African Studies Libraries and Archives

COPAC - the combined online library catalogs of Cambridge, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Oxford, University of London Library, Trinity College Dublin, Imperial College of Science, Technology, and Medicine, etc. (union catalog of over 20 research libraries in the UK and Ireland).

LibDex (Directory to libraries worldwide)

Abraham, Terry - Repositories of Primary Sources: Directory of web sites for archives and libraries with primary sources. Maintained by Abraham, Head of Special Collections and Archives, University of Idaho Library (Moscow, ID). Has a section on Europe.
http://www.uidaho.edu/special-collections/Other.Repositories.html

Aequatoria Archives Research Project: Based at the Research Center of the International Pragmatics Association, University of Antwerp, and works with the Centre Æquatoria, Mbandaka, Congo (DRC). "Its goal is to make extensively annotated editions as well as systematic interpretive analyses of documents from the archives of the Centre Æquatoria - in particular those documents that are relevant to the historiographic study of linguistics and ethnology in colonial times." The Archives have, on microfiche, the proceedings of the Conférence Nationale Souveraine. Has an online Catalogue. The Archives holdings, on microfiche, are available in several locations worldwide (CAMP, Univ. of Wisconsin, etc.). The microfiche can also be purchased from the Archives in Antwerp.

Has the full text, in French, of: Témoignagesafricains de l'arrivée des premiers Blancs aux bords des rivières de l'Equateur(RD Congo) -- African testimonies of the arrivals of the first Whites on the river banks in the Congolese Equateur region (± 253pp) http://www.aequatoria.be/archives_project/

Africa Research Central: In English and French. A extensive database on African studies archives / libraries / museums (including in Europe) and a database of repository wish lists.Provides access conditions, restrictions, important holdings, collection size, year founded, publications, references, related sites. Maintained by Prof. Kathryn Green and Dr. Susan Tschabrun at California State University, Fullerton. http://www.africa-research.org

African Research and Documentation: Journal of SCOLMA, Standing Conference on Library Materials on Africa. SCOLMA is a forum for librarians and others interested in "the provision of materials for African studies in libraries in the United Kingdom. Has the table of contents of recent issues. http://www.lse.ac.uk/library/scolma/ardmain.htm

African Studies Center, Leiden, The Netherlands: Founded in 1948, the Centre is the "leading Africanist research and documentation institute in the Netherlands." Their "Library and Documentation Department focuses on both North and Sub-Saharan Africa, in the fields of social sciences, humanities and law." They distribute a free library acquisitions list and have published, since 1968, African Studies Abstracts (formerly Documentatieblad) which indexes articles in periodicals and edited works on Africa acquired since 1988. Has an excellent online catalog with annotated citations to journal articles.

Their web dossiers provide citations to books, articles, web resources on topics such Islam in Africa, Sudan, privatization, Leopold Senghor, Vernon Alexander, the Asante kingdom, African philosophy, African cinema, African sport, African art, etc. http://www.ascleiden.nl/

African Studies Thesaurus "A structured vocabulary of 12,100 English terms in the field of African studies, the African Studies Thesaurus is developed and maintained by staff at the library of the African Studies Centre Leiden." Includes " the names of countries and regions, ethnic groups, African languages, African polities and political parties in Africa." "British English is preferred, but American-English variants are included as non-preferred terms." http://www.ascleiden.nl/Library/Thesaurus/

Archives, Bibliotheques et Centres de Documentation sur les Tiers-Mondes (Paris et Région Parisienne): Valuable directory of archives, libraries in and near Paris. Part of "L'Afrique a Paris 7," l'Unité de Recherche "Sociétés en développement dans l'espace et dans le temps (SEDET). http://www.sedet.cicrp.jussieu.fr/sedet/Afrilab/orgdoc.htm

