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BC 1183 FC CORNELL PAPERS Manuscripts & Archives University of Cape Town Libraries
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Donated
to |
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The
University
of Cape Town Libraries |
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By |
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Mrs B Cornell |
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A
list |
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Compiled
by |
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Isaac
Ntabankulu |
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2001 |
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CONTENTS |
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INTRODUCTION
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Biographical
note |
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The
Collection |
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A |
PERSONAL
PAPERS |
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B |
CORRESPONDENCE |
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C |
PROSPECTING |
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D |
WRITINGS
BY FC CORNELL |
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E |
MAPS |
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F |
MISCELLANEOUS
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INTRODUCTION
Biographical
Note
Frederick
Carruthers Cornell was born in Devon, England on 6th May 1867. As a
young man he commenced his mining career in Brazil and then Mexico. Before
coming to South Africa in 1901, he ran a hotel in Madeira, where he met his
wife.
He
made many prospecting trips in the course of his 20 years in South Africa: to
Namaqualand and the Richtersveld and South West Africa (now Namibia). He
searched for gold, copper and diamonds but was never fortunate enough to make a
significant find.
During
the First World War he served with the South African Native Labour Corps, but
his asthma prevented him from active service. It was he who first advised the
Government that the Germans had crossed the border into Cape territory in 1914.
His services obtained for him the O.B.E. In 1917 he was appointed to the rank of
Lieutenant.
In
1920 he travelled to England to accept a Fellowship of the Royal Geographical
Society and to find a backer for further exploration of the lower reaches of the
Orange River. He gave several lectures during the trip, including the Royal
Geographical Society.
His tragic death resulted from an accident when he was thrown out of the side car of a motor cycle. He died two days later (6th March 1921) of a fractured skull.
The Collection
The F C Cornell Papers were presented to the University of Cape Town Libraries in 2000 by Mrs B Cornell and numbers ca 600 items.
The collection consists mainly of personal papers of FC Cornell (1867-1921). It contains correspondence, diaries, newspaper clippings, maps, reports on various prospecting expeditions and areas, etc relating to his prospecting trips to South West Protectorate, 1905-1920.
The first section consists of
correspondence between FC Cornell and his lawyers, office of the mining
minister, office of the administrator, publishers and newspaper editors. There
are also application letters of Dr W.M. Borcherds requesting the right to
prospect for minerals and correspondence between Douglas Cornell and David
Philip Publishers about the new edition of “The Glamour of Prospecting.”
The
next section contains reports on various prospecting expeditions in the
Richtersveld, Steinkopf District, Orange River, Klein Namaqualand and South West
Africa.
His
writings include articles and stories that were published by various newspapers
and journals. It also includes a draft of his book, “The Glamour of
Prospecting” and newspaper clippings reviewing his books “A Rip van Winkle
of the Kalahari” and “The Glamour of Prospecting.”
There
are no restrictions on the use of the collection, but permission should be first
obtained from the University Librarian.
