A collection of official and administrative publications produced by successive South African governments between 1866 and 1986, including a series of censuses (1866 – 1968) and a series of reports on education (1882 – 1986). These publications provide statistics and time-series data on a range of topics, including demographics, education, employment, housing, industry, marital conditions and public health, as well as insight into the policies of successive South African governments before and after independence from British rule.

The poverty maps, papers and notebooks of Charles Booth’s inquiry into the Life and Labour of the People in London (1886 – 1903), an investigation into the distribution of wealth and poverty in late-Victorian London. The most famous items in this collection are the maps, known for their street-by-street colour-coded display of wealth distribution throughout the city at the time. This collection includes both the printed and hand-coloured maps produced by the inquiry. Further topics addressed in Booth's papers and notebooks include industry and religion.