[Source - Chloe Rushovich for FHYA, 2021, using material written by Justine Wintjes and Chiara Singh derived from KwaZulu-Natal Museum records: In 2020, the FHYA commissioned Justine Wintjes and Chiara Singh to identify and digitise one hundred objects from the Anthropology collection that the KwaZulu-Natal Museun. This selection consisted of the first one hundred objects listed in the museum’s Accession Register (entitled Ethnology Book 1) that still exist physically in the Anthropology collection at the Museum today (i.e. items that haven't been lost or deaccessioned), which are pertaining to the "Natal", "Zululand" and "Swaziland" region, and which had not previously digitized for the FHYA (namely the Father Franz Mayr series).
These objects were acquired in the earliest phase of the collection, and were accessioned by Frederick W. Fitzsimons, who worked as curator for the Natal Society and its successor the Natal Government Museum from 1896 to 1906. The Register itself was probably only started once the newly built museum building was occupied in 1903. (It opened to the public as the Natal Government Museum in 1904, and was renamed Natal Museum in 1910.) The early part of the Register has mixed dates (ranging between 1881 and 1904), with the chronological order flattening out at entry 357 (dated to 1905). Fitzsimons probably spent the first couple of years accessioning in no particular order materials that had been acquired by the Natal Society after 1850, probably mostly or entirely after around 1880, when acquisitions began to accelerate. Some among the 100 objects have dates written in the 'Date' column of the Register (between 1885 and 1904), which refer to the date of acquisition into the collection ('Custody') rather than date of manufacture. Where there is no date, custody can be located in the window ca.1880–1904.
The information provided for the purposes of this index is mostly historical, and not necessarily accurate, or the most recent or complete information the KwaZulu-Natal Museum’s Department of Human Sciences and its staff might have about an object. It derives from elements of the Museum’s collections management system (Accession Register, Catalogue Card and PastPerfect Database), which serves primarily to keep track of objects for inventory/retrieval purposes. Research on these materials is ongoing and KZNM is providing the archival information to the FHYA project because it can assist with provenance studies and other kinds of research.
The FHYA has organised the material into files and items - the files are named after the maker and the primary item, and contain the item and its associated catalogue card. Some items have multiple views.]
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