The papers consist of correspondence, estate papers, maps and other materials which document the purchase and management of the Vergelegen estate near the Lydenburg goldfields, Northern Transvaal, by the Brocklehurst family. Charles Brocklehurst had purchased Vergelegen in 1882, amidst rumors of gold and silver discoveries. The papers provide evidence of "gold fever" in the Transvaal, as well as, surveying practices, land transactions, and estate management in the Transvaal in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Papers documenting the activities of the Transvaal Land Owners' Association, of which E. H. Brocklehurst was a member, and the acquisition of the Kameelfontein estate in the Nylstroom district of the South African Republic are also included.
Connecticut's Archives Online