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BC 1183 F C Cornell Papers |
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Box
1 |
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A |
Personal
papers: |
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A
1.1 |
Passport
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A
1.2 |
Certificate
of appointment to rank of Lieutenant, 1917 |
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A
1.3 |
Permit
to proceed to South West Africa protectorate, 1919 |
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A
2 |
Diaries: |
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A
2.1 |
Diary,
1882 |
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A
2.2 |
Diaries
of 1911 trips to Upington and Zendlings drift |
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A
2.3 |
Expedition
diary, (from Prieska),1913 |
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A
2.4 |
Pocket
diary, 1913 |
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A
2.5 |
Reporters
note book & diary, 1913 (includes a trip to Delagoa Bay) |
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A
2.6 |
Diary,
1914 |
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A
2.7 |
Fragmentary
trip records, including South West Africa, 1919 |
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A
2.8 |
Diary,
1920 (starts from London) |
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A
2.9 |
Diary,
1921 |
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A 2.10 |
Diary and note book, n.d. |
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A 2.11 |
Expedition notes, n.d |
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A
2.12 |
Rough
wages book, 1920-1921 |
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A
3 |
Biographies: |
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A
3.1 |
Cornell’s
family (draft) |
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A 3.2 |
Percy Albert Wagner (draft) |
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A 4.1 |
Memorandum of agreement between FC Cornell and EWF Telfer,1912 |
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A 4.2 |
Memorandum of agreement between FC Cornell and EWF Telfer, 1913 |
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A
5 |
Obituaries
and tributes, 1921 |
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A
6 |
Share
certificates of the Malvern-Orange River(proprietary) Ltd, 1929. |
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Transferred by E F Bird to Emily Venning Cornell |
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Box 2 |
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B |
Correspondence: |
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B 1 |
Correspondence and contracts, 1905-1936 |
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B
2 |
Correspondence
with Dr W.M. Borcherds, 1924-1927 |
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B
3 |
Correspondence
between Douglas Cornell and David Philip Publishers, about new edition of
the Glamour of Prospecting, 1981-1987 |
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B
4 |
Letter
book and diary, 1913 |
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B
5 |
Additional
letter book up to 1914 |
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B
6 |
Letter
book, 1910-1911 |
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B
7 |
Letters,
1916 (re brickyard) |
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Box
3 |
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B
8 |
Letter
book, 1917-1920 |
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B 9 |
Letter book up to 1920 (including Alexander Bay survey) |
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B 10 |
Telegram book, 1920 |
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C |
Prospecting:
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C
1 |
Digger’s
permit, issued to FC Cornell by the Pniel Diamond Mining Company, Ltd,
1907 |
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C
2 |
Proposals
for expeditions |
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C
2.1 |
Proposed
expedition in search of the so-called “Hottentots Paradise”. |
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C
2.2 |
Estimate
for forming the gravel terraces at Zendlings Drift over a period of six
months from leaving Cape Town |
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C
2.3 |
Outline
on proposed method of recovery of ore values and method of mining, |
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C
3 |
Reports
on various prospecting expeditions and areas, 1910-1920 |
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C
3.1 |
Report
on the Steenbok Copper Property |
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C
3.2 |
Summary
of prospecting trip during Dec 1910 & Jan 1911 |
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C
3.3 |
Report
on prospecting trip to Richtersveld on behalf of Orange River Territories
Ltd, 1911 |
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C
3.4 |
Steinkopf
District |
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C
3.5 |
Report
on trip to various Bays on the Coast of Klein Namaqualand, to the mouth of
the Orange River, 1920 |
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C
3.6 |
The
Vaal River Diamond Diggings |
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C
3.7 |
List
of gravel prospects worked during Feb-March 1920 near Zendlings Drift,
Orange River |
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C
3.8 |
Site
map of prospecting area at Zendlings Drift, ms |
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C
3.9 |
Site
map of prospecting (unknown), ms |
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C
4 |
Documents
of the Cornell Exploration Co, Ltd |
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C
4.1 |
Draft
of proposed scheme for the development of the holdings of the Cornell Co.
