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The Herald, September 21, 1985
THE National Archives yesterday celebrated its 50th anniversary with two open days for the public and President Banana was one of the first visitors to see how the archives operate behind the scenes.
After his tour, President Banana said it was gratifying that the National Archives of Zimbabwe was acknowledged to be more developed than many in the developed world. He observed that no Government could function without an adequate information base.
“As decisions are made on the road to socialist transformation in our country, it is essential that information be available to the decision-makers and implementers of policy,” said the President.
“The National Archives has a positive role to play in this regard. Not only does it affect significant economies for the exchequer by eliminating wastage in the management of records, but it also provides a powerful tool for the decision-makers, enabling them to gain access to information uncluttered by useless ephemera.
“Records no longer needed for administration were disposed of and those with longer-term value were identified and retained. The service given by the National Archives to the public is just as important. While the service to the scholarly world is the traditional one and is well known, the service to the general public has not gone unnoticed.”
The Archives has intensified popular programmes and had gathered a solid core of friends of the National Archives who helped in many ways, such as identifying sources of material and for the informants of the oral history programme.
Cde Banana hoped open days become a regular event.
Staff of the archives had begun to prepare for this year’s celebrations last year by focusing on the work of the archives in the development of the history of Zimbabwe.
To commemorate the anniversary, a special stamp has been devoted to the archives by the PTC this month.
Members of the public also have the opportunity to find out more about the various projects of the archives. They include an oral history project, which was launched in 1978 and has been intensified since 1982.
This project involves the documentation of historical facts from the older generation who witnessed the events, before they died.
Another project included the transfer of documents from the Rhodesia to Nyasaland period on to microfilm. Exhibitions will also be mounted at the archives as part of the celebration. These will include documentaries, pictorials and maps.
President Banana was accompanied by his wife, Cde Janet, and Minister of Home Affairs, Cde Enos Nkala, the minister responsible for archives.
They were shown around by the director, Cde Angeline Kamba.
LESSONS FOR TODAY
This year, the National Archives of Zimbabwe celebrates its 86th anniversary, with its original mandate of “keeping records that have enduring value as reliable memories of the past,” as its guiding principle.
Established in 1935, the National Archives was instituted through an act of Parliament in 1936 — the National Archives Act (Chapter 309).
Following the formation of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland (Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi) the Archives included materials and records from all three countries.
The National Archives of Zimbabwe Act (Chapter 25:06) was enacted in 1986 with an obligation to provide for the storage and preservation of protected historical records; for the repeal of the National Archives Act (Chapter 309), etc. and for the preservation of protected historical records.
The late Mrs Angeline Kamba was the first Director of the National Archives after Independence.
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