University of Missouri College of Education Partners on Digital Archive to Capture Struggle Against Apartheid
From U. of Missouri:
With the passing of Nelson Mandela [last] week, preserving and documenting the many facets of his life will be crucial as future generations learn about his impact and carry his legacy into the future.
In the spirit of sharing Mandela’s achievements with future generations, the University of Missouri College of Education has signed an agreement with the University of the Western Cape (UWC) in Capetown and Robben Island Museum, South Africa, to begin a joint project preserving the thousands of historical papers, photos and other items related to the political prisoners who were held at Robben Island.
“This is a rich collection of materials that chronicles the struggle against apartheid in South Africa, the development of the new constitution in 1996, the birth of the new nation, and a country that affirms the democratic values of human dignity, equality and freedom,” said Thomas Kochtanek, associate professor in the School of Information Science & Learning Technologies.
Robben Island is where many political prisoners, including Mandela, were incarcerated for opposing Apartheid and the regime that held power within South Africa from the 1960s to the early 1990s.
The project is an effort to make the Robben Island resources more widely available to scholars, students and the public around the world. Scholars, archivists and researchers from the MU College of Education’s School of Information Science & Learning Technologies and the University of Missouri Libraries, in conjunction with archivists from the Robben Island Museum, will digitize selected materials and make those available via a dynamic web site dedicated to the project.
Filed under: Digital Collections, Digital Preservation, Journal Articles, Libraries, News

About Gary Price
Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area. He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit. Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com.