MenuPreliminary Inventory of the Peter Storey papers, 1950-2006
Abstract
South African Methodist Church leader and anti-apartheid activist.
The Peter Storey Papers contain correspondence, datebooks, articles, lectures, sermons, committee and subject files, clippings, scrapbooks, videotapes, and electronic records. The collection documents Peter Storey's leadership and active involvement in the Methodist Church of Southern Africa, the South African Council of Churches, the Central Methodist Mission in Johannesburg, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Gun Free South Africa, and other religious and anti-apartheid groups. Major subjects include Nelson Mandela, Winnie Mandela, urban ministry, crisis intervention, and political violence and elections in South Africa. Materials range in date from circa 1950 to 2006. Acquired as part of the Human Rights Archive.
Descriptive Summary
- Repository
- David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University
- Creator
- Storey, Peter John, 1938-
- Title
- Peter Storey papers, 1950-2006
- Language of Material
- English
- Extent
- 9.0 Linear Feet, 5000 Items
- Location
- For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.
Collection Overview
The Peter Storey Papers contain correspondence, datebooks, articles, lectures, sermons, committee and subject files, clippings, scrapbooks, videotapes, and electronic records. The collection documents Peter Storey's leadership and active involvement in the Methodist Church of Southern Africa, the South African Council of Churches, the Central Methodist Mission in Johannesburg, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Gun Free South Africa, and other religious and anti-apartheid groups. Major subjects include Nelson Mandela, Winnie Mandela, urban ministry, crisis intervention, and political violence and elections in South Africa. Materials range in date from circa 1950 to 2006. Acquired as part of the Human Rights Archive.
Administrative Information
Collections are on the move for the renovation of the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library. Contact Rubenstein Library staff before visiting. Read More »
Access Restrictions
Collection is open for research.
However, collection may contain materials to which the Acknowledgment of Legal Responsibilities and Privacy Rights form applies. Patrons must sign this form before using this collection.
In addition, original audiovisual materials are closed to patron use. Technical Services staff need to produce use copies before contents can be accessed.
Also, all or portions of this collection may be housed off-site in Duke University's Library Service Center. Consequently, there may be a 24-hour delay in obtaining these materials.
Please contact Research Services staff before visiting the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library to use this collection.
Use Restrictions
The copyright interests in this collection have not been transferred to Duke University. For more information, consult the copyright section of the Regulations and Procedures of the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library.
Contents of the Collection
Browse List of Series
Collapse All
Expand AllCorrespondence, 1971-1997 and undated
Datebooks, 1963-1996
Clippings, 1970-2003
Electronic records, circa 2001-2003
Series consists of data CDs containing scanned versions of documents found in the Correspondence and Subject Files Series of the Peter Storey Papers. The contents of each disk have been transferred to an archival storage server. The majority of the files are Portable Document Format (PDF), with few JPG and other formats present. Disks 19 and 20 of 21 were not received. A complete list of the file names and directory structure of the disks is available for reference. Please contact the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library for more information.
Historical Note
Peter Storey (b. 1938) was schooled in Cape Town, South Africa, spent some time in the South African Navy, and then trained for the Methodist ministry at Rhodes University. Storey pastored churches in Cape Town, and later served as a chaplain to Robben Island prison, where he ministered to Nelson Mandela. After two years in Australia, Storey returned to District Six, a “coloured” community in Cape Town whose people faced forced removal under apartheid law. Storey was prominent in the fight against these removals, at the same time launching a number of ministries, including The Carpenter's House, Cape Town's first non-racial community center, and founded Dimension, the national newspaper of the Methodist Church, which took an uncompromising anti-apartheid stance under his nine-year editorship.
He was appointed to Johannesburg's Central Methodist Church in 1976, the year of the Soweto uprising, and immediately questioned the all-white nature of the congregation. The following years saw the loss of some 200 white members, but also the creation of the first fully integrated Methodist church in the land. The Central Methodist Mission--as it became known--was a center of protest action against apartheid, often being surrounded and sometimes invaded by government Security Forces.
During this period Storey became Vice President of the South African Council of Churches (SACC) and was elected President of this body in 1981. In this position, he and Bishop Desmond Tutu, who was then General Secretary, steered the SACC through its most controversial and embattled era of anti-apartheid action. This included facing the notorious Eloff Commission of Inquiry into the SACC. His testimony to the Commission has been published under the title Here We Stand.
In 1984 Storey was elected President of the Methodist Church and co-lead an ecumenical delegation to the United Nations and Europe to urge international pressure against the South African Government's forced removal policy. He then became Bishop of the Central District, including Johannesburg and Soweto. He also headed up the Journey to the New Land transformation process, which has redesigned the Methodist Church for its mission in the new South Africa.
Committed to peacemaking, he co-chaired the Wits-Vaal Peace Secretariat, responsible for keeping the peace in the Johannesburg region in the run-up to the first democratic elections and became Patron of the Methodist Order of Peacemakers, which focused on non-violence. He was first chairperson of the Gunfree South Africa movement, and he was a member of President Mandela's Selection Committee for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
Storey has received honorary Doctor of Divinity and Doctor of Law degrees. His international ministry has included frequent preaching and lecturing journeys to the United States, Europe, and Australia, and he has addressed many conferences related to the situation in South Africa, the truth and reconciliation process, and world peace.
[Biographical Note adapted from: February 11, 1999 - Rev. Dr. Peter Storey at STH. Boston University School of Theology, March 24, 2003. http://www.bu.edu/sth/news/archive/storey.html]
Subject Headings
- Apartheid--South Africa.
- Duke University. Human Rights Archive.
- Gun Free South Africa (Organization)
- Human rights--South Africa.
- Mandela, Nelson, 1918-
- Mandela, Winnie.
- Methodist Church of Southern Africa.
- Methodist Church--South Africa.
- South Africa. Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
- South Africa--Race relations.
- South Africa--Politics and government--20th century.
- South African Council of Churches.
- Storey, Peter John, 1938-
- Clippings.
- Machine-readable records.
- Videocassettes.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Peter Storey papers, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library
Provenance
The Peter Storey papers were received by the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library as a gift in 2006.
Processing Information
Processed by Jill Katte, John Mayrose, Patrick Stawski, March 2007
Encoded by Jill Katte, March 2007
This collection is minimally processed: materials may not have been ordered and described beyond their original condition.
Descriptive sources and standards used to create this inventory: DACS, EAD, NCEAD guidelines, and our local Style Guide.
This finding aid is NCEAD compliant.