Archives Hub: "A national gateway to descriptions of archives in UK universities and colleges." Locate collections by country / topic. A great resource for anyone doing research in the U.K. For each archival collection provides dates of creation, library where held, extent of material, history of the collection, scope & content, copyright information, finding aids, related collections, subject headings, etc. [KF] http://www.archiveshub.ac.uk/

Basler Afrika Bibliographien (BAB), Namibia Resource Centre - Southern Africa Library: Extensive library / archives and research centre specializing in Namibia and Southern Africa, founded in 1971 by Carl Schlettwein. Search their online catalog. Has a publishing house, P.Schlettwein Publishing and an antiquarian bookshop. Their archives include the Hans W. Debrunner Collection (West Africa, African diaspora in Europe), photographs, posters, maps. Namibia Bibliographical Update (no longer published but on the web site for 1999-2002) covers Namibiana. Based in Basel, Switzerland. [KF] http://www.baslerafrika.ch/

Belgium. Ministere des Affaires Etrangeres. Archives africaines: 5 rue des Petits Carmes, 000 Brussels
The Africana Library is housed in the same building; the Archives are open 9-4 with no break for lunch.

Biblioteca Nacional de Lisboa: One can access, PORBASE, a union catalog of over 120 university, public, government, and private specialized libraries in Portugal. If you click on the "Welcome to the Biblioteca Nacionial" title, you'll get their English instructions. From the PORBASE main page, click on OPAC-WWW or Database with WWW Interface. One can also access PORBASE using telnet; but it is closed in the evenings: telnet porbase.biblioteca-nacional.pt
PORBASE holdings are 87% from the 20th century, 56% in Portuguese. 17th-18th century holdings will be added. http://www.biblioteca-nacional.pt/

Bibliothèque de documentation internationale contemporaine: "La bibliothèque de documentation internationale contemporaine (BDIC) est, en France, l'un des grands organismes de documentation et de recherche à promouvoir l'étude du monde contemporain." On-line catalog for their books, archives, periodicals. Books on Africa and grey literature on Africa. La BDIC se trouve sur le campus de l'Université de Paris X-Nanterre. http://www.bdic.fr/

Bibliotheque nationale de France: Access the web catalog of France's National Library at: http://catalogue.bnf.fr/; Gallica is their an online exhibit of images and text from 19th century books. Included are illustrations from 16 African travel and ethnographic books from the Library of the Musee de l'Homme. For example, from Esquisses sénégalaises, Physionomie du pays, Peuplades, Commerce, Religions, Passé et avenir, Récits et légendes [Paris : P. Bertrand, 1853] there are portraits of Senegalese women. http://gallica.bnf.fr/

British Empire and Commonwealth Museum (Bristol, U.K.): The Museum collections include archives, artifacts, photographs, costumes. The Archives house interviews, films, photographs, audio recordings including on the Mau Mau in Kenya. Its country section has snapshots of British colonial history. The Commonwealth Today section gives each country's area, population, language, currency, flag and location on a map. Publishes historical studies. http://www.empiremuseum.co.uk/

British Library: The United Kingdom national library's Africana collections of books, newspapers, recordings, archives, maps, music, photographs and prints, philatelic collection and a bibliography of titles on the library's holdings. http://www.bl.uk/collections/african.html
: Has an online catalog, but there are additional online catalogs not included in the main one. A separate newspaper catalog, (though holdings are included in the main online catalog), can be searched separately.

British Library. Endangered Archives: Program for the preservation of archival material in danger of destruction, neglect or physical deterioration world-wide. The archival materials are relocated to a safe place in the home country. Digital or microfilm copies of endangered materials are made. African projects. Offers annual grants to "individual researchers world-wide to locate vulnerable archival collections, to arrange their transfer wherever possible to a suitable local archival home, and to deliver copies into the international research domain via the British Library." http://www.bl.uk/about/policies/endangeredarch/homepage.html

