Digital Collections

UCT Libraries Digital Collections represent a selection of material available through UCT’s archival holdings, primarily held in UCT Libraries Special Collections, but also gathered through academic field recordings, primary data collation and UCT departmental collections.

Ibali is the Digital Collections platform for building and showcasing digital cultural heritage collections at the University of Cape Town.

Explore our Digital Collections

Featured Collections

Lady dressed in a yellow dress. Dotted makeup on face and neck with blue head scarve. Stands against bright blue detailed with symbols and sun over head

The Works of Art Collection of UCT promotes a vibrant and dynamic visual arts presence by building a collection of works of art in line with the University's vision and mission.

Photo of valley with sloping hills of green grass and wild shurbs

Historical and repeat photography archive of southern African landscapes.

Dim lit stairs leadings down to Jagger basement. Chair and filing cabinet at the bottom corner

Jagger Fire & Recovery Collection

Journey through moments and media captured during the Jagger Library fire salvage and recovery phase.

Yellow background with speckled white circles

UCT Collections

Browse showcases from UCT departments.

Dark green background with white circular pattern

Library Collections

Browse showcases held within the UCT Libraries.

Curators' Corner

Browse student and researcher curated sites.

From the Library Collection

Street map drawing from Talbot collection

Explore the UCT map collection, assembled by the first professor of Geography, Professor William Talbot, covering the whole African continent, and including rare and valuable items.

Black and photo photo of street vendor holding TShirt titled Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika. A man and woman look on.

Explore a selection of photography work available through the holdings of UCT Collections.

Photo of an old leave pouch with orange belt containing a medicine chest

The Medicine Chest

From the Curators' Corner

The Medicine Chest is an experimentally curated website that showcases one object - a small medicine chest - and the multitude of its resonances. The site formed part of a larger doctoral research project.

Explore the site