Xhosa (African people)

Scope and Contents: An African woman is seen from behind in this apparently incomplete sketch. She bears three baskets on her head and carries a fourth basket in her hand. She wears some kind of band-like top, with a wrapped long skirt. Her feet are bare and she wears bracelets on her wrists. A palm tree is sketched loosely at left. Unlabeled.

Scope and Contents: Watercolor sketch showing an encampment of Xhosa/"Kaffir" warriors in foreground, with the British Fort White seen in the middle-distance in a grassy valley floor. The warriors, who appear to be naked, hold rifles and are clustered in small groups here and there on a flat dusty area. There are no British troops seen in this image, done presumably sometime after the attack. Labeled in graphite on reverse. Unsigned.

Scope and Contents: Watercolor portrait, full-length, of an African man with a moustache wearing a British or European military costume. He has a billed cap (with initials "C.M.R." for "Cape Mounted Rifles" embroidered or stamped on it) and a tight, high-collared, jacket, both in dark blue, and beige trousers. He also wears black leather boots. He stands with arms crossed, looking sideways at the viewer. A metal sword is slung at his waist. In graphite are sketched mounted military men, at considerable distance in...

Scope and Contents: Holograph diary, including personal accounts of Norris' daily activities and observation of life in South Africa.Several pages at various intervals appear to have been torn out of the diary. It is not clear whether they contained any portion of text.The fly-leaf features a pen and ink drawing of a barking dog, along with Norris's name and regiment. It is dated August 22, 1846. "Cork Barracks" is listed as the location. Four graphite sketches, including one labeled "Cape...

Scope and Contents: Holograph diary, including an alphabetical roll of British squads, personal entries and notes about Norris' debts and expenditures, some graphite sketches, and one pen and ink sketch.The diary's fly-leaf has pen and ink drawing of a barking dog and the inscription "R.P. Norris." It contains various types of entries, the first being an alphabetical roll of "No. 2 Squad of 'B' or Captain E. Staunton's Company, 22nd Sept. 1847." Soldiers' vital statistics (age, height, marital status,...

Scope and Contents: Portrait of "Eno: A Kaffir Chief," showing a middle-aged African man with a leopard-skin cape draped around his shoulders. He wears a black beaded necklace and earring. His hair is cropped short. It is unclear how Norris came to paint this portrait--whether Eno was a prisoner of the British regiment or had some kind of pact of non-aggression with colonial forces.

Scope and Contents: Inscribed: "R.P. Norris." A piece of paper has been pasted onto the inside cover, with a note in ink reading, "Robert Provo Norris/Killed in Action 1851/ (Kaffir War)." Many of the sketches are dated 1848, which suggests that most of the content dates to this year.Multiple sketches appear within the volume, including watercolor landscapes and graphite portraits. Norris depicts "Simon's Town, from the North Battery" in a particularly striking graphite landscape. He sketches a map (in...

Scope and Contents: Watercolor portrait of three Xhosa/"Kaffir" tribespeople. A man stands holding a long wooden implement, keeping his hands and body wrapped in a beige colored cloak. A woman with a beaded or colorful band around her breast, beige skirt, and golden bangles stands holding a small wooden or woven bowl. Another woman kneels in the foreground holding a bushel of reeds. She has an infant strapped to her back. It is not known whether the three subjects posed for this portrait or were observed from a...

Scope and Contents: Watercolor depicts assembly of Xhosa/"Kaffir" people outside the Fort Cox buildings. Inside, presumably, is Sir Harry Smith, the colonial governor, who held a meeting with Xhosa leaders in late December, 1850. The watercolor is loose in style, with people depicted as vertical dashes of brown paint with darker brown dots for heads. The sketch is labeled in graphite. This meeting was to be the last of its kind before war again broke out within days.On the reverse is a loose graphite...

Overview: The collection comprises personal diaries, watercolors, and drawings by Robert Provo Norris, most of which were created while he was a soldier stationed on the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa during the Frontier ("Kaffir") Wars of the 1840s and 1850s.

Scope and Contents: Watercolor sketch of a Xhosa/"Kaffir" man standing to address other assembled tribespeople. The standing man wears a leopard cloak draped over one shoulder, an arm- and waist-band of thin woven or metal material, and has a necklace. His body is largely uncovered, while the gathered men are mostly wrapped up in beige capes. They look attentively at him as he speaks, pointing his finger towards some object in the distance at right. They are gathered in a dusty stretch of lowland. Colors are...