British Library. National Sound Archive (London): Search their catalog. For example, a search on Senegal produced over 700 citations to recordings (Senegalese musicians, interview with Youssou N'Dour, bird calls, etc.) You can limit the search to Oral Histories. Copies of recordings can be purchased; "however "recordings which are less than 50 years old are all in copyright and you will need to obtain written permission from the copyright owner before a copy can be made." The Archive is digitizing ten collections including the D. Rycroft South Africa recordings 1960s-70; the Klaus Wachsmann Uganda recordings 1949-54; and the BBC World Service African Writers Club. http://www.bl.uk/collections/sound-archive/nsa.html

Online are short audio clips of -

a conversation [and music] with Dr Janet Topp Fargion, Albert Ssempeke, his son John (Ugandan musicians) and Andy Cooke (performer and scholar of Ugandan music) on the place of tradition in Ugandan music today.

The Tony Kofi Quartet, recorded at The Falcon, Clapham, 1996.
Ghanaian-born and Berklee College-educated Kofi is a veteran of
Gary Crosby's Nu Troop.

Sounds made by the Namib Sand Gecko Recorded near Erongo Mountains, central Namibia, 8 September 1984 by David Watts. [photo of Gecko from commercial site]

Sounds made by the African Fish Eagle Recorded at Lake St Lucia, Zululand, South Africa on 8
December 1974 by David Watts.

British Library. Newspaper Library: Use the Integrated Catalogue. Click on Search the Integrated Catalogue. Select Catalogue subset search. Select Newspapers. Enter your search term. Click on Date Range to sort by date. The library has a large collection of African newspapers from the former British colonies, 19th century to mid-20th century. Search their catalog by country for example and find 55 titles on Sierra Leone. Arrange results by title, place of publication, or date.

"Each entry in the web catalogue contains full details of the title (including any title changes), the place of publication (the town or city and the country), and the dates which are held." The Newspaper Library is located in Colindale Avenue in north west London, NW9.

British Library for Development Studies, Institute of Development Studies, Brighton, UK: Information on economic/social development. The library hosts an extensive online bibliography of development information in print, cd-rom, and on-line sources at ELDIS: Electronic Development Information System. It includes an Africa section - http://nt1.ids.ac.uk/eldis/afr/afr.htm
and a section on UK development organizations of all types.; http://www.ids.ac.uk/eldis/eldis.html; The library's online catalog, BLDS, includes journal articles.

Cambridge University. African Studies Centre Library: Information on hours, staff, access, etc. Links to the African Studies Centre. http://www.african.cam.ac.uk/library/

Cambridge University Library. Royal Commonwealth Society Library: The renown Royal Commonwealth Society Library is now housed at Cambridge University. Its Photograph Collection contains "more than 70,000 photographs, from all over the Commonwealth, and ranges from the mid 1850s to the mid 1980s." Topics include public works, medicine, surveying, and education. "Some 45,000 photographs are included in the microfiche edition of the Royal Commonwealth Society Photograph Collection, published by IDC." The IDC collection is owned by Univ. of Virginia, Yale, the Smithsonian Library http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/Handbook/D2.html

Congregation du Saint-Esprit (France): Describes their work in Africa and offices, their journal, Memoire Spiritain. Their archives in France, contains holdings on Cameroon from 1914 - l958 among other topics.; Paris Headquarters
fax: 01 4337 0543
e-mail: Franspiri@aol.com; Archives générales spiritaines :
P. Vieira, Séminaire des Missions,
12, rue du Pere Mazurié
F-94669 Chevilly-Larue Cedex.
Tél. : 01 46 75 99 08 Fax : 01 41 80 93 90.
pfrance@spiritains.org

Congregation du Saint-Esprit (Montreal): Includes biographies of missionaries serving in Africa.
Jacques Laval (1803-1864) served in Mauritius - http://www.spiritains.qc.ca/Historique/laval.htm; Daniel Brottier (1876-1936) served in Senegal - http://www.spiritains.qc.ca/Historique/brottier.htm
François Libermann (1802-1852) - http://www.spiritains.qc.ca/Historique/libermann.htm

