IOL (South Africa): ‘Voices of Women Museum’ opens online. ” The ‘Voices of Women Museum’ is now virtual and will be launched on Friday…. Developed as a concept in 2012, the museum has a substantial collection of about 3 000 women’s narratives and story cloths.” You’ll have to give the site a minute to load, but it’s worth the wait. One of the more polished virtual spaces I’ve visited, well done.
Daily Maverick: South African History Archive relaunched at Wits. “On 6 April, the South African History Archive was officially relaunched at Wits university by its Vice-Chancellor Zeblon Vilakazi. It will form part of an Archives and Research Hub that will give concerted attention to social justice archives. The devastating fire last year at UCT brought the general crisis of archives sharply into focus and it is clear that universities and civil society will need to be more active in this space.”
GroundUp (South Africa): Parliament’s botched digitisation may mean millions of precious documents were lost in the fire . “A project about five years ago was supposed to create a digital store of Parliament’s archive. But quality-control samples suggest that nearly half the pages were not scanned properly, and there are troubling questions about how the project was managed, especially by Parliament itself.”
University of Cape Town: Minister Nzimande pledges help to UCT library, students after fire. “Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation Dr Blade Nzimande has pledged help from his department’s flagship funding agencies, the National Research Foundation (NRF) and the National Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences (NIHSS), to digitise and restore the University of Cape Town’s (UCT) library assets. This follows the 18 April fire that destroyed Jagger Reading Room and damaged other buildings. Dr Nzimande also promised to assist students whose research had been disrupted by the fire.”
University of Cape Town: Visit the Irma Stern Museum on its new website. “Surrounded by a beautiful park-like garden, the UCT Irma Stern Museum is in the former home of South African artist Irma Stern (1894–1966). The museum showcases Stern’s works, as well as an impressive collection of historical art, cultural artefacts and furniture that she collected throughout her life – from ancient Roman to Mesoamerican, from Gothic to Renaissance and, most notably, art from the African continent.”
University of Cape Town: New website for UCT art collection and other updates. “UCT houses a collection of some 1700 artworks – many of which representing the work of South Africa’s most noted artists, as well as the art of emerging talents. The collection is exhibited throughout UCT’s four campuses, dispersed among buildings, offices, lecture halls, passages and plazas. The Works of Art Committee is proud to announce that the collection now has, for the first time in its 42-year history, a dedicated website.”
Gadget: SA gets digital archive. “Designed as a nation building, educational and brand promotion web based tool, the free-to-view platform features award-winning photographic and written content by leading South African photographers, authors, academics and photojournalists. The emphasis is on quality, credible, factual content that celebrates a collective heritage in terms of the following: Cultural Heritage; Natural Heritage; Education; History; Agriculture; Industry; Mining; and Travel.”
