Tanzania National Archives

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The Tanzania National Archives are the national archives of Tanzania .

history

The oldest holdings in the archive date from the time of German colonial rule.

After German East Africa was occupied by British troops in the course of the First World War , a British officer discovered instructions from the last German governor from 1916 in the midst of a mass of German-language documents, according to which the most important files of the German colonial government were to be buried in Tabora and other places should be to prevent them from falling into the hands of the advancing British. The discovery led to negotiations between the British administration in Tanganyika and the German government. In 1921 the latter agreed to send two representatives to assist the British government in the excavation of the records. The recovered documents now form the core of the German-language holdings of the Tanzania National Archives .

From 1950 onwards, the British government had investigations into whether a joint archive service for the colonies and protectorates of that time Kenya , Uganda , Tanganyika and Zanzibar could be set up. However, no further steps were taken. It was not until June 1963 that the new government, after independence, with the support of UNESCO, commissioned a professional archivist to take care of archival documents. This first director was Michael Cook from Britain. He initiated the establishment of the National Archives as a government agency. In addition to the historical interest, the documents were also valuable sources for determining property rights or when planning building projects.

By Decree No. 7 of the President of December 1962, the National Archives became a department of the Ministry of National Culture and Youth. The archive was initially housed in the basement of a government building at the port of Dar es Salaam . Michael Cook initially tried to recover and secure files that were stored in the attics of provincial and district administrations across the country under sometimes adventurous circumstances. He also drafted the first archive law for Tanzania.

In October 1964 the archive moved to a former commercial building in the city center, open on all sides, without air conditioning, but with shaded balconies. It was not until 1984 that it received premises specially built for its use.

The archive

The archive includes:

The German-language holdings

The German-language holdings in the Tanzania National Archives are part of the world document heritage

The German-language holdings consist of a collection of over 8,000 files from the administration of German East Africa for the period 1890–1918. Finding aids are available. They have been recognized as a World Document Heritage by UNESCO since 1997 .

The German-language holdings initially posed a problem for the archive, as there was initially no one in the archive administration who spoke German. Michael Cook, therefore, asked for help from Germany. After initial difficulties, there was also interest on the German side, first from Egmont Zechlin , then from the Marburg archive school . This help in sorting and registering the documents also served to maintain relations between the Federal Republic of Germany and Tanzania, at least in the cultural field, since Tanzania had recognized the GDR and the Federal Republic had frozen diplomatic relations and development aid in accordance with the Hallstein Doctrine . Furthermore, part of the counter-delivery of the colonial files in Germany was lost in the Second World War and what was preserved was mainly in the possession of the State Archives Administration of the GDR and was therefore very difficult to access for scholars from the West. The Federal Archives therefore had a considerable interest in the filming of the German-language holdings stored in the Tanzania National Archives .

In this context, Eckhard Franz worked twice over a longer period in 1967 and 1969 at the Tanzania National Archives , as did another employee from the Marburg State Archives . They arranged the stocks and filmed them. German historians took advantage of the situation and evaluated documents. The project was taken over by the Federal Archives in 1976 .

The other stocks

The Tanzania National Archives also contain :

  • Over 30,000 UK Administration (Chief Secretary's Office) files from 1919 to 1960.
  • Archives of the former provincial, regional and district administrations. All these documents are arranged in the National Archives according to provenance and original order. There are 12 finding aids for the files of the provincial administrations and 114 for the files of the districts.
  • Documents from Tanzanian ministries, authorities, regions, districts and semi-public organizations.
  • church archives and private records from the years 1885–1980.
  • a small collection of private papers, e.g. B. from the Universities Mission to Central Africa (UMCA) and from individuals such as Shaaban Robert , Saadan Kandoro or Kanyama Chiume .
  • Newspapers.
  • Official gazettes from 1919 until today.
  • a collection of maps and plans from the German and British colonial times to the post-independence period.
  • Photographs from the German and British times and the time after independence.
  • Postage stamps 1963-2000.
  • a library related to the history of Tanzania.

literature

  • Michael Cook: My job in Tanzania. A contemporary witness report . In: Archivnachrichten aus Hessen 19/2 (2019), S, 72–75.
  • Philip Haas: German files of Africa. Development and filming of colonial files by the Marburg Archive School and the Federal Archives . In: Archivnachrichten aus Hessen 19/2 (2019), S, 65–68.
  • Leander Schneider: Tanzania National Archives . History in Africa. 30 (2003), pp. 447-454.
  • Marcia Wright: The Tanganyika Archives . In: American Archivist. 28 (1965), pp. 511ff.

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ This resulted in: Detlef Bald : Deutsch-Ostafrika 1900–1914. A study on administration, economy and interest groups = Africa studies 54th Diss. Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg . Weltforum-Verlag, Munich 1970. ISBN 3-8039-0038-7 (Haas, p. 66).

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The United Republic of Tanzania. Records and Archives Management Division : about us .
  2. ↑ Haas, p. 65; see also: Cook: My activity .
  3. ^ The United Republic of Tanzania. Records and Archives Management Division : about us .
  4. ↑ Haas, p. 65.
  5. ^ Cook: My Activity , p. 74.
  6. ^ Cook: My Activity , p. 74.
  7. ^ Cook: My Activity , p. 75.
  8. ^ Cook: My Activity , p. 74.
  9. ^ The United Republic of Tanzania. Records and Archives Management Division : about us .
  10. ^ The United Republic of Tanzania. Records and Archives Management Division : Archival Holdings .
  11. ^ UNESCO: German Records of the National Archives .
  12. ^ Cook: My Activity , p. 73.
  13. ↑ Haas, p. 65; Cook: My Activity , p. 72.
  14. ↑ Haas, p. 66f.
  15. ↑ See: Birgit Franz: African memories . In: Archivnachrichten aus Hessen 19/2 (2019), pp. 69–71.
  16. ↑ Haas, p. 65.
  17. ↑ Haas, p. 66.
  18. ^ The United Republic of Tanzania. Records and Archives Management Division : Archival Holdings .

Coordinates: 6 ° 48 ′ 34.6 ″  S , 39 ° 17 ′ 7.9 ″  E