Primary Sources at Boston University
Some Examples of Resources at BU:
- Newspapers (print and microfilm)
- Memoirs and autobiographies
- Correspondence, letters
- Speeches, interviews
- Government records and reports
- Photographs, works of art
- Literature (ie. novels, poems)
- Audio/ Music
- Film/ video
Primary Sources Online
- Digital Africana Collections Online A list in progress of various digital collections on Africa that are openly accessible on the Internet. We will continue added resources as we are aware of them.
- Diotima (Women in Pharaonic Egypt) Translated primary sources to accompany William Ward's 1995 NEH lecture, "The Egyptian Economy and Non-royal Women: Their Status in Public Life"
- Gallica (Bibliothèque nationale de France) Digital library of the Bibliothèque nationale de France and its partners. Online since 1997, it provides access to over 2 million documents. It is updated weekly with thousands of new materials. Areas include history, literature, science, philosophy, law, economics and political science in all types of media: print (books, periodicals and press), manuscripts, documents, sound, iconographic documents, maps and plans.
- Internet Archive Using the top search box will search text, audio and film. Many older books and ethnographies can be found digitized in this collection.
- John Thornton's African Texts John Thornton’s translations of 17th century texts on Congo and Angola. According to Prof. Thornton, “This site is an attempt to create a paradigm for historical editing, annotating and translating written texts relating to African History”.
- Struggles for Freedom: Southern Africa (formerly Aluka) This link opens in a new window This digital collection of documents and images relating to the anti-Apartheid movement and liberation struggles of Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, and Zimbabwe. Materials including magazines, nationalist publications, colonial government records, newspaper reports, personal papers, correspondence, UN documents, out-of-print and other relevant books, oral testimonies, life histories, and speeches. Date coverage: 20th and 21th century, with the bulk of material dating from 1970-1994.
- Cooperative Africana Materials Project (includes newspapers and government documents) The Cooperative Africana Materials Project (CAMP) is a partnership of research libraries worldwide with the Center for Research Libraries (CRL). Their goal is preservation of archives and materials throughout Sub-Saharan Africa. These materials are microfilmed and increasingly scanned. They include newspapers, journals, archives, monographs, government publications, etc.
- African Newspapers from the World Newspaper Archive This link opens in a new window This full-text, searchable collection of 19th and early 20th century African newspapers includes titles from the following countries: Angola, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Sao Tome & Principe, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Date coverage: 1831 to 1923.
Ephemera / Pamphlet Collections
What is ephemera or gray literature?
Ephemera is a term given to materials that are considered to be of only temporary importance. Materials could include things like typescripts, manuscripts, memos, hand-written letters, pamphlets, etc.
Gray literature typically includes publications such as reports (annual, research, technical, project, etc.), working papers, government documents, white papers and evaluations. Organizations that produce grey literature include government departments and agencies, civil society or non-governmental organizations, academic centres and departments, and private companies and consultants.
The African Studies Library has a significant collection of ephemera / gray literature / pamphlets organized by country/region and subject. Ask the African Studies Librarians to show you the collection; it's a treasure trove of information!
Librarian
6th floor,
Mugar Memorial Library
Mon-Fri 9am - 5 pm
rdwyer@bu.edu