21 Oct 2014

History is important in every country and preserving the past is critical to country’s long term civic health, says American Embassy’s charge de Affairs, Michael Murphy.

As such, Murphy stated that it was a great source of pride and satisfaction for him and the embassy team to be able to play a role in preserving Botswana’s cultural heritage.

He was speaking during the celebration of American Embassy’s partnership with the Khama III Memorial Museum and officially launching the project dubbed ‘preservation of the Khama family and Bessie Head archives of the Post-colonial period in Botswana’.

He said US government was pleased to continue with collaboration with the museum team. He explained that historic sites could also make important contributions to the local economy as tourist destinations, which create jobs and diversifies the economy.

With a grant of almost US$80,000 (about P740 000), he said the US Embassy was partnering with Khama III memorial museum to preserve numerous Khama family manuscripts and Bessie Head literary collections.

Murphy said they would also fund much needed structural repairs to the building that houses the archives and extend the library to create reading room.

Preserving collections of documents of valuable historical, cultural and literary significance, he said, will provide today’s young scholars and curious citizens as well as future generations of both with the opportunity to obtain a direct understanding of Botswana’s post-colonial period.

“My hope is that those visitors and scholars will include many Americans. I suspect it will because this project has many ties with the United States,” Murphy said.

Murphy explained that Bessie Head corresponded with some of America’s most important and influential twentieth century writes, including Alice walker, who won a

Pulitzer Prize for fiction for her fiction for her novel the colour purple, and Toni Morrison, who won a Pulitzer Prize for the novel Beloved and the novel prize for literature in 1993.

He cited the great Toni Morrison who once said “I am interested in the way in which the past affects the present and think that if we understand a good deal more about history, we automatically understand a great more about contemporary life.”

“The connection between our countries does not end with these literary greats,” he said. He said museum curators had been working with archivists from Howard University and Bates College in the US adding that through the grant, the collaboration would continue, including on-site technical assistance from visiting professors.

“The Bessie Head papers had inspired a vast body of academic and literary research-it is essential to properly preserve them.”

Further, Murphy explained the connection to draw a few parallels between America’s first president George Washington and Botswana’s great Khama Family.

“Following Washington’s death in 1799, his home, Mount Vernon, and important collections fell into disarray, until almost 60 years later, when a non-profit organisation acquired and restored the estate,” he said.

“In 1960, Mount Vernon was designated a National Historic Landscape .Today 1 million visitors pass through the museum each year, and can visit the preserved arts ,artefacts, and collections of Washington’s books and manuscripts .

The collection helps visitors and scholars better understand and interpret life in 18th century America”. Similarly, he said Khama III memorial museum is located in a building that was formerly a home in the historic Serowe, and opened years later in 1985 as a public museum.

He said Khama III and Washington are both “founding fathers” of their respective countries. The Khama Family papers that will be archived dates from 1876 to 1959, detail momentous events such as the visit of the three chiefs to London in 1895 and Tshekedi Khama’s campaign opposing South Africa’s annexation of Namibia after World War II.

Further, Murphy stated that since 2001, US government has invested over 200,000 USD (about P1.8 million) in five different projects in Botswana through the Ambassador’s fund for cultural preservation.

He said they were doing so because they believe in the aesthetic, cultural and academic importance of Botswana heritage. He stated that projects had included the restoration of old Palapye church and preservation of San Artefacts in Kuru cultural center in D’ kar

Also, he said they provided training in the preservation of ancient rock art sites in Gaborone and Tsodilo hills. Last year, he said they supported the National Museum’s leather conservation project almost 500 artefacts.

“From cultural preservation, to national identity, to economic diversification, the arts play an important role in every society,” he said. Ends