Collections Online: Africa
- Africa Online Digital Library (Michigan State Univ.) The African Online Digital Library (AODL) is a portal to multimedia collections about Africa. MATRIX, working in cooperation with the African Studies Center at Michigan State University, is partnering with universities and cultural heritage organizations in Africa to build this resource.
- African Democracy Encyclopaedia Project (EISA) Components include: Country Profiles, Election Calendars, Election Archives, Gender Issues, and a Links Directory to additional online sources.
- Africana Digitization Project (Univ. of Wisconsin) 8 titles. A small digital collection of "materials that were published in limited, sometimes very limited, quantities, but which have produced a demand beyond the capacity of their initial print run to satisfy." Digitization was undertaken to ensure accessibility, particularly for researchers in Africa.
- AfroBarometer "Afrobarometer is a pan-African, non-partisan research network that conducts public attitude surveys on democracy, governance, economic conditions, and related issues in more than 35 countries in Africa."
- Archive of Languages and Oral Resources of Africa ALORA is a project which falls within the missions assigned to CERDOTOLA by the Member States CERDOTOLA is committed to document and safeguard aspects of Africa's languages and cultural heritage. This has been traditionally achieved through production of written texts, and casually through audio recording on tapes as provided by the state of the art technology. The bulk of textual, graphical and audio resources documented as far back as the 70s and early 80s has not been subject to far reaching dissemination. Other cultural and scientific objects such as field notes, tapes, manuscripts, wordlists, questionnaires, photos and various archival documents are usually left to perish in library shelves or in the hands of researchers and individuals. The main goal of the ALORA Project is to safeguard these treasuries from irredeemable loss, and to to disseminate them via the world wide web. In addition, ALORA is a virtual infrastructure for hosting versatile digital resources stemming from documentation of African languages and cultural heritage. Inasmuch as African languages are facing the threat of death in a more or less near future, keeping leaving records of their daily usage is a recipe for ensuring their future revival.
- The Harold E. Scheub Collection; South African Voices (Univ. of Wisconsin) "Harold Scheub...specializes in African oral traditions and written literatures. South African Voices is a three-volume work that includes: A Long Time Passed, Created in Olden Times, and The Way We Travelled: Oral History and Poetry..."
- Horn of Africa Crisis (Wilson Center Digital Archive) From the site: "This is a collection of primary source documents related to the conflict between Somalia and Ethiopia in the late 1970s (also known as the 1977-1978 Ogaden War or the Ethiopian-Somali Conflict). Somalia invaded Ethiopia in 1977 in an effort to capture the disputed Ogden region. The resulting crisis is discussed in this collection, as well as the later Eritrean Liberation Movement. Later documents cover Soviet policy toward the region, Ethiopian relations with the Eritreans, the role of the US in Africa, and US Operation Torch."
- Peace Corps Digital Library Currently not functional
- Repositório Cientfico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal --RCAAP RCAAP portal aims to collect, aggregate and index Open Access scientific contents from Portuguese institutional repositories. From the site: "RCAAP constitutes a single entry point for searching, discovery and recall of thousands of scientific and scholarly publications, namely journal articles, conference papers, thesis and dissertations, distributed by several Portuguese repositories."
- World Digital Library Includes: almost 300 items on Africa; 1,329 items on the Middle East and North Africa
Art Collections Online: Africa
- Archnet Digital Library Geared to architects, planners, urban designers, landscape architects, conservationists, and scholars with a focus on Muslim cultures and civilizations. Includes images, publications, etc.
- Images of Commemorative Fabrics from Africa A growing "collection of machine-made commemorative textiles from various African countries. This collection provides researchers access to digitized fabrics that are printed with images and text documenting events and individuals of historical, political, religious, economic, educational, and sociological significance to African societies."
- Posters from the Herskovitz Library, Northwestern University Over 500 African posters held by the Herskovitz Library at Northwestern University. Topics include politics, public health, etc.
Colonial Era Collections Online: Africa
- Archivo Historico Ultramarino (Overseas History Archive) (Collections in Portuguese) Links to their digitized content. "The Overseas Historical Archive is responsible for the treatment and communication to the public of more than 16 km of textual and image documentation, related to the Portuguese and the peoples with whom they related between the century and. XVII and 1974-1975. Created in 1931 under the Ministry of Colonies after the Ministry of Overseas is, by the global and chronological geographical scope of its collection, one of the most international archives and of greatest interest to the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries"
- The Humphrey Winterton Collection of East African Photographs: 1860-1960 "The Winterton Collection includes about 7,610 photographs organized in 76 separate albums, scrapbooks or loose collections. The photographs depict life, primarily in East Africa, between about 1860 and 1960."
- Memórias de África e do Oriente A project by the Fundação Portugal-África, developed and maintained by the Universidade de Aveiro and the Centro de Estudos sobre África e do Desenvolvimento. Includes the following countries: Cabo Verde, India / Goa, Guiné-Bissau, Moçambique, São Tomé e Príncipe
Data & Statistics
- DataReportal - Statistics on Telecommunications and Social Media Selected African countries; 2019. Some countries may also have reports from 2017, 2018.
- Directory of Data Repositories in Africa (DODRIA) Provides access to Africa's research data sets. The directory links to databases storing research datasets on countries in Africa. DODRIA contains over 100 links to data portals that provides access to research datasets on Gross Domestic Product (GDP), population, socio-economic indicators, agriculture, health, energy, international trade, Gender, education, climate and geo-spatial data.
