{"id":2025,"date":"2019-10-25T08:11:38","date_gmt":"2019-10-25T08:11:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/spslibrarian\/?p=2025"},"modified":"2019-10-25T08:12:44","modified_gmt":"2019-10-25T08:12:44","slug":"5-recommended-library-resources-for-africa-week-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/spslibrarian\/2019\/10\/25\/5-recommended-library-resources-for-africa-week-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"5 recommended Library resources for Africa Week 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yesterday, 24th October, was the start of Africa Week 2019<\/a> at the University. A chance to celebrate Edinburgh’s connections to the region. There are a number of events taking place to mark Africa Week but I wanted<\/em>\u00a0to highlight just some of the library resources available to staff and students of the University that will allow you to study and research Africa and Africa related subjects further.<\/em><\/p>\n

1. C.A.S. collection on 4th floor, Main Library<\/h1>\n

Have you ever been searching\u00a0DiscoverEd<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0for a book or journal related to Africa and come across shelfmarks starting C.A.S.?\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>C.A.S. simply stands for the Centre of African Studies and there is a substantial collection of books and journals, separate to the general lending collections on the 2nd and 3rd floor of Main Library, that were purchased on behalf of the Centre over many years. The C.A.S. collection can be found on the 4th floor of the Main Library on the South-East side of the floor. This is a really interesting collection of material, mostly published in the 20th century, and includes material published by commercial and academic publishers, government agencies, Unesco, the Centre of African Studies, etc.<\/p>\n

The C.A.S. collection is now a closed collection i.e. no newly purchased books are added to this collection, but it\u2019s not the only place you will find books on Africa or African related subjects in the Main Library. There are a large range of books throughout the general lending collections on 2nd and 3rd floor and the HUB area, you will find books relating to Africa at a number of the site libraries as well and there are a considerable number of e-books, e-journals (and print journals) available relating to Africa. Just search\u00a0DiscoverEd<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0to discover more.<\/p>\n

2. University\u2019s archives \u2013 Centre for Research Collections<\/h1>\n

The University of Edinburgh holds world class\u00a0collections<\/a>, including rare books, archives and manuscripts, art, historical musical instruments and museum objects. And it is the\u00a0Centre for Research Collections (CRC)<\/a>\u00a0on the 6th floor of the Main Library that is your gateway into these unique collections.<\/p>\n

In total the CRC hold around 6 kilometres of unique handwritten or typescript material. This includes literary, personal and business papers; the archives of NHS Lothian; the corporate archives of the University of Edinburgh and merged institutions such as Edinburgh College of Art.<\/p>\n

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Photograph Album (Phot.Ill.92). Dr. John William Arthur, circa 1911. \u00a9 University of Edinburgh<\/p><\/div>\n

As part of this the CRC has a large and varied range of material relating to Africa coming from the archives and personal papers of missionaries such as John William Arthur (1881-1952), Arthur Ruffell Barlow (1888-1965), Joseph Booth (1851-1932), Robert Laws (1851-1934), Alexander Gillon MacAlpine (1869-1957), Kenneth Mackenzie (1920-1971) and William Hutton Marwick (1863-1940).<\/p>\n

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Photograph Album (Gen.1786\/9). Arthur Ruffell Barlow, circa 1911. \u00a9 University of Edinburgh<\/p><\/div>\n

They also have the papers of David Patrick Chalmers (1835-1899) a leading political and legal figure in colonial Africa, Reginald Davies (1887-1979) a leading figure in the colonial administration of Africa, John William Moir (1851-1940) an evangelical African trader who opposed the slave market, George Albert Shepperson (1922 \u2013 ) a leading historian of modern Africa and great benefactor of the Library and Colin Cameron (1933 \u2013 ) who played a significant role as a lawyer and politician as British Nyasaland became independent Malawi.<\/p>\n

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Outline Map of Part of the West Coast of Africa, Shewing the Bristish Posessions, 1865. (Gen.1917). David Chalmers. \u00a9 University of Edinburgh<\/p><\/div>\n

