Identity area
Reference code
NMPP-PC-NMPP-PC-2012/14
Title
Mandela’s unpublished autobiographical manuscript written on Robben Island
Date(s)
- 1976 (Creation)
Level of description
Subseries
Extent and medium
1 CD with MS Word doc (1.2MB) and PDF doc (1.9MB)
Context area
Name of creator
Archival history
Nelson Mandela wrote his autobiography on Robben Island in 1976. The manuscript was smuggled out of Robben Island in the bound cover of a study file in 1976 by Mac Maharaj when he was released. Soon thereafter the handwritten manuscript was typed up by Mac Maharaj and Sue Rabkin on a typewriter. In the late 1980s it was typed into an electronic copy.
Mandela's Lawyer Iqbal Meer gave Verne Harris a copy of the manuscript in MS Word in 2008. It was converted to PDF and jpeg by the NMF. Meer had been given a copy by the ANC for safe-keeping.
Mandela's Lawyer Iqbal Meer gave Verne Harris a copy of the manuscript in MS Word in 2008. It was converted to PDF and jpeg by the NMF. Meer had been given a copy by the ANC for safe-keeping.
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Accession number 2012/14
Deposited by Verne Harris
Date received - 2008
Deposited by Verne Harris
Date received - 2008
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Electronic files (MS Word - converted to PDF and jpeg) of Nelson Mandela's original autobiography written on Robben Island. It covers his life story from birth to about 1976. It was intended that the manuscript be published to mark Mr Mandela's 60th birthday in 1978 and help draw attention to the freedom struggle. The ANC leadership decided not to publish it. It later formed the basis for Mr Mandela's autobiography "Long Walk to Freedom".
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Access by permission of the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory
Conditions governing reproduction
Copyright held by the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory
Language of material
- English
Script of material
Language and script notes
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
MS Word; PDF; jpg
Finding aids
Digitised Archival Materials Inventory DA0010
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
4 handwritten pages of the manuscript are deposited with the NMF by Mac Maharaj in 2015 and 7 handwritten pages are in the Nelson Mandela Department of Correctional Service files held by the National Archives of South Africa; the NMCM has digital copies of all these pages.
Existence and location of copies
Nelson Mandela Digital Archive DA0010
Related units of description
Publication note
Nelson Mandela Foundation. 2005. A prisoner in the garden: opening Nelson Mandela's prison archive. Johannesburg: Penguin.
Publication note
Mandela, Nelson. 2010. Conversations with myself. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Publication note
Mandela, Nelson. 2011. Nelson Mandela by himself: the authorised book of quotations. Aukland: PQ Blackwell Limited.
Publication note
Mandela, Nelson. 1994. Long walk to freedom: The autobiography of Nelson Mandela. London: Little Brown.
Notes area
Alternative identifier(s)
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
- Africa » South Africa » Western Cape » Cape Town » Robben Island
- Africa » South Africa » Western Cape » Cape Town » Tokai » Pollsmoor Prison
Name access points
Genre access points
Description control area
Description identifier
Institution identifier
Rules and/or conventions used
ISAD (G) Second Edition
Status
Draft