The Native Pass Tokens of German South West Africa, by Gordon McGregor

The Native Pass Tokens of German South West Africa, by Gordon McGregor. Namibia Scientific Society / Kuiseb Publishers. 2nd edition. Windhoek, Namibia 2013. ISBN 9789994576203 / ISBN 978-99945-76-20-3

The Native Pass Tokens of German South West Africa, by Gordon McGregor. I have always wondered about the history of the brass 'pass' tokens, which have landed in my collection over the years and thus decided to do a bit of research on the subject.

Gordon McGregor  

What emerged is this history in which I have endeavoured to give the history of the 'pass' token itself and not that of the native pass system of German South West Africa, and I have therefore disregarded all other regulations dealing with the natives except for those dealing with the pass token. The regulations were all in German and I have translated them into English and the interpretation is mine and I hope in keeping with the gist of what the regulations were about. It was not always easy to get information. It would seem that a lot of the information as to why this or that was done was never recorded or is lost, but what was available did help to put the picture together although a few gaps still do exist. Should any reader have more information that could help in completing the history of these tokens please contact the writer who will be glad to receive such information. During the past 22 years since the first edition, a lot of information has come to light, which led to this second edition. The task of bringing up to date the first edition of The Native Pass Tokens of German South West Africa has not been easy, as much had to be rewritten. New material has been embodied and new illustrations have been added. Also included in this edition is a checklist of all the known tokens. This was done on the request of many collectors who felt that a checklist should be included in any new publication. I thus drew up a checklist and added it to the book. It must be noted that the sequential numbering in the checklist has no reference to the sequential numbering of the tokens in the text. Space for notes is included at the end of The Native Pass Tokens of German South West Africa and it is hoped that this will be used to add information as it comes to hand. It is my hope that this book will now serve as a reference and guide book for the pass tokens. Of the host of persons, who helped me with the first edition, some have passed away and I honour their memory. I must also thank the many collectors and archivists for giving me access to their material for this new edition. In addition, my thanks to the many, many other persons, too numerous to mention, that continually passed on various snippets of information that assisted with this publication. My sincere thanks to the National Archives of Namibia, the Namibia Scientific Society as well as the Scientific Society Swakopmund for all their assistance in my research for this publication. Also a word of thanks to the Publication Committee of the Namibia Scientific Society for their support with The Native Pass Tokens of German South West Africa.

This is an excerpt from The Native Pass Tokens of German South West Africa, by Gordon McGregor.

Title: The Native Pass Tokens of German South West Africa
Author: Gordon McGregor
Publisher: Namibia Scientific Society / Kuiseb Publishers
2nd edition. Windhoek, Namibia 2013
ISBN 9789994576203 / ISBN 978-99945-76-20-3
Softcover, 15 x 21 cm, 66 pages, 52 colour photographs