The Western Cape Archives and Records Service on Roeland Street holds one of the oldest and most significant colonial-era document collections in South Africa. Records go back to the Dutch East India Company period in the 17th century, including deeds of transfer, church records, census returns and photographs.
Access to the reading room is free; the collections are valuable for genealogical research (particularly for Cape Malay, coloured and European families with roots in the Western Cape), historical research, and anyone tracing the paper trail of a specific building or land title. Prior registration is required. The archive is not generally of tourist interest unless you have a specific research purpose.