A render of the new Visitor Centre at Constitution Hill designed by Mashabane Rose Architects.

The Museum and Archive of the Constitution at the Hill (MARCH) is a new institution currently being established in the soon-to-be-built Visitor Centre at Constitution Hill, which is home to three former prisons and the Constitutional Court.

MARCH will tell the remarkable story of the making of the Constitution, which spans over a century. The information collected will be sourced from the viewpoint of South Africans from all walks of life. MARCH seeks to tell a uniquely African story regarding the development of human rights with a focus on the contributions of marginalised or unknown South Africans and lesser known significant events, which contributed to the making of the Constitution.

MARCH is calling on all South Africans to share their objects – little things that tell a big story in a personal way, namely –

• a letter;
• a snapshot;
• something written at the time in a community newspaper;
• a leaflet distributed in a neighbourhood; or
• anything that tells the story of the impact of Apartheid and the making of the Constitution.

MARCH especially seeks objects that tell ordinary and everyday stories and that will allow visitors to ‘touch and feel’ history.

Contact Katie Mooney at +27 (066) 441 0417 or e-mail marchjhb@gmail.com for more information and the curators will get back to you.

The Museum Archive of the Constitution at the Hill.

This article was first published in De Rebus in 2018 (Oct) DR 18.