Archival research. Frustrating, demoralising, arduous, with just the odd moment of discovery to make it all worthwhile. Seemingly, this is not the case in Stellenbosch. Half an hour's conversation with the archivist, another half hour waiting for her return, and BANG: amazing objects appear from the vaults ...
This is the major discovery of the day - a scriptural teaching aid dating from 1896, made in Chicago, and seemingly used by South African missionaries. The paper would originally have scrolled by turning a handle on the side of the box. Unfortunately, this has sheared off, hence the screwdriver sticking out incongruously in the picture, which did succeed in turning the scroll even if it didn't add to the aesthetics. I really never thought that day one in the archives could possibly be so exciting. What was even better was the enthusiasm of the archive staff, who had never been asked about visual material before, and were as excited as I was to find things lurking in their collection that they hadn't known were there.
Of course, even the most amazing day in the archive involves laborious recording and, in my case, photographing, so I was glad in the end to escape to the cool streets of Stellenbosch. A quiet meal and a sneaky beer on a restaurant terrace, wrapped in a helpfully provided blanket, with a novel in hand, was just the antidote I needed. Bon appetit, and oidhche mhath (I really must learn to say those in Afrikaans)!