Michael Scott was already the champion appointed by the Herero of South West Africa (Namibia) to present their case against the Union's control of their trust territory at the United Nations Organization, first in Geneva and then in New York. He brought to the Bureau office all the material he had gathered before 1952 when working on his representations to the United Nations, on the various appeals made by the chiefs and on the book written to draw attention to the problem, In Face of Fear. From the time at which he interested the Bureau in this cause, material grew apace. Eventually, a large volume of official information on the proceedings of the United Nations Organization and of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at The Hague accumulated, reinforced by the manuscript and typescript material derived from his intercourse with American and British contacts and with the Africans concerned.

The papers contained in MSS. Afr. s. 1681/147-183 of this collection concern South West Africa (Namibia) in the period from 1946 to 1978. Since the Africa Bureau was not founded until 1952, it is obvious that early papers derive primarily from Michael Scott's interest in and concern for the people of South West Africa (Namibia); and, indeed, he was the moving spirit of the Bureau's work for this region throughout the period. At times, it seems, he was the only one working in this sphere.

The appropriate arrangement for this part of the collection has been purely chronological. The reader will find, therefore, that for a large portion of this section the pattern of file arrangement repeats itself from box to box, with the only significant difference being in the date. The file order begins with papers issued by the United Nations in the form of reports, press releases, and resolutions; then follow files arising from Michael Scott's activities at the United Nations Organization or in relation to the International Court of Justice at The Hague. Next come files of correspondence with friends and contacts in Europe and America, in South West and Southern Africa, such as the Herero or Mochuana chiefs or officials of the South West Africa People’s Organisation (SWAPO) and the South West Africa National Union (SWANU); last are the files of memoranda, pamphlets, correspondence, and newspaper cuttings used as sources of information to brief him at the United Nations and in the lobbying of MPs and others in London. However, not all these thirty-five boxes follow an identical pattern as the following summary of their contents demonstrates. Some boxes are concerned with Michael Scott's publications and with the other ways in which he contrived to make known the plight of the South West African (Namibian) peoples under South African rule.

MSS. Afr. s. 1681/147 houses the papers concerned with the Africans' objection to the attempt made by the Union of South Africa to incorporate South West Africa (Namibia) and with the general background to the problem from 1919 to 1946. That was the year when Michael Scott first attempted to obtain a hearing for the Herero at the United Nations. The next box deals with the Herero petition to the United Nations under his guidance in 1947.

MSS. Afr. s. 1681/149-153 are devoted to the Union Government's reply to the Trusteeship Council's Questionnaire on the report by the Union on its administration of the territory in 1946, the reaction in the United Nations Organization, Scott's visit to the Herero chiefs in 1948, which resulted in the second appeal to the United Nations by the chiefs, and his publicising of their cause in both London and New York by lobbying and writing articles.

The contents of MSS. Afr. s. 1681/154 differ, being concerned with the publication of his book, written in collaboration with Freda Troup, In Face of Fear, which gave an account of Herero sufferings and the basis of their plea. In 1950, their case was presented to the International Court of Justice for its judgement and MSS. Afr. s. 1681/155-157 contain material on this, including several legal opinions on the case. In later years, Scott sought similar opinions on the progress of the case; these are situated in the relevant year boxes.

MSS. Afr. s. 1681/158 is the first of several boxes recording Michael Scott's annual visits to the United Nations as a representative of the International League for the Rights of Man, based in New York. There, he undertook to present evidence to the different committees when called upon to do so, ensured that any delegations that might possibly be persuaded to use their influence on South West Africa (Namibia)'s behalf were supplied with the latest information on the situation, and did his best to see that anyone from that territory or from Bechuanaland (Botswana), which supported the Herero claim, were given a hearing. Throughout this time, he maintained a correspondence with Chief Hosea Kutako and his representatives and tried to arrange for the chief to present his own case in New York. When, in 1960, the Ovambo people presented a petition in their turn, he became their champion too. In 1957, he had appealed to President Kwame Nkrumah for Ghana to take a stand on South Africa, which resulted in the statement by its representative to the Special Political Committee of the United Nations on 'The Problem of Race Conflict in South Africa'. When Ethiopia and Liberia decided to support the Namibians at the United Nations by submitting a case against South Africa, material was prepared for their counsel by Adrian du Plessis and a specially appointed staff in the office of the Bureau (see MSS. Afr. s. 1681/175-178).

The remainder of this section consists of papers of a slightly different kind. MSS. Afr. s. 1681/179 contains records of the conference on South West Africa (Namibia) held at the Oxford Union in Mar 1966. Other boxes contain statements by the young political parties of Namibia, their publications, and some correspondence with their leaders. There are also some articles by Michael Scott, including his address at the memorial service held in London for his old friend Chief Hosea Kutako. Although the Africa Bureau was involved in all his work and although the Anti-Slavery Society contributed a plan for the partition of South West Africa in 1958 (MSS. Afr. s. 1681/166), most of the material in this section patently stems directly from the activity of Michael Scott.