The Sudan Archive contains some 750 museum objects, in addition to documents and photographic material. These include Sudanese and European weapons, clothing, domestic-ware, artwork, and much more - even two weaver birds’ nests from Bahr el Ghazal! This material has rarely been displayed and until now has been relatively inaccessible. Our online catalogues provide very brief descriptions, but often the only real way a researcher has been able to determine if an object is really relevant to their research is to visit and view the object. This is both inconvenient for researchers and detrimental to the long-term care of the collection items as non-relevant objects are sometimes produced unnecessarily. Much more preferable would be for researchers to browse through high-quality photographs of each object, and only then, if necessary, request to view the item itself.
We have just commenced a large project to photograph all of the objects in the collection and the first images are now being published online. We hope these images will attract more research interest in the objects and in the wider collections which sometimes contain relevant contextual documentation. But little is known about some of the objects and the catalogue descriptions are often incomplete. As is typical of colonial object collections such as this provenance is usually uncertain and will sometimes have been violent or coercive; as a consequence objects can be challenging to view and also to curate sensitively. Colleagues in Sudanese cultural institutions are beginning to take a closer interest in Sudanese cultural heritage held in international collections like ours. We’re looking forward to working more closely with them not only to better understand the objects that we hold but also to make them more accessible particularly to the Sudanese and South Sudanese peoples from whom such culturally rich objects originate.
Photographing the objects has its technical challenges and surprises and some items are being viewed by current staff for the first time. Highlights so far have been a magnificent robe of `Ali Dinar (1856-1916), the last Sultan of Darfur who was deposed and killed and his Sultanate annexed by the British in 1916, and a Shilluk drum that plays itself (it has an internal rattle). Other digitised objects can be browsed in various Sudan collection sub-directories here, or in our catalogues here. The most complete list of the objects in the Archive is available in the What we hold | Museum objects tab of this collection guide (and will be regularly updated as more objects are digitised and uploaded).
Researchers wishing to access objects in the collection are warmly encouraged to get in touch. We are open to all and you will be very welcome either at Durham or in a virtual visit.
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