researcher resources – Nelson Mandela Foundation

Part of the Nelson Mandela Foundation's work is keeping Nelson Mandela's memory and legacy alive. One of the ways we do this is through developing online resources using accessible technologies and information and communication strategies.

The following projects have been developed either by the Foundation or adopted into our custodianship. If you would like to discuss a potential project with us, please get in touch.

Archive

Search our online Archive to find records relating to the life and times of Nelson Mandela. The archives described include photographs, prison diaries and personal papers.

Visit the Archive

The Presidential Years

The publication of Dare Not Linger, written by Nelson Mandela and Mandla Langa, was the culmination of a process of many years.

This mini-website weaves together Mandela's words, his colleagues' insights and media accounts in a factual narrative connecting visitors with the original artefacts or their archival holdings.

Visit the site

Reading Room

The Nelson Mandela Foundation has a Reading Room where researchers can access valuable historical documents, as well as our research library.

The Reading Room is located at the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory.

Learn more

Mandela Resources

Over the past 10 years the Nelson Mandela Foundation has provided access to the life and times of Nelson Mandela via a series of online databases. These databases have been migrated to the online Archive, however the databases are still available for searching (even though they are no longer being updated).

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Heart of Hope

The Heart of Hope website is the product of almost two decades of research by Padraig O'Malley.

When the site's continued existence was threatened by lack of resources in 2009, the Nelson Mandela Foundation agreed to host it. It is an archival resource, and its content and organisation has been preserved without editorial intervention by the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory.

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Nelson Mandela Quotations

The Nelson Mandela Foundation has developed and launched the authorised Nelson Mandela Quotations app to bring Madiba's words to the palm of your hand.

The app is available as a free, "lite" version and a paid-for premium version that grants subscribers search capabilities across the authenticated database of thousands of Mandela's quotes.

Available for iOS and Android download.

Robben Island Prison Tour

Robben Island – like Alcatraz in the United States – has always captured people's imaginations. It was the island where many of South Africa's freedom fighters were imprisoned and where Nelson Mandela spent 18 years of his life.

In an effort to marry history with the future, Google and the Robben Island Museum have partnered to make this global heritage landmark accessible to the world via the internet.

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Madiba's Journey

Madiba's Journey is an app designed in a collaboration between the Nelson Mandela Foundation and South African Tourism.

The app features 27 Madiba-inspired tourist attractions and sites of memory in South Africa, one for each year he spent behind bars as a political prisoner.

Users can view the attractions on a map, build their own itineraries and share their journeys on social media.

Learn more