SAMS' History

There are two problems which affect historians. The first is the lack of archives, and the second is the lack of time! It is a very time consuming task to read through the minutes and newsletters and correspondence looking for information which clarifies the questions that exist in one's mind. It is however a most interesting and rewarding exercise.

Questions which we would like to answer are when (exactly) was the South African Magical Society formed and what was its original relationship with the London Magic Circle. Unfortunately these appear to be rather cloudy issues due to the lack of archives. However having said that, we have managed to establish that the South African Magical Society has been in existence since 1918. This is confirmed by a comment in the July 1954 newsletter which reads: The earliest document which we have come across is a copy of The Magic Mirror. This appears to have been a monthly publication but was not always published on time! (it must also be remembered that these members did not have the privilege of computers, making the task even more daunting.) To read this publication click on the image below the page.

We wanted to keep the original feel of the document. The cover and index have been scanned as images, while the rest of the document has been retyped and converted to PDF. In order to keep the feel we have used a yellow aged back ground together with fixed width type (which was used to type the original). If you have any problems viewing the document please drop us a line and we will attempt to remedy the problem.