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Sudan Memory is an online archive and cultural heritage project, provided by an international group of partners with the aim of conserving and promoting Sudanese cultural heritage. In the course of the project, Digital media reproductions of books and newspapers, photographs and films, visual art and architecture, as well as of other cultural objects in Sudan were created and published on the project's website.
According to Sudan Memory's website, available in English and Arabic, its activities relate to the history and culture of Sudan. This has been achieved through cooperation between Sudanese and British organizations with the aim of organizing, archiving and thereby safeguarding documents and other media in danger of being lost. These activities include the acquisition of technical material, training of staff in Digitization media and providing online access for the general public in Sudan and worldwide.
One of the participating organizations, the Sudan National Film Archive is one of the largest audiovisual archives in the African continent. According to Sudan Memory's aims, parts of the collections from numerous such institutions have been digitized since July 2018, including the National Film Archive, the National Museum, the University of Khartoum library in Sudan, as well as the National Archives in South Sudan. A centre for digitization was established in Khartoum and its personnel were trained.
Funding has been provided by a number of international partners, notably the British Council's Cultural Protection Fund and ALIPH, the International Alliance for the Protection of Cultural Heritage in Conflict Areas and the Government of the United Kingdom's Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport. The leading partners in Sudan are the National Records Office of Sudan (NRO) and the Sudanese Association for Archiving Knowledge (SUDAAK), an NGO aiming at the protection and promotion of Sudanese culture and information through archives. King's College London provided the overall management of the project, working with a large number of local Sudanese and international members of the project team.
A special collection of Arabic manuscripts, letters and images relates to the Mahdist State (1885 -1899) and includes a letter by Rudolf von Slatin, former Governor of Darfur, to al-Ṭāhir al-Majdhūb, the leader of the Sufi brotherhood of the Majdhūbiyya in Eastern Sudan. The largest photographic archive, Rashid Mahdi's Photo Studio in Atbara, the historical centre of Sudan Railways and Workers' Movement, is featured with hundreds of photographs documenting the region's private, public and economic history from the 1940s to 1990s. Gadalla Gubara (1920–2008), Sudan's internationally most well-known photographer and filmmaker, is featured working in his own studio Gad.
Sharhabil Ahmed, one of Sudan's most popular musicians since the 1960s, provided photographs of his concerts in national and international venues, including the members of his different bands with his wife Zakia as Sudan's first female bass player. Further, record covers of the famous Al-Balabil female musical group and photographs of other popular musicians like Abdel Gadir Salim, as well as of traditional musicians and musical events, have been added by collectors and Habibi Funk Records, a record label that has Reissue digital versions of popular music of Sudan.
In South Sudan, the National Archive Project has been conserving, reordering, cataloguing and digitizing the historical government records and other documents going back to colonial times. Pending the construction of a future South Sudan National Archive building, various international donors have been supporting these efforts. Aiming at wide accessibility to the general public in South Sudan and beyond, the project has been managed by the Rift Valley Institute.
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