South African History and Heritage

Digital repositories with liberation struggle collections

For more information on physical archives in South Africa with liberation struggle materials, please visit our links section on Archives and Human Rights Documentation.

African Activist Archive Project (MSU)

A growing online archive of African liberation struggle materials - pamphlets, newsletters, leaflets, buttons, posters, T-shirts, photographs, and audio and video recordings - developed by Michigan State University, in partnership with African organisations.  Contains materials relating to US activities in support of the South African liberation struggle.

Visit the African Activist Archive website

Aluka

Aluka is an international, collaborative initiative building an online digital library of scholarly resources from and about Africa, iaround a number of themes, including struggles for freedom in Southern Africa.

 

Visit the Aluka website

Digital Innovation South Africa (DISA)

Based at UKZN and funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, DISA is a collaborative initiative aimed at creating a freely accessible online scholarly resource focusing on the socio-political history of South Africa, particularly the struggles for freedom during the period from 1950 to the first democratic elections in 1994. A number of SAHA collections have been digitised in conjunction with DISA and are available from the DISA website.

Visit the DISA website

The Heart of Hope: South Africa's Transition from Apartheid to Democracy

Contains transcripts of more than 100 interviews conducted by Padraig O'Malley with South African political figures.

Visit the Heart of Hope website

IISH - The Netherlands institute for Southern Africa (NiZA) Collection

Describes the archives of the Committee South Africa (from the 1960s), the Dutch Anti-Apartheid Movement (AABN), Broadcasting for Radio Freedom, Angola Committee, KZA, Eduardo Mondlane Foundation, Netherlands Institute for Southern Africa (NIZA), some local groups and individual anti-apartheid activists held at the International Institute of Social History in Amsterdam. Includes an excellent web dossier Netherlands against Apartheid, 1948-1994 on the history of the broad Dutch solidarity movement with the liberation struggle in Southern Africa.

Visit IISH NiZA Collection website


South African Heritage Organisations

South African National Heritage Council (SANHC)

The National Heritage Council aims to preserve, protect and promote South African heritage, both tangible and intangible, for sustainable development.

Visit the SANHC website

South African Heritage Resource Agency (SAHRA)

SAHRA is a statutory organisation established under the National Heritage Resources Act as the national administrative body responsible for the protection of South Africa's cultural heritage.

Visit the SAHRA website

SAHO > Museums, Monuments and Galleries in South Africa

Useful directory of South African heritage organisations, organised by province, compiled by South African History Online (SAHO)

Visit the SAHO directory


Related South African legislation

National Heritage Resources Act (no. 25 of 1999)

This Act introduces an integrated and interactive system for: managing national heritage resources; promoting good government; and empowering civil society to nurture and conserve their heritage resources.

Read the Act online

Related publications
Great lives, pivotal moments
Drawing on materials from the archives, this book honours ordinary and extraordinary people, places and events in the last century in South Africa.
Meeting history face-to-face
A guidebook developed to help learners in South Africa to learn more about our heritage through oral history