Die Deutsche Kolonialgesellschaft (DKG) Bildarchiv: In German. The Stadt- und Universitätsbibliothek Frankfurt am Main has put on-line a large keyword searchable database (English translation by Helene Baumann) of colonial era photographs, 1822-1936, from the archives of the Deutsche Kolonialgesellschaft [German Colonial Society], a major organization behind Germany's colonial expansion. Covers Namibia, Tanzania, Cameroon, Togo, etc. One can click on the small photos to see a larger version. The database can be searched by Region, Subject Areas, Keyword, Person, Photographer, People. The collection, of thousands of photographs, is also being microfilmed for preservation. [B.Lawrance and KF] http://www.stub.bildarchiv-dkg.uni-frankfurt.de/

La Documentation francaise: In French. Photographs of former Francophone Africa,, news chronology of events in Africa from 2000 to date. Map of Francophonie. Established in 1945. "La Documentation française est une direction d'administration centrale des services du Premier ministre, placée sous l'autorité du Secrétaire général du Gouvernement." Based in Paris, France. http://www.ladocumentationfrancaise.fr/

On-line reports such as La crise en Côte d'Ivoire (2007). Le conflit des Grands Lacs en Afrique (2007).

Durham University - Sudan Archive: The finding aid for Durham's Sudan Archive which contains the papers of over 260 institutions and individuals (administrators, soldiers, missionaries and others who served in the Sudan), from 1883-1956, is online. The finding aid includes the papers of Robert O. Collins, General Sir Reginald Wingate, Sir Harold MacMichael, Sir James Robertson, and the Gordon Memorial College Trust Fund. Has some material from the post-independence period and papers relating to countries bordering the Sudan. The Sudan Archive includes photographs, films, maps, museum objects. http://www.dur.ac.uk/library/asc/sudan/; Durham University Library has holdings of books, periodicals and ephemeral material on the Sudan. See their online catalog: http://www.dur.ac.uk/library/catalogues/

European Librarians in African Studies, ELIAS: "open to all librarians, documentalists and archivists from Europe who are collecting literature and other materials from and about Africa in institutions." The 2009 meeting is June 3, Leipzig. Some information is at the German Institute of Global and Area Studies site. http://www.giga-hamburg.de/english/index.php?file=news.html&folder=iaa

France. Archives nationales: Has oversight of the Centre des archives d'outre-mer in Aix-en-Provence which houses the archives concerned with Sub-Saharan Africa, the Indian Ocean countries, Reunion, Mayotte, Algeria, the archives of Savorgnan de Brazza, General Gallieni, etc. See the Exposition Félix Eboué, Pantheon, Paris. Search their website for holdings. http://www.archivesnationales.culture.gouv.fr/

Centre des archives d'outre-mer -
Address: 29 chemin du Moulin-Detesta, 13090 Aix-en-Provence (France)
Phone 33-442-93-38-50, Fax 33-442-93-38-89
Directrice, Mme. Françoise Durand-Evrard

France. Ministere de l'Education Nationale de la Recherche et de la Technologie: Has a directory of universities (including Universite de la Reunion) and a directory of Bibliothèques universitaires françaises sur l'Internet. http://www.sup.adc.education.fr/bib/

[Frankfurt] Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität in Frankfurt. Universitätsbibliothek Johann Christian Senckenberg: The Africana Librarian is Dr. Hartmut Bergenthum. Has an on-line catalog and links to WEBIS (database of combined information about German research libraries). Address: Africana Librarian, Universitätsbibliothek Johann Christian Senckenberg, Bockenheimer Landstr. 134-138, 60325 Frankfurt am Main Germany. Tel. +49(0)69-798-39246, Fax +49(0)69-798-39398 E-mail adddress: h.bergenthum at ub.uni-frankfurt dot de Based in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. http://www.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/ssg/eafrika.html

