LARGE COLLECTIONS IN MUSEUMS AND GALLERIES WORKSHOP

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LARGE COLLECTIONS IN MUSEUMS AND GALLERIES
WORKSHOP

• SITUATION OF EXPATRIATE ARCHIVES AND CHALLENGES
  FOR ARCHIVISTS IN MALAWI

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HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

• Present day Malawi was called Nyasaland until
  1963 when the country became independent from the
  British colonial rule
• Nyasaland became British Central African
  Protectorate in 1891 and Nyasaland Protectorate
  in 1907
• Expatriate Community
• The expatriate community in Nyasaland comprised
  of
• Missionaries
• Planters
• Hunters
• Traders and
• Colonial administrators
• Out of these groups, Scottish missionaries were
  the first to arrive in the country in around 1875
  followed by European traders and other
  individuals in 1884 and colonial administrators
  in 1891

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Early European population and land position

• Population
• In 1891, there were 57 Europeans in Nyasaland
  and by 1894 the number increased to 237 while in
  1896 the number grew to 300.
• Land position
• By 1893
• 1/5 of land belonged to planters, traders and
  missionaries
• 1/5 of land belonged to the British South African
  Company
• 1/5 belonged to the British Crown
• 2/5 belonged to Africans

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Expatriate Archives

• From 1875 to 1963, expatriate archives were
  generated by the following groups in Nyasaland
• Churches
• Individual missionaries
• Traders
• Planters
• Social clubs
• Colonial administration
• Colonial administration records as official
  public records, were managed by various creating
  ministries and departments before being
  transferred to the National Archives for
  long-term preservation.
• The rest of the expatriate records were managed
  by their respective creators, e.g., churches,
  etc.

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Expatriate Archives

• Church archives
• Records generated by different early church
  organisations in the country form a large part of
  expatriate records after the official records.
• Some of the church organisations that
  established their mission work in Nyasaland are
• Universities Mission to Central Africa
• Free Church of Scotland
• Established Church of Scotland
• Dutch Reformed Church Mission
• The White Fathers
• The Marist Fathers
• Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate

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Expatriate Archives

• Present Location of Church Archives
• Some church archives from the above mentioned
  churches were initially deposited in the National
  Archives in Rhodesia, presently Zimbabwe then
  transferred back to the Regional Archives in
  Nyasaland by 1963
• Other records were brought straight to the
  National Archives in Zomba by heads or senior
  representatives of respective churches

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Expatriate Archives

• Trader/Merchant Records
• Apart from missionary work, some expatriates in
  Malawi came for trade.
• Different traders and planters belonged to
  different associations for promotion and
  protection of their respective trading interests.
  
• The associations maintained important records,
  which form part of the expatriate records.
• Some of the associations which maintained records
  are

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Expatriate Archives

• Nyasaland Merchants Association
• Nyasaland Tobacco Exporters Association
• British Cotton Growers Association
• Nyasaland Planters Association
• Present Location of the papers
• Most of the archives for all the associations
  are in the National Archives of Malawi and were
  transferred between 1967 and 1976 by the Chamber
  of Commerce and Industry (1967 and 1976) and the
  Mayor of the city of Blantyre (1968).

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Expatriate Archives

• Social records
• From 1893, the expatriate community in Malawi
  formed and belonged to different social clubs,
  which were intended for sporting, philatelic,
  social and pastime purposes.
• Over a long period of time, the social clubs
  such as Zomba Gymkhana Club, Zomba Stamp Club
  and Nyasa Yatch Club, accumulated valuable
  expatriate records.

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Expatriate Archives

• Present Location of Social Archives
• Records from all the social clubs were presented
  to the National Archives of Malawi between 1958
  and 1984.
• Individual private archives
• Between the end of the 19th Century and the
  middle of the 20th Century, several individual
  missionaries, traders and planters who came to
  Nyasaland maintained their own private papers.
• Such missionaries as Alexander Hetherwick
  (1860-1939), Henry Edwin Scott, Joseph Booth and
  Marion MacIntyre Russell and traders like Sir
  William Tait Bowle and Francis Dupuis, had their
  own private records.

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Expatriate Archives

• Location of individual private archives
• Some private archives maintained by different
  expatriate individuals were
• Loaned to the National Archives in 1949 by
  concerned individuals themselves
• Presented to the National Archives by different
  churches between 1948 and 1963

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Expatriate Archives

• ARCHIVAL COLLECTIONS IN MUSEUMS
• THE SOCIETY OF MALAWI MUSEUM
• First established in 1946 as The Nyasaland
  Society
• Established by concerned European residents
• Concern about disappearance of the countrys
  history and culture through physical loss of
  records into private collections, which resulted
  in loss of verbal and visual memory
• Collection, recording and professional storage of
  information and materials that would otherwise be
  lost, was one of the aims of The Nyasaland
  Society

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Expatriate Archives

• Today, The Society of Malawis Library has a
  considerable huge volume of expatriate archive
  collections
• KuNGONI ART CULTURAL MUSEUM
• The only art and cultural museum in Malawi that
  documents and preserves the Chewa culture. Chewa
  is the biggest tribe in Malawi
• The museum is managed by the Catholic mission in
  Malawi and financially supported by various donor
  agencies

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Expatriate Archives

• The museum has an archive collection of records
  of early Catholic missionaries
• CHALLENGES FOR ARCHIVISTS
• Unavailability of archivists
• At both The Society of Malawi Museum and KuNgoni
  Art Cultural Museum, there are no archivists to
  manage the valuable archival collections
• Backlog of unprocessed material
• Until recently when the National Archives of
  Malawi stepped in to assist, archive collections
  at both museums were not processed and catalogued
  and therefore not accessible

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Expatriate Archives

• Unfavourable storage conditions
• Before the National Archives intervention,
  archival collections at both museums were poorly
  kept - heaped on the floors and exposed to
  fluctuating weather temperatures
• Delays in obtaining consent from depositors of
  archive materials
• Most of the private expatriate archives in the
  National Archives of Malawi belong to the
  depositors and before researchers access them,
  authority has to be sought from the owners first
  and sometimes this takes time

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Expatriate Archives

• No control over use of material
• Archive materials both at the two museums and
  the National Archives of Malawi are open for
  public access. There is no control over
  researchers on how they should use the materials
  except for advising on handling of the papers to
  avoid wear and tear
• CONCLUSION
• In Malawi, each of the expatriate group created
  and maintained its records. Most of the colonial
  administration records are available in the
  National Archives of Malawi.
• While some private expatriate records were
  presented to the National Archives of Malawi and
  are available for research, others are in other
  different locations such as The Society of Malawi
  and the expatriates home countries.

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Expatriate Archives

• Some serious problems with archive collections
  in both The Society of Malawi Library and KuNgoni
  Art Cultural Museum have been addressed because
  of collaboration between the National Archives
  and the concerned museums.
• As important research materials, archival
  collections in museums will be enhanced through
  continued collaboration between the National
  Archives and the museums with archival holdings.

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Reference

• National Archives of Malawi (1983) Historical
  Manuscripts Inventory Volume 1
• National Archives of Malawi (1983) Historical
  Manuscripts Inventory Volume 2
• Pachai, B (1971) Malawi The History of the
  Nation
• Pachai, B (1972) The Early History of Malawi
• Pachai, B (1973 ) Land and Politics in Malawi
• Smith et al (1971) Malawi Past and Present
• The Eye Magazine (2007) The Society of Malawi
  Historical and Scientific

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Thank You