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- Carl Hoffmann Papers (ADA Acc 28)
Carl Hoffmann Papers (ADA Acc 28)
Carl Adolf Gustav Hoffmann (1868-1962)
Carl Adolf Gustav Hoffmann was born in Prussia in 1868. He joined the Berlin Mission Society (BMS) in 1890 and four years later he was sent to Mashonaland. In 1896 he married Dorothea Kriele (1871-1951) in the former Transvaal. Hoffmann’s work and involvement with Northern Sotho communities span over a period of 46 years, from his first stationing in 1897 at the mission station Arkona in Sekhukhune land, to his retirement in 1943 as Head of the Berlin Mission Society in Pietersburg (Polokwane). Hoffmann, with his exceptional talent for scientific writing engaged in the documentation of all aspects of Northern Sotho language, oral literature and culture, for example: the documentation of folktales, songs, riddles, proverbs, dances and children’s games; customs of the Northern Sotho people such as law and order, marriage and initiation; religious practices such as ancestor worshipping, witchcraft and magic.
The large collection of verbatim transcriptions by Hoffmann of orally transmitted material is of particular importance to researchers working on South Africa, because in many African communities, like the Northern Sotho, locally-generated written sources are very rare since no form of script writing existed for a very long time. Carl Hoffman was one of the most talented missionaries of the BMS. He will be remembered as a sensitive artist and authority on Sotho history, language, culture, legends, myths and fables.The digitised Hoffmann Collection of Northern Sotho Cultural Heritage
The digitised Unisa archival materials consist of 9 manuscript diaries (handwritten in German Sutterlinschrift) and 8 volumes of transcriptions. Publications and scientific articles by the Rev Hoffmann in German and Northern Sotho were also digitised.
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The Hoffmann Collection of Cultural Heritage (housed in the Unisa Archives’ Hesse Collection of German Africana Archives and in repositories in Germany) was selected for incorporation in the 201/2013 German-South African Year of Science. The resources of The Archive of the Berlin Mission Society (ELAB) in Germany, are highly recommended. See also The Humboldt Univeristy - Institute for Asian and African StudiesSub-communities within this community
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Recent Submissions
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(1962)Voyage pittoresque à l'lle de France. Autobiography of Carl Hoffmann in 5 parts published in Die Brücke 1962 - 1963.
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(Verlag der Buchhandlung der Berliner evangel. Missiongesellschaft., 1908)Publication detailing the true story of the life of a Northern Sotho child, Mankchodi, from birth to old age. Dated 1908.
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(Verlad der Buchhandlung der Berliner evangel. Missionsgesellschaft. Berlin, 1910)Publication (atlas) with maps indicating Berlin Mission stations in South Africa, South East Africa and China. The atlas originally belonged to Missionary Karl Drescher. Dated c. 1910.
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(2013-02-01)Photograph of Carl Hoffmann and other Berlin missionaries at Botshabelo. Dated c. 1910.
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(2013-02-01)Photograph of Carl Adolf Gustav Hoffmann. Dated c. 1900.
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(2013-01-31)Photograph of Heinrich Gustav Christian Neitz and his wife Dorothea Elizabeth Hildegard Neitz (née Hoffmann). Dated c. 1960.
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(2013-01-31)Photograph of Carl Adolf Gustav Hoffmann and his wife Dorothea Elizabeth Anna Christliebe Hoffmann (née Kriele). Dated c. 1900.
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(Dietrich Reimer Verlag (Ernst Vohsen), Berlin, 1912)Articles on the Basotho culture, customs, fables and stories.
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(Hernnhut : Winter, 1930)
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(Buchhandlung der Berliner evangel. Missionsgesellschaft., 1912)
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(Verlag der Buchhandlung der Berliner evangel. Missionsgesellschaft., 1912)
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(Buchhandlung der Berliner evangel. Missiongesellschaft, Berlin., 1921)