In 1909, the
Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns (South African Academy for Science and the Arts – SAAWK) was established in Bloemfontein, beginning more than a century of work spanning language, literature, the arts and, later, the natural sciences. More than a century later, the Akademie’s archival collection is entering a new chapter at the University of the Free State (UFS), where it has been preserved for more than 50 years.
The collection was entrusted to the UFS in terms of an agreement concluded between the two institutions in 1972. Since then, the University has been responsible for its safekeeping, preservation, arrangement, description, and research access. On 13 August 2026, the UFS and the SAAWK marked a new stage in their longstanding relationship with the ceremonial handover of the collection to the SAAWK and the signing of a Memorandum of Agreement that will facilitate the ongoing SAAWK–UFS partnership in the collection’s digitisation.
For SAAWK Chief Executive Officer
Dr Annelise de Vries, the collection captures a significant part of the Akademie’s history and the work that went into developing Afrikaans as a language of scholarship. “The collection gives us an opportunity to look at the history of language planning and how Afrikaans developed into a language that could be used in science and scholarship. By making this material accessible through digitisation, we can create new opportunities for research and for understanding that history,” she said.
“This event is historic and important,” said Prof Vasu Reddy, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research, Innovation and Postgraduate Studies), whose portfolio responsibility includes the University archives. “The Akademie Collection is more than a collection. It is both a record of our intellectual past and a resource that will help shape responsible societal futures. It is also about strengthening a partnership that connects heritage, scholarship, and future knowledge creation with one of our oldest Science Councils. I see this digitisation initiative as an investment in future scholarship, opening new pathways for research, discovery, and public engagement.”
Preserving the past while opening it up to research
For the UFS Library and Information Services, caring for the collection has meant balancing the need to protect its historical material with the responsibility to make it useful to researchers.
“It’s quite a huge responsibility, because we had to make sure that the collection is preserved in an environment that is sustainable for its long-term preservation, while also making sure that it is accessible for research, both locally and internationally,” said
Charlie Molepo, Deputy Director of
Library and Information Services (LIS).
LIS has created metadata to make the collection discoverable and has put measures in place to protect the material from natural and human-made disasters.
Digitisation now takes that work beyond the physical collection. “Digitisation opens up new opportunities for access, because researchers all over the world can easily access the collection, and our students can also access it,” Molepo said. “It also allows us to preserve it because, as technology and software change, we need to be able to adapt to those changes.”
The digitisation process has also brought the two institutions into closer collaboration. Rather than simply transferring responsibility for the collection, the SAAWK has remained involved in the process and has explored how it can contribute to the work being undertaken by the UFS.
That collaboration, Molepo said, could have implications beyond the collection itself. “Ultimately, it opens up new opportunities for the University to have more research within the institution, whether through collaboration or supervision of postgraduate students, because the Academy also has a lot of excellent researchers.”
The possibilities created by the partnership extend the value of the collection beyond its physical preservation, bringing the expertise of the two institutions into a shared research environment.
The handover marks a new phase for a collection that has already spent more than 50 years in the care of the UFS. Through digitisation, material preserved for decades can now be opened to new forms of research and scholarly engagement, while the partnership between the UFS and the SAAWK continues to evolve around preservation, access, and research.
“Our responsibility is not only to safeguard the archives, but to activate them as living resources for learning, research, and public understanding,” Prof Reddy said. “When we preserve knowledge and make it accessible, we create opportunities for innovation, collaboration, and lasting societal impact. Together, the UFS and SAAWK are building a legacy that honours the past, enriches the present, and inspires future generations of scholars.”