Rungwe Archive and Museum Centre Department
For the occasion of the 100-year jubilee of the Moravian Church of Tanzania Southern Province in 1991, the project of an archive and museum in Rungwe was initiated by the church’s former chairman Agentile Musomba. His intention was to collect, unite and preserve the traces (objects, documents, pictures) of the history of the Moravian Church in the Southern Highlands and the people living in this area.In 2011 the RAMC became a separate department of the MCT-SP and is now led by Rev. Stephene Mwaipopo. In order to link the department with other institutions and groups of interest, an advisory board supports the archivist in his planning and work.
The objects in the exhibition tell us about aspects of traditional daily life: medicinal practice, traditional dance, hunting and fashion of the peoples from these areas, mainly Nyakyusa and Ndali.
A choice of historical photographs from the archive’s collection illustrates the aspects of cultural inheritance by showing them in their context. These precious documents also tell of the encounter of the Moravian Missionaries with the locals, illustrating a world about to change.
The exhibition further introduces the visitor to the history of the Moravian Church in Southern Tanzania, telling about the arrival of the first missionaries in Rungwe, the spread of their work in the region, and the development of the church up to these days.
Archive
In the archive a big collection of historically important documents could be retrieved and safely disposed for a enduring conservation. Discover the huge correspondences of the missionaries since the early days of their work by studying the documents in German, Danish, English, Kinyakyusa or Kiswahili. Such a journey may take you to many interesting places of the mission’s and church’s history like the first ordination of a Tanzanian pastor 1932, the internment of the German missionaries as war prisoners 1940, the internationalisation of the missionaries’ community after the second world war and the collaborations and upheavals in the African Moravian Church during its long way to independence at the end of the 1960’s.
In a authentic travel report, you may follow a young missionary on it’s journey from Europe to German East Africa, conversate in Kinyakyusa with the help of the early missionaries’ conversation dictionnary or just study the titles and browse in the book’s of our library. For further interest concerning private or professional research, please contact the archivist.
This information is extracted from the designated website of the RAMC. For more information visit it under www.rungwe.org.
Contact
Rungwe Archive and Museum Centre (RAMC)
P.O. Box 32
Tukuyu
Tanzania
Phone: +255 755 092913
Email: mtawasuzana@yahoo.com - Museum Secretary
Archivist.RAMC@gmail.com - Archivist
Web: www.rungwe.org