Delve into the archives at Benoni Library
The City Times paid the vault a visit with our local historian Glynis Cox Millett-Clay
Anyone interested in the history of Benoni, dating back to the 1800s, will have a field day in the archive vault at the Benoni Library.
The library has beautifully-preserved copies of the Benoni City Times and newspapers which pre-dated its formation.
Most of the copies are bound in leather or other binders, but from around the early 1990s the council stopped binding the newspaper copies, apparently due to this becoming too expensive.
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The copies which are not bound are, however, still stored in boxes in the vault at the library.
The City Times paid the vault a visit with our local historian, Glynis Cox Millett-Clay, who was in search of some historic articles from the 1970s and 1980s, which we easily found.
While not all the copies are in date order, it is evident the library staff have endevoured to keep them this way; their efforts hampered, however, by members of the public who do not put the copies back where they belong.
“I have seen, while going through these copies in the past, that people actually cut out articles, which is not acceptable,” Glynis said.
Overall, however, the copies are in very good condition and all library staff ask is that the public respect their historic value while using them for research or other purposes.
“It would be ideal if people were asked to wear gloves while handling the copies,” Glynis added, “as the pages are fragile and need to be handled with the utmost care.”
Anyone wanting to sift through the back copies can collect the key to the vault in the Children’s Section of the library.
The key must be returned and all other conditions related to accessing the archives – putting copies back in date order and respecting their historic value – adhered to.
For more information about the archives of the City Times or other newspapers, contact the Children’s Section on 011 999 7266.
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