You can search the\u00a0University of Edinburgh Archive and Manuscript Collections via\u00a0Archives Online<\/strong><\/a>.\u00a0The\u00a0Centre for Research Collections (CRC)<\/a>\u00a0is open to all researchers, including students, staff, visiting academics and members of the public.<\/p>\n

3. Digital archives<\/h1>\n

Primary sources reflect the individual viewpoint of a participant or observer and they enable you to get as close as possible to what actually happened during an historical event or time period. Primary sources can include diaries, correspondence, historical and legal documents, eyewitness accounts, newspaper and magazine articles, statistical data, speeches, audio and video recordings, art objects, etc.<\/p>\n

The Library has access to a wide range of primary source databases that allow you to search for and view digitised primary source material.\u00a0Here are just a few that will allow you to research various time periods and aspects of African history.<\/p>\n

Tanzania and Malawi in records from colonial missionaries, 1857-1965<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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Containing over 54,000 digitised pages from Bodleian’s Commonwealth and African manuscripts and archives, this database contains documents relating to the UMCA\u2019s (Universities\u2019 Mission to Central Africa) activities in Tanzania and Malawi during the period 1857-1965. The papers provide an insight into the spread of Christianity in Central Africa. Made up of 5 volumes it includes \u2018Central Africa\u2019 magazine, missionaries\u2019 correspondence and journals as well as miscellaneous correspondence, press cuttings, books and conference papers.<\/p>\n

Church Missionary Society Periodicals<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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Eastward Ho!, Volume 34, Issue . 1924. London: Church Missionary Society. Available through: Adam Matthew, Church Missionary Society Periodicals. [Accessed October 19, 2018]<\/p><\/div>This database features publications from the Church Missionary Society (CMS), the South American Missionary Society and the Church of England Zenana Missionary Society (CEZMS) between 1804 and 2009.\u00a0Forming a prominent feature of British religious philanthropy from the late eighteenth\u00a0century onwards, missionary societies served as employer and community to missionaries far from home.<\/p>\n

The CMS was founded in 1799 and its first overseas mission was in Sierra Leone in 1804; but soon the societies were working in other African countries as well as the Mediterranean, the Middle East, Asia, Oceania and the Americas.<\/p>\n

The CMS periodicals document missionary work from the 19th to 21st century and the publications include news, journals and reports offering a unique perspective on global history and cultural encounters.<\/p>\n

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Empire Online<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

This database bring together manuscript, printed and visual primary source materials for the study of \u2018Empire\u2019 and its theories, practices and consequences with materials spanning around 500 years of history.\u00a0Empire Online<\/strong>\u00a0charts the story of the rise and fall of empires; from the explorations of Columbus, Captain Cook, and others, right through to de-colonisation in the second half of the 20th century and debates over American Imperialism.<\/p>\n

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Screenshot from An account of Ethiopia. 1724. Available through: Adam Matthew, Empire Online. [Accessed October 19, 2018].<\/p><\/div>There is a broad range of document types written by women and men from the European and non-European perspective. And documents include: exploration journals and logs; letter books and correspondence; official government papers; travel writing; slave papers; memoirs; fiction; maps and much more.<\/p>\n

The Olive Schreiner Letters Online<\/a> (this is an open access resource)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Olive Schreiner (1855-1920) was a South African feminist, socialist writer and social theorist and was one of the most important \u2013 and radical \u2013 social commentators of her day.<\/p>\n

This database provides transcriptions of Schreiner\u2019s more than 4800 extant letters located in archives across Europe, the US and South Africa, with detailed editorial notes and background information, thanks to the\u00a0Olive Schreiner Letters Project<\/a>. Transcriptions include every insertion and deletion as well as the main text. Guides to the archival locations of all her letters are also available.<\/p>\n

Archives Unbound<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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This database contains over 300 primary source collections that you can access. It presents topically-focused digital collections of historical documents covering a broad range of topics from the Middle Ages forward-from Witchcraft to World War II to 20th century political history.<\/p>\n

As\u00a0Archives Unbound<\/strong>\u00a0covers such a vast range of subjects and collections, searching through the whole database will provide material perhaps from some surprising areas (so it\u2019s very worthwhile doing this) but these are just a small selection of the collections related to Africa that you might find useful.<\/p>\n