Archbishop Desmond Tutu is donating the Archbishop Desmond Tutu Collection to the University of North Florida’s Thomas G. Carpenter Library.
Archbishop Tutu, known for his work as an anti-apartheid and human rights activist, is making the donation in honor of retiring UNF President John Delaney, according to the university.
Tutu, a Nobel Peace Prize winner and South African Anglican cleric, taught several non-credit classes at UNF during the spring semester of 2003, titled "The Struggle Against Apartheid." The 86-year-old cleric also caught a semester credit course titled "Truth and Reconciliation."
He returned to the university in 2005 when Delaney presented Tutu with an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters.
Tutu's gift will be presented to President Delaney on Wednesday, May 2, during the University’s annual Professional Development Forum Awards Luncheon.
The manuscripts will become part of the Library’s permanent collection. The university said it is Tutu’s desire that the documents be placed in the University archives and made available for institutional research by faculty and students.
Tutu's donated collection will include:
- Two book manuscripts. These are texts that he created while writing the books. At the time he was writing the text, the books weren’t published, so these are rough drafts. The books have since been published are: Number Two to Tutu A Memoir by Michael Nuttall and God Has a Dream by Desmond Tutu, which he wrote while teaching at UNF.
- Handwritten notes.
- Class notes while teaching at UNF.
- Speeches that he was making around the world at the time.
- Correspondence with his friends and his assistant.
Bill Bortzfield can be reached at bbortzfield@wjct.org, 904-358-6349 or on Twitter at @BortzInJax.
