The National Heritage Cultural Studies Centre is currently processing many of its archival matierals to make them more accessible to the public. Upon our opening of the new NAHECSC facilities on 20 September, 1998 the archival collections will be accessible between 09h00 - 17h00 Mondays to Fridays and by special request on weekends.
The University of Fort Hare, South Africa's oldest historically black university, has beem made the custodian of the Archives of the Liberation Movement. The singular honour has been bestowed upon the University by the Pan African Congress of Azania (PAC), the Azanian Peoples' Organisation (AZAPO), the Black Consciousness Movement (BCM), the New Unity Movement (NUM) of South Africa, and the African National Congress (ANC).
The historical anti-apartheid role of Fort Hare's student body which included President Mandela, Robert Sobukwe and other leaders of the National Struggle for Liberation justify locating this important Archive on the Alice campus. The Archive will function, not only as a major resource for rewriting the history of South Africa, but will be a monument and a record to all who lost their lives in the Struggle. UNESCO has declared an International Assistance Programme for this National treasure.
These relocation programmes have been possible through the relentless efforts of the PAC NEC member for the Eastern Cape Region, Mr. M Gqobose. The processing of the PAC records which comprise books, documents, and audio-visuals, pictures, flags, memorobilia and artefacts commenced early in 1996 soon after the appointment of the trainee archivists. Additional processing, including the creation of finding aids for the collection, was completed by the NAHECSC in the spring and summer of 1998 with the help of several visiting scholars from the University of Michigan.
The following provide documentation as well as historical context of the PAC archival collections at the NAHECSC:
A brief description of this collection is currently under development and will be added to the site soon.
The A.C. Jordan papers were deposited with the Center for Cultural Studies in April, 1994. They occupy 65 boxes or approximately 5.2 linear metres of shelving and have been classified in 28 different archives/manuscripts groups. A Preliminary Register of the A.C. Jordan Collection was finalised during 1995 and circulated to the Centre's staff members for final inputs. In April of 1996, Dr. Phylis Jordan visited the National Heritage Cultural Studies Centre. She acquainted herself with the processing of the materials performed by the NAHECSC and then declared the A.C. Jordan Collection open for inspection by scholars and other members of the public without any further reference to her for clearance. It is envisaged that the papers would be officially opened for inspection by members of the research community late in 1998 after the official opening on September 10 of the new National Heritage Cultural Studies Centre building.
Details can be found in the Finding Aid to the Lovedale Press Collection.
Other material donors include African authors and publishers. Accessions came from Professor Dargie of the University of Fort Hare Music Department: Encounter with Xhosa and the African Music (one file containing a series of press cuttings of his articles which appeared in the East London Daily Dispatch, July - Decementer, 1966 and a cassette tape of the music which has to accompany the series of articles), and Professor Gail Gerhart, who completed her PhD in the late 1960s on the PAC.
A small collection has also been received from a prominent family in Durban.
This collection contains secondary books, periodicals and papers intended to support research of our archival materials. We have developed a thorough bibliography of this collection, which our staff can use to help identify items relevant to your particular area of research.
| National Heritage Cultural Studies Centre
University of Fort Hare Alice 5700 |
Phone: 27(040)65 31175 or 65 31837
Fax: (27)(040) 65 31926 E-mail: CCS@ufhcc.ufh.ac.za |