A developmental prehistory of the HSRC, 1929-1969

The twentieth century saw an explosion of knowledge but the process of alerting the consecutive governments in South Africa to the worth and necessity of research was an arduous one. This chapter is concerned with the gradual establishment of bodies which directly or indirectly contributed to the development of human sciences research and ultimately the formation of the Human Sciences Research Council in 1969. These predecessors were established and developed by the consecutive governments of the Union (1910-1961) and later the Republic of South Africa. Another impetus came from outside the constitutional sphere in the form of the initiatives taken by the South African Academy of Science and Art (Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns), established in 1909 as a private body.