SAHA and Constitution Hill host Heritage Month tea for former inhabitants of Women's Jail

To kick off our Heritage Month celebrations for 2013, SAHA in partnership with the Constitution Hill Trust hosted a tea for stakeholders in the history of the Women's Jail at Constitution Hill, including ex-prisoners, ex-wardresses and their families who had shared their stories and donated materials during the re-development of the Women's Jail as part of the Constitution Hill heritage site.

When SAHA moved to Constitution Hill a year ago, it took over the responsibility of archiving the records of the Constitution Hill Trust. These materials pertain to the history of the site, the vision behind the development of the Constitutional Court and conceptual processes which guide the development and maintenance of a heritage site such as this one.

The breakfast was an effort to keep the stakeholders informed of the progress in the processing of the collection, to encourage discussion and collaboration in ongoing developments of the site, and the preservation of the site's history through the SAHA archival programme.

The site has a complex history which needs to be captured from primary sources to maintain accuracy and credibility. The breakfast therefore provided an ideal setting where stakeholders with first-hand experience of the site could share their stories.

Many ideas were explored on carving a way forward in ensuring that their history is being preserved, including the possibility of SAHA's Freedom of Information Programme assisting the ex-prisoners to access their Department of Correctional Services records from the state through the Promotion of Access to Information Act.  

Read more about the Constitution Hill Archives Project

Read about SAHA's move to Constitution Hill