SAHA Virtual Exhibitions
As part of our commitment to making archives accessible to communities who would not ordinarily visit archives, SAHA has started to develop online exhibitions, using posters, photographs, documents and other materials from our archival collections to explore or commemorate particular moments in South Africa's history online.
These exhibitions are intended to be participatory - because there are gaps in documentation relating to South Africa's history, particular relating to apartheid, SAHA would like to encourage South Africans to take part in the telling of our history by contributing stories of their experiences of events or issued represented in our virtual exhibitions.
The first SAHA virtual exhibition, developed in conjunction with the Nelson Mandela Foundation, was launched in August 2008 to commemorate 25 years since the launch of the United Democratic Front (UDF), using archival materials to explore the vital role the UDF played in bringing democracy to South Africa.
In October 2009, SAHA launched a new virtual exhibition to explore the history of the End Conscription Campaign (ECC), in conjunction with events taking place across the country commemorating 25 years since the establishment of the ECC
In April 2010, SAHA launched an online resource aimed at introducing and demonstrating the process of conducting oral history, as well as illustrating how oral history can be used to unearth local histories across South Africa. The virtual exhibition makes use of archival materials sourced from a number of SAHA's oral history collections, and relies heavily on research produced for the Albert Luthuli Young Historians' Oral History Competition, which is held annually for secondary school learners and educators in South Africa.
If you would like more information about SAHA's virtual exhibitions or would like to suggest a topic for a new exhibition, please contact archives@saha.org.za
Our list of virtual exhibitions available
Entering Tembisa
End Conscription Campaign (ECC)
Hear our History, an introduction to learning and teaching oral history
Hlanganani Basebenzi: Commemorating South Africa’s Labour Movement
Images of Defiance
Masibuyele Emasimini (Legacies of the 1913 Land Act)
United Democratic Front (UDF)
The Anti-Privatisation Forum (APF)
The Future is Ours: Commemorating the Youth in the Struggle
Tracing the Unbreakable Thread: Non-racialism in South Africa
Shifty Records: What You Won’t Hear on the Radio
South Africa’s Bill of Rights: The Cornerstone of Democracy
Women Hold Up Half the Sky
ZAPU: Through Zenzo Nkobi’s Lens
