But the same technologies that make information accessible around the world can also help us uncover the past. Margaret Hedstrom is a professor of archives at the University of Michigan. This summer, Hedstrom worked on a project to help develop the South African liberation archive at University of Fort Hare. The collection houses many of the papers, recordings and videotapes kept by South African liberation leaders, such as President Nelson Mandela, during their many years in exile. Hedstrom and eight graduate students cataloged the contents of thousands of boxes, placing general descriptions on the Internet.
Work proceeds slowly, complicated by the challenges of dealing with a living collection.
New materials keep arriving, while others play roles in current events, such as hearings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, founded to uncover crimes committed during South Africa's apartheid era. Hedstrom expects it will be several years before a significant portion of the Fort Hare archives becomes available on the Internet. But she says the Internet is already helping people interested in finding primary source materials on subjects like family geneology and the Civil War piece together records of the past. Eventually, she expects the Internet may provide similar access to the archives at Fort Hare, providing a more immediate view into one of this century's most famous underground movements. For Internet On The Air, I'm Todd Mundt.