Rare South African photo-stories digitised

More than 20,000 pages of rare South African photo-story magazines from the 1960s have been newly digitised and made available to researchers by Sabinet.

The organisation, which facilitates access to information, particularly in academic and legal sectors, says it is “expanding access to an important archive of African popular culture”. 

The newly added material to the South African Magazines collection on Africa Commons includes 250 issues of True Africa, running from 1964 to 1969, and 110 issues of She from 1964. The two widely read publications captured everyday stories, social tensions, and popular entertainment during the apartheid era. 

Sabinet says the addition of She is particularly notable during International Women’s Month. The magazine featured a female superhero protagonist, a striking departure from the male action heroes that dominated popular media of the period. It was a rare early example of women portrayed in powerful, heroic roles in South African storytelling. 

Photo-story magazines 

Photo-story magazines were immensely popular across South Africa during the mid-twentieth century. Stories unfolded through staged photographic sequences, accompanied by dialogue and captions, creating a form of visual narrative often described as “cinema on paper.” Each issue typically ran between forty and seventy pages and explored themes like love, moral courage, workplace conflict, and social drama. 

Because these magazines were produced on inexpensive paper for mass readership, relatively few copies have survived. Their digitisation therefore represents an important effort to preserve fragile cultural materials and make them accessible to researchers worldwide. 

Many of the publications in the South African Magazines collection on Africa Commons have rarely been accessible outside African library collections. Sabinet digitised the new content. Coherent Digital’s long-standing partner in South Africa is helping ensure that historically significant publications remain available for study by scholars and students globally. 

The collection supports teaching and research across fields. Including history, journalism, media studies, literature, political science, sociology, and gender studies. It offers valuable insight into twentieth-century African popular culture and storytelling.