Image Collections Online: Africa
- Peace Corps Photo & Video Library Organized by country, includes current and archival images from Peace Corps staff and the greater Peace Corps community.
- Africa Through a Lens (The National Archives, UK) From the site: " ...photographs spanning over 100 years of African history, from the 1860s onwards, taken from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office."
- AGSL Digital Photo Archive -Africa (Univ. of Wisconsin - Milwaukee) From the site: "...images from the holdings of the American Geographical Society (AGS) Library. The selection focuses on the countries of southern and eastern Africa. The images come from the extensive collections of the AGS Library. The digital collection is under continuing development.
- Africa Focus: Sights and Sounds of a Continent (Univ. of Wisconsin - Madison) From the site: "... This collection contains more than 3000 slides, 500 photographs, and 50 hours of sounds from forty-five different countries..."
- Asia, Pacific & Africa Collections, British Library Online Galleries [image collections] From the site: "...15,000 images from Asia, Pacific & Africa collections."
- Images of the African Diaspora Photographs of Afr-Brazilian art. [From the site: "The arts depicted include sculpture, musical instruments, jewelry and decorative arts, as well as textiles/costumes, and paintings. This collection is vast in its scope."]
Map Collections Online: Africa
- 16th- Early 20th Century Maps of Africa (Northwestern Univ.) From the site: " This site features digital copies of 113 antique maps of Africa and accompanying text dating from the mid 16th Century to the early 20th Century. All scanned maps are authentic and originally collected by the Melville J. Herskovits Library of African Studies (or the Africana Library) at Northwestern University."
- Afriterra: the Cartographic Free Library "...a non-profit Cartographic Library and Archive assembling and preserving the original rare maps of Africa in a definitive place for education and interpretation. We view cartography as a medium that uniquely links art, technology, and history." More than 2000 maps have been digitized and work continues.
- ESRI Story Maps: Africa (various) Various story maps focused on Africa
- Maps of Africa (British Library Online Gallery) From the site: "...these maps represent areas of special European interest in Africa during the 19th and 20th century. ... The maps are almost entirely topographical, prepared by the (British) War Office, colonial surveys, and other official mapping authorities."
- Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection: Africa (Univ. of Texas) Includes many maps produced by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, unless otherwise indicated.
- Voyages en Afrique (Gallica) From the site: "Découvrez l'Afrique à travers les récits des voyageurs. 900 volumes de textes, 30 titres de revues, 80 cartes venant des collections imprimées de la BnF, 20 heures d'enregistrements sonores des fonds du Musée de la parole et du geste et 6500 photographies issues des fonds de la Société de géographie."
Religion Collections Online: Africa
- Africa Online Digital Library: Islamic Collections Collections include: **Banjul Muslims and the Islamic Court **Islam and Modernity: Alternatives in Contemporary Senegambia & Ghana **Discourses of Muslim Scholars in Colonial Ghana **Diversity and Tolerance in the Islam of West Africa **Everyday Islam in Kumasi **The Public Face of Islam in Kumasi
- Dictionary of African Christian Biography The mission of the DACB is to collect, preserve, and make freely accessible biographical accounts and church histories--from oral and written sources--integral to a scholarly understanding of African Christianity.
- Old and New in Shona Religion his multimedia website showcases the photography and work of Dr. M.L. Daneel. His research among the Shona people of Southern Africa in the 1960s through the 1990s has yielded a wealth of photographs and publications documenting African initiated churches and traditional religions. This website makes those photographs and publications available online.
Struggle for Liberation & Independence Collections Online: Africa
- African Activist Archive "The African Activist Archive is preserving and making available online the records of activism in the United States to support the struggles of African peoples against colonialism, apartheid, and social injustice from the 1950s through the 1990s."
- Nordic Documentation on the Liberation Struggle in Southern Africa Site contains some content hosted on the internet, but also serves as a guide to organisations and persons holding documents related to the liberation struggle and the Nordic support. Background information on the organisation or person is available with an archival index of the holdings and contact details to the repository where the actual documents can be found.
- 40 anos de 25 de Abril - 40 anos de independencia (40 years of April 25th - 40 Years of Independence) Site includes video and audio; interviews of people concerning independence movements in former Portuguese colonies.
- "African Independence Days" image collection “African Independence Days” consists of more than 20,000 images from twelve African countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Cameroon, Madagascar, Mali, Nigeria, Tanzania
Trans-Atlantic Slavery
- African Origins Database "Contains information about the migration histories of Africans forcibly carried on slave ships into the Atlantic. Using the personal details of 91,491 Africans liberated by International Courts of Mixed Commission and British Vice Admiralty Courts, this resource makes possible new geographic, ethnic, and linguistic data on peoples captured in Africa and pulled into the slave trade."
- Slave Voyages "A digital memorial" that provides documentation and resources that allow users to "analyze slave trades and view interactive maps, timelines, and animations."
- The Transatlantic Slave Trade (Primary Source Sets, DPLA) This primary source set include documents, photographs, artwork, and maps that tell the story of the slave trade and its impact. In addition to the collection, links to additional resources are provided, along with a Teaching Guide.
Head, African Studies Library
Beth Restrick
Contact:
African Studies Library
6th floor, Mugar Memorial Library
Mon-Fri, 9am- 5pm
6th floor, Mugar Memorial Library
Mon-Fri, 9am- 5pm
617-353-3726
Subjects: African Studies