Germany. Bundesarchiv: "Das Bundesarchiv übernimmt Unterlagen, die bei zentralen Stellen des
Deutschen Bundes (1815-1866), des Deutschen Reiches (1867/71-1945), der Besatzungszonen (1945-1949), der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik (1949-1990) und der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (seit 1949) entstanden sind." The archives in Potsdam are now in Berlin. http://www.bundesarchiv.de/

Holdings include the German Colonial Office archives (Reichskolonialamt) covering documents from the late 1870s to 1945 and the countries - Namibia (Südwest-Afrika), Togo, Cameroon, Tanzania (Deutsch-Ostafrika). There is an online finding aid. "The online index can also be reached by clicking through from http://www.bundesarchiv.de -- Bestände und Findmittel – Findbücher online -- Abteilung R – Reichskolonialamt." This archive has been microfilmed on 852 reels. [Information in this paragraph from Helene Baumann.] http://www.bundesarchiv.de/aktuelles/fachinformation/00024/

Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London: See entry under University of London. Institute of Commonwealth Studies.

International Council on Archives: The ICA's membership includes national archives in Africa and elsewhere. Has a directory of the regional African archival organizations -
ARBICA - Arab Regional Branch and their website
CENARBICA, Regional Branch for Central Africa
ESARBICA, Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Branch
WARBICA, West African Regional Branch
which provides the addresses of the executive committee members and lists the member countries. There is a national archives directory, and a who's who. [KF] http://www.ica.org/

International Institute of Social History (Amsterdam): Their archival collections can be searched in the online catalog; the web catalog is easiest to use. http://www.iisg.nl/
Published a very useful printed guide:; Guide to the International Archives and Collections at the IISH, Amsterdam. Edited by Jaap Haag and Atie van der Horst. Amsterdam: International Institute of Social History, 1999. 6p8 p.
Has a collection on the Communist Party of the Sudan (1960s-1980s), the collection of the Defense and Aid Fund Nederland (concerned with South Africa). and other Africa related materials.

International Network for the Availability of Scientific Information (INASP, London): Has links to web sites and internet resources "which will be of special interest to the library and information science communities, and to scientists and publishers in developing countries." Includes Africa-specific gateways, sponsors African Journals Online. http://www.oneworld.org/inasp/

LaTrobe University Library - African Studies Information [Australia]: Information on library resources. The library raised funds to pay the registration fees for sixteen African librarians to attend the World Library and Information Congress in Durban 2007. Based in Melbourne, Australia. http://www.lib.latrobe.edu.au/help/subject-res/african-studies/

Millum, David - Libraries, archives and the construction of (historical) knowledge : interrogating British holdings of archives and ephemera on twentieth-century Africa. 'Unnatural selection? The political materials collections in the Institute of Commonwealth Studies (ICS): Full text. 18 pages. In PDF. On the site of the Commonwealth and Latin American Political Archives Project. http://www.sas.ac.uk/polarch/

National Archives of the United Kingdom - Includes the former Public Record Office, London: The PRO is the national archives for England and Wales. Information for those planning to do research there includes access, planning a visit, PRO publications, closure dates and dates to avoid. See their online catalog, list of research guides (including the slave trade) , how to cite documents in the National Archives . http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/

Nordic Africa Institute - Nordic Documentation on the Liberation Struggle in Southern Africa: Directory of archival and library holdings on "national liberation in Southern Africa and the role of the Nordic countries. "The material in the archives is mainly written in the Nordic languages." Search across all collections. Personal stories (such as Diary from Somafco 1986-1988 [on Solomon Mahalngo Freedom School in Tanzania] and I worked as a nurse at Somafco 1988-1991). Based in Uppsala, Sweden. [KF] http://www.liberationafrica.se/

Nordic Africa Institute / Nordiska Afrikainstitutet Library: Library for an independent research institute in Uppsala, Sweden financed by the Nordic countries. Site is in Swedish and English. The Library Catalog in online. See also Uppsala University Library which has a large Africana collection. Address: Dragarbrunnsgatan 24, Box 1703, S-751 47 UPPSALA,SWEDEN
Nordiska Afrikainstitutet Library: http://www.nai.uu.se/library/
Uppsala Univ. Library: http://www.ub.uu.se/eindex.cfm

