The Africana Collection consists of books, documents, and art objects relating to the cultural history Sub-Saharan Africa, concentrating on art, biographies, theology and natural history. The natural history collection focusses on the unique biodiversity of the Western Cape region.

The Khoi and San peoples collection focuses on a hunter gatherer community that were the first inhabitants of the Western Cape geographical area. This indigenous community were the first people to make contact with Dutch settlers when they arrived at the Cape in 1652. The Khoi-San collection contains ethnographic publications, a catalogue of folktales, conference proceedings, historical books, and dissertations concerning the Khoisan people.

The District Six collection focuses on a once culturally diverse and lively community in the City of Cape Town. This area was declared "Whites only" under the Apartheid government's Group Areas Act of 1966 under which Black and Coloured residents were forcefully removed. The forced removals started in February 1968 which included demolishing homes. Recently reparations have seen some residents returning to the area in 2021 after 55 years.

The Mozambique Collection which is a systematic gathering of material collected over a forty-year period. Prof. Allan Isaacman, who has published widely on the history of Mozambique and the greater region of Southern Africa. This collection of 2,283 books was donated in 2102 and includes an annual endowment to continue building the collection.

Special Collections also includes an extensive collection of newspaper clippings. This collection includes newspaper clippings by Mr. Kieth Gotshalk focused on the political developments in South Africa from the 1970’s onwards.

The Photographic Collections include smaller collections such as the Oppelt Collection covering a variety of activities from political protests and demonstrations to fires at the university as well as staff and student developments at the institution. This collection has been digitised for online access.