Ltd |
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C
4.2 |
Cornell
Exploration Company, Ltd, Oct 1919 |
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C
4.3 |
Cornell
Exploration Company, Ltd, Dec 1919 |
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C
4.4 |
Cornell
Exploration Company, Ltd, Jul 1920 |
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C
5 |
Official
reports (by others) |
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C
5.1 |
Report
on the petroleum Prospects in the Union of South Africa, 1914 |
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C
5.2 |
Report
on the Discovery of Diamonds at Abomoso, North West of Kibbi, Eastern
Province, Gold Coast |
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C 5.3 |
Report on the Inspection of Occurrences of Mica in Namaqualand |
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D |
Writings by FC Cornell : |
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D1 |
Periodicals containing articles by FC Cornell: |
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D 1.1 |
Cape Argus Xmas Number, Dec 1916 & 1920 (stories poems and articles) |
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D
1.2 |
The
Cape: An Independent Review of South African Life and Politics,
vol.1:no. 833, 1931 (article on Namaqualand and a quotation from Glamour
of Prospecting) |
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D
1.3 |
South
African Survey Journal,
vol. 1:no.8, 1925(articles on Namaqualand and Richtersveld) |
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Box
4 |
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D
1.4 |
The
State,
1909-1912 (stories by F.C. Cornell) |
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D
1.5 |
Cape
Times Annual,
1919, p13 & 71 |
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D
1.6 |
Journal
of the Royal Society of Arts,
vol. LXIX: no. 21, Jan 1921 |
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D
1.7 |
Mainly
About Books,
vol. XIV: no. 1, Dec 1920 (story by FCC p32) |
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D 1.8 |
South African Panorama, vol. 32: no. 8, Aug 1987 (article on Richtersveld and surrounding areas) |
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D 1.9 |
The State: South Africa, vol. 2:no. 10, Oct 1909 and vol. 3:no. 1, Jan 1910 |
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D
1.10 |
Vlieende/Flying
Springbok,
vol. 2: no. 8, Feb 1983(article on Richtersveld)
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D 1.11 |
Custos: Wildlife Conservation Magazine, July 1982(article on Richtersveld) |
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D 1.12 |
Rondebosch Boys High School, 1921 |
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D 1.13 |
British South Africa Annual, 1918-19 |
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D 2 |
Other writings by FC Cornell: |
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D
2.1 |
Articles
and stories by F.C. Cornell (mainly poetry) includes Capt. Julian
Grenfell’s poem |
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D
2.2 |
Song
book “East and West” or War Songs and Verses for South African
soldiers by Fred C. Cornell |
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D
2.3 |
Cold
Feet: A South African Recruiting Song. Words by FC Cornell and
music by William J Pickerill |
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Box
5 |
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D
2.4 |
Newspaper
clippings on FC Cornell with attachments (picture layouts of places,
rivers, bays, houses, people, etc) |
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D
2.5 |
Scrapbook,
contains poems and articles published by FC Cornell, as well as drafts of
poems. (It also consists of a ledger, Dec 1899-1903, in which the articles
have been posted) |
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D
2.6 |
Ledger-includes
letters to the editor, articles, 1906-1915 |
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D
2.7 |
Newspaper
clippings (folder) on FC Cornell, 1914-1921 |
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Box
6 |
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D
2.8 |
Newspaper
clippings (note book) on FC Cornell, 1920-1921 |
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D 2.9 |
Press cuttings (United Kingdom), 1920-1921 (on mining and mines of South Africa and other African countries) |
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D 2.10 |
Articles on his travels, published in The Wide World Magazine, 1921-1922 |
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D 2.11 |
Narrative of amazing adventures by FC Cornell and others, 1913-1987 |
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D 2.12 |
The Glamour of Prospecting (new edition) |
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Box
7 |
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D 2.13 |
Book reviews of “A Rip van Winkle of the Kalahari” and “The Glamour of Prospecting,” includes articles by Willem Steenkamp on FCC & The Glamour of Prospecting |
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E |
Maps: |
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E
1 |
Map
of Kenhart |
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E 2 |
Maps of the North-West and South-West portion of the Cape of Good Hope and German South West Africa as it was before 1914 and subsequent railway development |
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F |
Miscellaneous: |
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F
1 |
Cape
Register (Statement of advertisements, April 1903) |
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F
2 |
Photograph
of army troops [1914-1918?] |
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F
3 |
Proclamation
of the German Military Commandant of Lille, 25 Aug 1914 |
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F
4 |
Slide |
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F
5 |
The
Kitchener Memorial Book |
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F
6 |
The
Royal Geographical Society: Foundation, history and work of the society:
Charter and bye-laws:
The Societies House, 1919 |
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F
7 |
Newsletter
no. 1 & 3. Namaqualand Mineralogical Society, 1986 |