Oxford University - African Studies Related Libraries: Also a more extensive list from the Oxford University Library Services. http://www.lib.ox.ac.uk/libraries/bysubject/ and http://www.africanstudies.ox.ac.uk/current_students/libraries

Oxford University, Bodleian Library of Commonwealth and African Studies at Rhodes House
: Information on hours, access, their catalogs, collecting areas. They have the papers of Cecil Rhodes, the Anti-Slavery Society, the Fabian Colonial Bureau, the Anti-Apartheid Movement (AAM-London), Sir Roy Welensky Papers, and the United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel among other holdings. The Library has "received material gathered by the Oxford Colonial Records Project and its successors, the Oxford Development Records Project and the Oxford Colonial Archives Project." See also the South African Friends of the Bodleian.

There are online catalogs for the Archive of the Anti-Apartheid Movement, 1956-98, the Archive of the Bishop Ambrose Reeves Trust, 1965-96, the Archive of End Loans to Southern Africa, 1974-95.
http://www.ouls.ox.ac.uk/rhodes

Paris Evangelical Missionary Society: See under - Departement Evangelique Francais d'Action Apostolique (DEFAP). Founded in 1822 and sent missionaries to Africa from the 1820s to the 20th century. See their address in Archives, Bibliotheques et Centres de Documentation sur les Tiers-Mondes.

[Raymaekers] Fondation Paul Raymaekers / Paul Raymaekers Foundation: Established by the scholar, Paul Raymaekers. Grants to Ph.D. students, aged below 30. Private library (c. 5,000 items) open to Belgian and European Ph.D. students by appointment. Book list if online. Collection of c. 10,000 photographs and negatives. Collections of African metalwork, masks, statuettes, ceramics. Areas of interest: Archaeology, Prehistory and protohistory, Social sciences of religions, rural Development in Congo. Based in Rhode St. Genèse, Belgium. [KF] http://www.paulraymaekersfoundation.eu/

Royal Commonwealth Society Library: Located at Cambridge University. Information on library hours, access, etc. Has a collection of appox. 300,000 printed items and over 70,000 photographs. 45,000 of the photographs are available in a microfiche collection. Yale Univ. and the Getty Center libraries have the Royal Commonwealth Society Photograph Collection, 1850-1970; the Smithsonian and the Univ. of Virginia have the Africa section of the fiche collection. The RCS was founded in 1868 and was successively the Colonial Society, Royal Colonial Institute, Royal Empire Society. http://janus.lib.cam.ac.uk/db/node.xsp?id=EAD%2FGBR%2F0115 and
http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/

School of Oriental and African Studies, SOAS. Library, University of London: The Africa Section is especially strong in African language publications, it holds the Hardyman Madagascar Collection. Has a page on locating missionary & church archives in the U.K and photographs. The librarian in charge is Mrs. Barbara Spina. http://www.soas.ac.uk/library/

Search their online web catalog.

School of Oriental and African Studies, SOAS - Swahili Manuscripts Database: Covers "manuscripts dating from the 1790s to the 1970s, contained in the papers of William Taylor, Alice Werner, William Hichens, Wilfred Whiteley, Jan Knappert and Yahya Ali Omar.... holds microfilms of the manuscripts... deposited by JWT Allen at the University of Dar es Salaam." Search by keywords across the text of all records, or search individiual collections. See images of the manuscripts, listen to Shaikh Yahya Ali Omar reciting a manuscript. The Adam Matthew company has microfilmed the collection. [KF] http://swahilimanuscripts.soas.ac.uk/

