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The digital database (HC-CK) is an amalgamation of digital scans, images and video footage relating to missionary Carl Hoffmann’s work and life on various mission stations. The information has been gathered from several institutions, personal collections and field research excursions. These include: the Berliner Missions Archiv, Berliner Missions Bibliothek, Zweigbibliothek Afrikawissenschaften (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin), the Unisa Library Archive in Pretoria, the State Archives in Pretoria, the personal collection of Martin and Albert Neitz (grandchildren of Carl Hoffmann) as well as field research data collected by Dr. Annekie Joubert in Poland, Germany and South Africa.The top priority of this project is to recognize the Hoffmann Collection of Cultural Knowledge as a national treasure and to safeguard it not only for scientific use, but also for the people of South Africa. With the database, the project further envisages the dissemination of this collection of threatened resources through new technology such as filming and digitisation, and to make it more accessible through the bilateral exchange of the material in digital format between Germany and South Africa. As researchers, we hope that the outcomes of this research project (book publication, documentary film, database) will open new perspectives on Northern Sotho linguistics, oral literature, cultural heritage, mission history and visual arts embedded in historiography.