The University of Pretoria’s (UP) archive celebrated its 30th anniversary on September 13.
To commemorate this occasion, Professor Karen Harris led a group of students from Pretoria Girls High School on an engaging tour of the archive on Wednesday.
The visit was aimed at educating the students about the importance and uniqueness of archives.
The archive was established in 1994 and serves as a vital repository of historical documents and records of the university.
Harris said the archive collects, preserves, and provides access to materials related to the university’s history.
She explained the distinction between an archive and a library as a lot of people do not know the difference between the two.
“An archive is a place where you store original documents, whereas a library is based on secondary material from the archives or written by authors later on,” said Harris.
“The archive preserves the rich history of the University of Pretoria, including documents related to students, staff, artworks, and buildings,” she added.
Students were fascinated to learn that they could find birth certificates, origins of significant events, and other historical records within the archive.
A highlight of the visit was the Night in the Archive activity, inspired by the movie Night at the Museum.
Students were divided into groups of four, equipped with clipboards, torches and question sheets.
As they navigated the dimly lit rooms, they used their torches to search for answers to the questions.
The group that answered the most questions correctly received a prize and two groups won.
Harris talked about the archive’s preservation and conservation efforts, explaining that materials are stored in acid-free boxes to maintain their integrity.
“To protect the originals from excessive light exposure, the archive displays copies,” she said.
Phemelo Ngubane said her favourite piece in the archive was where the university students were defying the cops.
She added that specific one caught her attention because she likes learning about apartheid history.
“This was my first visit to an archive, and it was fun,” said Ngubane.
“However, an archive that wouldn’t have been solely based on the university would’ve been more interesting.”
Kaylane Basse stated that she enjoyed and loved seeing the GOAT athletes.
“It was my first time being in an archive, and I prefer archives over libraries,” said Basse.
She explained that libraries have lots of books with lots of explanations, whereas archives are more visual.
Hannah Kirk-Coughlan said she had fun running around with other groups, looking for answers in the dark while holding a little flashlight.
“What I found more interesting was the mannequin wearing a blazer and the robot named Libby,” she said.
She added that the theme derived from the movie was quite interesting, and they did a great job putting it into real life.
“The oldest item I saw was an article written back in the 1950s,” she said.
She said she now knows the difference between museums and archives.
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