He made great contributions to the writing of South African history, through his research and literature.

[1]: 524  Later he worked in Pretoria as a shop-assistant, an articled clerk and a civil servant, studying diligently when he found the time.

[1]: 524 [2]: 130  On his return to the Transvaal Colony in 1902 at the end of the war, there was no job for him at the Department of Mines and he considered emigrating to Argentina, but was offered the editorship of Land en Volk.

[1]: 524  By 1903 he was editor of De Volkstem, the mouthpiece of Louis Botha's future party, Het Volk.

[1]: 524  During the period of his various editorships, he conducted historical research into the histories of the Boers in Natal and the Transvaal and the Great Trek and Anglo-Boer wars.