The archives of the South African Jewish Museum have been placed online via a specially developed website that allows people the opportunity to explore thousands of photographs, films, voice recordings, videos and documents that capture the rich social history of South African Jewry.
The archive’s content has been gathered over a period of ten years from Jewish families and organisations across southern Africa and around the world. A mammoth collaborative effort from many researchers, archivists and volunteers has assisted the museum in collecting, collating and preparing the content for the public to view via the new website SAJMarchives.com.
This specialist website was developed using the unique open-source AtoM* archival software, which can be perpetually updated, and therefore will always be available to future generations.
(*AtoM: Access to Memory)
In addition to viewing the archive’s content online, the museum also invites South Africans with Jewish family histories to collaborate with the archive by contributing their own family collections of photographs, documents, family trees and videos which the museum will safeguard in a digital format. In this way their descendants will be able to trace and discover their family roots.
SAJMarchives.com is an active, evolving project that will continue to grow as content is added to the archive. It provides the perfect opportunity for South African Jews who are homebound during the Covid-19 pandemic to start preserving their own family histories. The SAJM’s archivists are trained and available to provide all the guidance and support needed to lead you through the process. With our support you can make this archive an indispensable resource for your family and for generations to come.
In addition to viewing the archive’s content online, the museum also invites South Africans with Jewish family histories to collaborate with the archive by contributing their own family collections of photographs, documents, family trees and videos which the museum will safeguard in a digital format. In this way their descendants will be able to trace and discover their family roots.
SAJMarchives.com is an active, evolving project that will continue to grow as content is added to the archive. It provides the perfect opportunity for South African Jews who are homebound during the Covid-19 pandemic to start preserving their own family histories. The SAJM’s archivists are trained and available to provide all the guidance and support needed to lead you through the process. With our support you can make this archive an indispensable resource for your family and for generations to come.
The SAJM Digital Archive is part of a larger project that seeks to secure southern African Jewish history and culture. The Jewish Living Archive (JLA) is a collaboration between the Kaplan Centre for Jewish Studies at the University of Cape Town and the South African Jewish Museum. It incorporates the Kaplan Centre’s collection of documents that have a historical significance to Jewish history in South Africa, the SAJM’s collection of artefacts and its digital collection.
To find out how to add your family collection to our archive, email us at archives@sajewishmuseum.co.za or visit the website at SAJMarchives.com.
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