SCOLMA, Standing Conference on Library Materials on Africa: SCOLMA is a forum for librarians and others interested in "the provision of materials for African studies in libraries in the United Kingdom.34; Their web site has information on programs, membership, publications, etc. They publish, African Research and Documentation, a great resource for information on archival and special collections. http://www.lse.ac.uk/library/scolma/

Societe des Missions Africaines (SMA): Houses an archive for this missionary society. Address: 150, cours Gambetta,
69361 Lyon Cedex 07, France. Tel: 78.58.45.70 Fax: 78.61.71.97

Stadt- und Universitätsbibliothek, Frankfurt am Main - Afrika Südlich der Sahara: In German and English. Describes the holdings, history of the collection, one of the largest Africana collections in the world with 100.000 units. Includes the Bibliothek der Deutschen Kolonialgesellschaft [Library of the German Colonial Society]. Their online catalog covers acquisitions since 1986. The Director is Dr. Irmtraut Wolcke-Renk. The Africana Libraries Newsletter, Nov. 2000/Feb. 2001 has a description of the library by Irmtraud D. Wolcke-Renk. http://www.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/ssg/afrika.html

UNESCO Archives Portal: Directory to archives (worldwide including African archives), primary sources and finding aids online, archival training / education sources, preservation information, international co-operation, archival associations, conferences, internet resources. http://www.unesco.org/webworld/portal_archives.

United Kingdom. Historical Manuscripts Commission: Maintains the National Register of Archives, a directory of archival and special collections for British history including the history of the British in Africa. Hosts ARCHON, Archives On-Line - a directory of repositories in the United Kingdom and all those repositories throughout the world which have collections of manuscripts which are noted on the British National Register of Archives. Also includes a professional organisations. Based in London. http://www.hmc.gov.uk/; Provides information sheets on:

United Kingdom Library Web Sites

COPAC - the combined online library catalogs of Cambridge, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Oxford, University of London Library, Trinity College Dublin, Imperial College of Science, Technology, and Medicine, etc. (a total of 20 of the largest university research libraries in the UK and Ireland).
U.K. Higher Education and Research Libraries - (by Ian Tilsed)
University of London Library Catalogs

United Kingdom. National Archives: Formerly the Public Record Office. Site includes the Historical Manuscripts Commission. Has an online catalog, PROCAT, a section for Academic Researchers, a free e-newsletter. The Archives observe a 30 year access rule. Based at Kew. http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk; It's education section for schools includes "How did the British Government try to keep the support of the people of West Africa during the Second World War?" http://learningcurve.pro.gov.uk/snapshots/snapshot43/snapshot43.htm

Universität Leipzig / University of Leipzig. Institut für Afrikanistik (Germany): The Institute, at the former Karl-Marx-University, publishes the Mission Archives Series; these are guides (in German) to information about Africa in German mission archives. Abstracts (in English) for the guides are on the web site. http://www.uni-leipzig.de/~ifa/

Universität Leipzig. Institut für Afrikanistik - Africa in German Mission Archives: Inventories of German mission society archives. "So far the focus has been on the Leipzig Mission, together with closely related material now kept in archives in Bavaria (Nuremberg and Neuendettelsau). Consequently, the material covered concerns the area in which the Leipzig Mission and its predecessor, the Hersbruck Mission, was active from 1886 onwards, which is now part of northern Tanzania and southern Kenya." Project initiated in 1998 by Adam Jones of the University of Leipzig and Gudrun Miehe of the University of Bayreuth. http://www.uni-leipzig.de/~ifa/ma/Intro.html

Université des Sciences et Technologies de Lille. Littérature grise de langue francaise: In French. Has a database of on-line full text theses, articles (Les aires protégées en Afrique : perspectives pour leur conservation / Célestine Mengue-Medou, 2002) from European universities. Based at Villeneuve d'Ascq, France. http://bibliotheques.univ-lille1.fr/grisemine

