Stanford University recently launched the Regina Gelana Twala Digital Archive in collaboration with the Wits Historical Papers Research Archive.
Regina Gelana Twala was a South African feminist activist, writer, teacher, researcher, evangelist, and liberation leader. The Regina Gelana Twala Digital Archive includes a comprehensive collection of photographs and letters, many of which were exchanged between Regina Twala and her second husband, Dan Twala. Together, the Twalas were influential political, intellectual, and cultural figures in mid-20th century South Africa and Eswatini.
Twala’s correspondence, captured in the archive, sheds light on the intimate details of the couple’s lives, as well as the broader social and political landscape of their time. The archive is particularly significant for its documentation of Johannesburg during the 1930s and 1940s, when Black cultural institutions flourished despite the challenges of segregation and apartheid policies.
The online launch event included a panel discussion moderated by Joel Cabrita, Professor of African History at Stanford University. Panelists Athambile Masola, Senior Lecturer in the Historical Studies Department at the University of Cape Town; Annie Devenish, Historian and Writer at Wits University; and Azizo da Fonseca, Manager of Digitisation Services at Wits University discussed explored various aspects of Twala’s life and work, focusing on her intellectual legacy and the importance of preserving her contributions through digital archives.
Cabrita first discovered Regina Twala’s writings in archives of Southern Africanist scholars while researching her 2023 biography Written Out: The Silencing of Regina Gelana Twala. Following discussions with the Twala family, the papers were deposited at the University of the Witwatersrand’s Historical Papers Collection in 2021 and a digitization project began in 2022, culminating in the launch of the digital archive this year.
The archive is now accessible to the public through Stanford University’s digital platform. Readers can view the collection of letters and photographs, organized by year and decade. Additionally, the “Johannesburg Spaces” feature can be navigated via a map and takes viewers on a journey through the vibrant cultural landscape of 1930s and 1940s Johannesburg, exploring the Black social institutions that were central to the Twalas’ lives.
You can watch the full panel discussion here and explore the Regina Gelana Twala Digital Archive here!
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