The National Archives of Tanzania fifty years after Marcia Wright's Report on the government records and public archives of Tanganyika

Abstract

This article compares the findings and recommendations of Marcia Wright's 1962 UNESCO-funded study of the records and archives of Tanganyika with the present situation of the National Archives of Tanzania. It provides an overview of record-keeping in Tanganyika and the impetus for the establishment of a national archive, and describes significant developments such as the outcomes of the Records Management Improvement Programme of the late 1990s. Wright's recommendations are compared with the current situation and practices in areas such as the staffing and role of the National Archives, its positioning within government, its premises and regional headquarters, and the advice and guidance that it provides to government. In addition, the article considers the destruction of records, microfilming and digitisation, and the acquisition of non-government records of historical value. It concludes that the National Archives of Tanzania has fulfilled Wright's vision although the management of digital records following from the computerisation of government work now presents a new challenge.

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