Dr Giacomo Macola, University of Kent
2007 award – major project
£25,992 for 10 months
The objective of this project is the electronic reproduction of the bulk of the documentary collection housed in the archives of Zambia's former ruling party, the United National Independence Party. Kenneth Kaunda's United National Independence Party (UNIP) was formed in 1959. It was the driving force behind the attainment of Zambia's independence in 1964, the country's ruling party between 1964 and 1973 and the only officially recognized party during the Second Republic (1973-1991). The importance of the party records to be preserved extends well beyond the realm of political history. The comparative shallowness of the post-colonial collections of the National Archives of Zambia – itself partly a result of UNIP having taken over most executive functions during the country's one-party era – makes the archives of the party a prime resource for virtually all historians of mo dern Zambia.
Following UNIP's removal from power in 1991, the archives of the party suffered from almost complete neglect and rapid decay. The build ing where the party records are presently kept, a disused warehouse in Lusaka's light industrial area, is thoroughly inadequate, vulnerable to both rain and fire. As a result of the National Archives of Zambia's intervention in 2003, the bulk of the material is now stored in cardboard boxes, but these offer only partial protection against dampness and the rats and silverfish by which the warehouse is infested. Fortunately, with the exception of the few unboxed files that are already in too advanced a state of decomposition, most records are still in a suitable state for electronic reproduction.
There are also more deep-rooted factors militating against the archival material's long-term survival. UNIP is presently a shadow of its former self, plagued by debt, factionalism and poor electoral performances. In the event of its future disappearance from the Zambian political scene, the party's archives would be one of the first casualties. In light of all of this, the urgency of the proposed digitization exercise cannot be overemphasized.
All the digitised documents will be recorded on DVDs. The master copy will be sent to the National Archives of Zambia, while additional copies will be deposited at the UNIP headquarters, the British Library and the library of the Centre of African Studies of the University of Cambridge.
