THE personal and political papers of the Scot who became a key figure in the fight for black freedom in colonial Africa could be digitised for the first time – if donors can be found.
Peter Mackay emigrated to Rhodesia in the late 1940s with plans to become a farmer.
However, he soon became a key figure in the fight against white rule in both modern-day Zimbabwe and Malawi, working to support independence activists and running newspapers to publicise their cause.
The former Scots Guard also made regular prison visits to those in detention and chose jail instead of military service when officials in Southern Rhodesia tried to conscript him.
After being forced to move across the border to Zambia he began helping refugees fleeing Portuguese rule and apartheid-era South Africa, also delivering weapons to guerilla fighters in Rhodesia.
Mackay, who died in Zimbabwe in 2013, published an account of these liberation movements in the book We Have Tomorrow in 2009, based on his written and photographic records of the period.
That archive, which spans 30 large crates, was gifted to Stirling University by Mackay’s family in Doune and is said to be of “international importance”.
Now the university aims to put it online for the first time to improve access to the “comprehensive” records around the world, with free access given to universities throughout Africa.
A crowdfunding bid has been launched with a target of £8,000 and last night £1,330 had been pledged.
Experts at the institution say the collection is “invaluable” to maintaining a record of the struggle for freedom in a number of countries.
Head archivist Karl Magee said: “The Peter Mackay Archive is of international importance and provides a comprehensive record of a remarkable life and the role one Scot played in the independence movement across Southern Africa from the 1950s.
“Mackay played a crucial role in the liberation of Zimbabwe but his stories have not yet been fully told. We want to make Mackay’s personal and political papers, and photography, accessible to scholars and students in Africa and open up one of the most important collections of its kind to the rest of the world.”
Stuart Rennie, fundraising manager at the university, added: “The funds we raise will allow the university to catalogue all of the materials received and make them available in our archive reading room on campus and online.
“We will use crowdfunding for the first time to give anyone who wants to play a small part in preserving this important collection the ability to pledge to the campaign and help make its restoration possible.”
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