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Africa-Archives and Libraries

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Africa-Archives and Libraries

In 2013, the VAD’s working group on research and information infrastructure in the field of African Studies conducted the first survey of existing archives and libraries with a focus on Africa. The aim was to gain an overview of which materials on Africa (books, journals, newspapers, research data etc.) are collected and regularly purchased and by which universities. This information has been made available here for researchers.

The detailed account of the collections, inventory codes, acquisition profiles and digital services is found on the appended PDF. Additions are very welcome.

Below is a short overview:

BAYREUTH

  • University Library of Bayreuth, Africa Collections

180,000 printed volumes, 160 running printed journals, a variety of databases and e-journals, 3,000 audiovisual materials, over 5,000 maps, aerial and satellite images and gray literature on all countries and areas of Africa www.ub.uni-bayreuth.de

  • DEVA – Digitalization, Edition, and Networking in African Studies (Digitalisierung, Edition und Vernetzung in den Afrikawissenschaften).
    12,000 objects in photo archives and bequests; 8,000 objects “Africa Studies in Bayreuth” (Afrikastudien Bayreuth); 47,000 objects of the Iwalewa-Haus collection  (Contemporary art and Africa’s popular culture).
    http://deva.uni-bayreuth.de/

BERLIN

  • Centre for Modern Orient (ZMO)
    Library: approx. 70,000 books, of which approx. 10,000 are on sub-Sahara Africa, countries in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia. Historian Jürgen Herzog’s and Ambassador Wolfgang Zielke’s bequests of Material on African, The section on Africa’s History in the library of the DDR’s Science Academy.
    http://www.zmo.de/biblio/main.htm

FRANKFURT AM MAIN

HAMBURG

  • GIGA Information centre: specialized library for Africa
    56.500 Books containing current literature on economic, political and social development in Sub-Saharan Africa; 11.400 electronic documents (available online for free, licensed); Special collections of grey literature from sub-Saharan Africa (Funded by the DFG 1978-2010); detailed evidence of newspapers articles and electronic documents and the creation of bibliographies on special topics http://www.giga-hamburg.de/iz

KÖLN

  • Ethnological library, Institute for Ethnology University of Köln
    28,000 monographies on Asia (especially Southern Asia and Indonesia), Africa (especially Southern Africa, Approx. 3,500); anthropology, Human-environment-conflict, Social-ethnology
    http://ethnologie.phil-fak.uni-koeln.de/bibliothek.html

LEIPZIG

  • Open Access African Studies, Bibliotheca Albertina
    6,630 monographs in the African Studies open access section; Special collections:  Libraries of Prof. Dr. Gerhard Grohs (Sociology, History of Africa, and literature on developing countries), Hans G. Mukarovsky und Ernst Dammann
    Open Access-journal „Swahili-Forum“
    http://afrikanistik.gko.uni-leipzig.de/index.php/de/
  • Archive holdings in the Institute for African Studies, Leipzig
    Collection of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania in Moshi, Tanzania: 40,000 digitalized pages of the “Records of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania in Moshi” (ca. 1896-1960)International Mission Photography Archive: almost 4.000 historical photographs of the Leipziger, Herrnhuter und Hermannsburger Missionaries from Africa, for the Internet-Databank
    IMPA (Tanzania, Kenya, South Africa, Ethiopia)

MAINZ

  • Archive for African Music, Institute for Ethnology and African Studies, Johannes-Gutenberg University, Mainz
    Recordings of popular African music: acetate records (ca. 100), shellac records (78rpm/ca. 800), vinyl LPs (33 rpm/ca. 5200), vinyl singles (45 rpm/ca. 1900), music cassettes (ca. 1500), CDs (ca. 980), VHS (ca. 1300), DVDs (ca. 250), Video CDs (ca. 270)
    Focus on popular music in sub-Saharan Africa
    http://www.ama.ifeas.uni-mainz.de/
  • Photo archives on Independence Day celebrations in African countries, Institute for Ethnology and Africa Studies, Johannes Gutenberg-University, Mainz
    Approx. 16,000 images from 12 African countries with photos of Independence Day celebrations (Mostly of the 50th jubilee) mainly from 2010
    https://bildarchiv.uni-mainz.de/AUJ/

BASEL

  • The Basler Mission Archive und Library / Mission 21
    Library containing approx. 35,000 volumes, 200,000 historical photographs, engravings, portraits, slides (approx. 37,000 have been digitalised), 10,000 historical maps (approx. 6,700 have been digitalised), Ghana, Cameroon, Nigeria, DR Congo, Tanzania, South Sudan, Southern Africa
    http://www.bmarchives.org

    Basler Bibliographies on Africa. Namibia Resource Centre & Southern Africa Library
    Library containing approx. 35,000 volumes 4.000 placards; around 150 private archive und partial bequests; 120,000 historical photographs, albums and postcards; Southern Africa, specifically Namibia
    www.baslerafrika.ch