Blogs
- Ms Afropolitan MsAfropolitan connects feminism with critical reflections on contemporary culture from an Africa-centred perspective
- Brittle Paper An African Literary Blog
- OkayAfrica African culture, music and politics
Exhibit Sources: Newspapers
Visit our Guide to African Newspapers at Boston University
The African Studies Library has a wide range of newspapers from across the continents. They exist in a variety of formats and span many years.
Tip: Newspapers can provide a window on events or issues, but it is important to know a little bit about the newspaper. Is a political party behind it? Is it independently run? Is it a tabloid?
A Selection of Newspapers Databases
- Nexis Uni This link opens in a new window
Nexis Uni is a source for newspapers and magazines, trade journals, wire services and transcripts, as well as legal sources for federal and state cases and statutes, including U.S. Supreme Court decisions since 1790, and information on U.S. and international companies and executives.
- International Newsstream This link opens in a new window
International, searchable, full text of selected newspapers. (Text only; does not include images, charts.)
- PressReader This link opens in a new window
Full-page images and article images with searchable full text of international newspapers and magazines from the last 90 days, in the original language. Includes computer-generated translations to English and other languages for some publications.
Historical Newspaper Databases
- 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.
- 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.
- ProQuest Historical Newspapers This link opens in a new window
Full-page images and article images (PDF) with searchable full text from the following newspapers: Boston Globe; New York Times; Washington Post; Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, and Chicago Defender. See listing for each individual newspaper for specific access information and to search that publication separately. Additional content for some titles is added on a one year rolling basis.
Exhibit Sources: Images
Image Databases
- ARTstor This link opens in a new window
ARTstor is a database of images from museums, artists, libraries, colleges and universities, scholars, private collections, and photo archives available for teaching, education, and scholarship, with all images cleared for educational use.
- Associated Press Images Collection This link opens in a new window
Associated Press Images Collection is a searchable collection of recent and historical photos from the Associated Press, plus AP graphics, articles, and brief sound clips.
- Struggles for Freedom: Southern Africa 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.
Additional Sources for Images
- Everyday Africa (on Instragram) "Photographers living and working in Africa, finding the extreme not nearly as prevalent as the familiar, the everyday." Also available on twitter @EverydayAfrica and tumblr
Exhibit Sources: 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!
Film/ Video
Streaming:
- Academic Video Online This link opens in a new window Academic Video Online delivers more than 67,000 titles spanning a range of subject areas including anthropology, business, counseling, film, health, history, music, and more. It includes documentaries, films, demonstrations, and other content types.
- HistoryMakers: African American Video Oral History Collection This link opens in a new window Historymakers is a collection of video oral interviews with historically significant African Americans. Some of the interview subjects lived and worked in Africa or knew African leaders. Because many of the interviews are fully transcribed and indexed, it is simple to do a keyword search across hundreds of interviews to check for information of interest.
- Vanderbilt Television News Archive This link opens in a new window Streaming video of news and commercials from NBC and CNN plus searchable archive of abstracts of news broadcasts from ABC, CBS, Fox News, and other channels.
In Library:
- BU Krasker Film/Media Services Catalog (in library use) Krasker is located in the basement of Mugar Library and has a collection of films in a variety of formats for on-site viewing.
- BU Library Search: Film/ Video The BU Library Search has filters on the right that allow limiting to Film/ Video (which will include both physical dvds and streaming content). There are also options for Audio/Music and other types of media.
Archival and 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.
- 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.
- Struggles for Freedom: Southern Africa 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.
- 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.
Librarian
6th floor,
Mugar Memorial Library
Mon-Fri 9am - 5 pm
rdwyer@bu.edu