the archival process of arrangement and description, the rich information resources of the United Party have become accessible and useable for past, present and future researchers.