The Records of the Human Sciences Research Council

Abstract The Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) is South Africa’s foremost non-teaching social science research body. In this paper, the author gives an overview of its records, recently uncovered in the institution’s building in Pretoria. To academics, policy makers, and all those interested in South Africa’s intellectual and institutional history, these records are important in seeking to understanding the HSRC itself and other apartheid institutions. In addition, exploration of its history can, amongst other things, help to shape policy in liberated South Africa towards higher educational and research institutions in the light of their historical legacy of apartheid and segregation. The author cautions that, as researchers embark upon exploring the history of the HSRC, they should avoid romanticizing it but rather confront its nuances and challenges head on.