University of Birmingham. Special Collections. Ecclesiastical and Mission Archives: Holds the Church Missionary Society Archives. Covers missions in Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Nigeria, Nyanza, Ruanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda. The Society is now called the Church Mission Society. The microfilming company, Adam Matthew, has filmed many records. http://www.is.bham.ac.uk/specialcoll/archives_cms.htm

University of London. Institute of Commonwealth Studies: The Institute shares an online catalog with the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (with large collections of Commonwealth law, including the Foreign & Commonwealth Office Law library), Institute of Historical Research. Has a rich collection of African political party material, political organizations, the Ruth First Papers, material on Nelson Mandela, etc. "the ICS Library was selected as the only UK location for a microfiche copy of the International Defence and Aid Fund’s large press cutting collection on South Africa and Namibia." A guide to the Archives and Special Collections Africa Holdings is available and an online catalog for archives and manuscripts. http://commonwealth.sas.ac.uk/library.htm

University of London. Institute of Commonwealth Studies / Institute for the Study of the Americas. Commonwealth and Latin America. Political Archives: Catalog of political ephemera (from political parties, trade unions and pressure groups) including from African countries. See the Commonwealth Author and Title Lists. "particularly strong holdings from South Africa and from the former frontline states." Online posters (African National Congress, Zimbabwe elections). Full text pamphlets (South Africa, Northern Rhodesia, Southern Rhodesia), and a paper by Danny Millum. http://www.sas.ac.uk/polarch

See also the one day workshop on 'Political ephemera from the Commonwealth and Latin America' July 4, 2005. Program (pdf) . Abstracts (pdf).

University of London. Institute of Commonwealth Studies. Library. Ruth First Papers: An inventory of the Ruth First Papers, deposited at the Institute, is available in MS Word. Covers the period 1889-1991 [predominantly 1946-1982]. Includes a biography of Ruth First. First was "one of the foremost campaigners against the South African apartheid regime. The papers include personal material relating to her family life in South Africa and later in England, her writing and newspaper editorships..." Also included are letters between First and her husband, Joe Slovo, their family and fellow activists, material from her research into the welfare of Mozambican miners in South Africa, tapes and transcripts of interviews of friends of Ruth First. http://www.sas.ac.uk/commonwealthstudies/archives/first.htm

University of the West of England, Bristol. Wars of Liberation, Wars of Decolonisation: The Rhodesian Army Archive Project: Newsletter April 2007 (MS Word document of 4 pages on the Project. "The Rhodesian Army Archive project was set up by the University of the West of England, Bristol, in September 2006,....., to catalogue the extensive collection of papers and other materials from the Rhodesian Army Archive, held by the Empire & Commonwealth Museum in Bristol." "The project will be completed by August 2009, when the catalogue will become available with a searchable database on the UWE website." Project Manager is Dr. Diana Jeater. Uses Bamboo software from Lemur Consulting (1 p in pdf). "Up to 10,000 pages of material will also be digitised and included in the Aluka Struggles for Freedom in Southern Africa collection, which documents the liberation struggles in southern Africa since the end of World War II." http://www.uwe.ac.uk/hlss/history/staff_djeater_0704nl.doc

White Fathers (Société des Missionnaires d'Afrique - Pères Blancs, Missionari d'Africa - Padri Bianchi): Casella Postale 9078, 00100 Roma, Italy
Fax : (39) 06.39.36.34.79 Tel : (39) 06.39.36.34.1
E-Mail : m.afr@mafroma.org
The Archives are closed around July and August every year.
Articles: "Using the White Fathers Archive: An Update" by David Lee Schoenbrun, in History in Africa, Vol. 20, 1993, 421-422; "Archives de la Société des Missionnaires d'Afrique (Pères Blancs)" by René X. Lamey, in Guida delle fonti per la storia dell'Africa a sud del Sahara negli archivi della Santa Sede e negli archivi ecclesiastici d'Italia/ a cura di Lajos Pâasztor. ( Zug, Switzerland : Inter Documentation Co., c1983) 388-413. [KF]

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Please send corrections to Karen Fung.