Research Guides: AFST/HIST 277: Contemporary Africa: Primary Sources

Finding Primary Sources

Links to collections & archives

African Diaspora (1860-Present)
Primary and secondary sources on migrations and global communities of people of African descent, from 1860-present. Focus on diasporic communities in the Caribbean, Brazil, India, France, and the UK. Covers movements and ideologies, including "Back to Africa" and Pan-African movements. Includes personal papers and letters, organization papers, government and court documents, journals, newsletters, and ephemera.
Nineteenth Century Collections Online
Primary sources from the 19th Century, covering Europe and Africa, Mapping the World, Photography, and Women.
Europe and Africa: Commerce, Christianity, Civilization, and Conquest
Monographs, manuscripts, and newspapers covering key issues of economics, world politics, and international strategy.

Mapping the World: Maps and Travel Literature
Selections from map repositories of the British Library and the National Archives at Kew representing the nineteenth century.

Photography: The World Through the Lens
Collections of photographs, photograph albums, photographically-illustrated books and texts on the early history of photography from libraries and archives from across the globe. Some images are well-known while many have rarely been viewed.

Women: Transnational Networks
Focuses on issues at the intersection of gender and class from the late 18th century to the era of suffrage in the early 20th century, through a transnational perspective. The collection contains sources on European and North American movements and collections from other regions.
Colonial State Papers (1574 - 1757)
Primary source documents covering the earliest English settlements in North America, encounters with Native Americans, piracy in the Atlantic and Caribbean, the trade in slaves, and English conflicts with the Spanish and French
Primary Source collections included:
Privy Council and related bodies: America and West Indies, Colonial Papers (Collection CO 1 from The National Archives) -
Papers presented to the Privy Council and the Board of Trade between 1574-1757, relating to England's governance and activities in the American, Canadian, and West Indian colonies

The Calendar of State Papers, Colonial: North America and the West Indies 1574-1739 -
bibliographic records on documents relating to the colonial past, some with abstracts and full transcriptions

Detailed Guide to this resource.
U.K. Parliamentary Papers
Complete coverage of the sessional papers of the British House of Commons and the 19th Century House of Lords. Includes over 200,000 papers from 1715 to the present, with supplementary material back to 1688.

Africa Focus: Sights and Sounds of a Continent
Digitized primary and secondary resources (books, images, and sound) covering forty five African nations, with a focus on West Africa. Produced by the University of Wisconsin Libraries.
African Posters
Collection of posters from African political, labor, social, religious, educational, cultural organizations and governments. Topics include South Africa under apartheid; anti-apartheid movements; South African 1994 elections; HIV/AIDS; Portuguese speaking African liberation movement; Nigerian social values.

Women and Social Movements International 1840-present
Conference proceedings, organization reports, publications, and websites of women's non-governmental organizations. Also includes letters, diaries, and memoirs of women active internationally since the mid-nineteenth century, as well as photographs and videos of major events and activists in the history of women’s international social movements.
Detailed Guide to this resource.

Internet African History Sourcebook
Sources on the history of human societies in Africa. From Fordham University.
Library of Congress World Digital Library
Cultural heritage materials gathered during the World Digital Library (WDL) project, including thousands of items contributed by UNESCO partner organizations worldwide as well as content from Library of Congress collections.

Historical Newspapers & Publications

New York Times (1851 to 3 years ago)
Historical New York Times with articles in PDF format, including ads, cartoons, photos, maps, graphics, and more.
Christian Science Monitor (1908 - Present)
Nonprofit international news organization that publishes daily articles online and a weekly print edition.
Historical Newspapers
Full-text content from U.S. & international newspapers from the 19th century to the late 20th century. In addition to news stories, includes editorials, cartoons, classifieds, and obituaries.
See title list of over 400 historical newspapers.
British Periodicals
Hundreds of British periodicals in full text, from the 17th century through the early 21st. Topics include literature, philosophy, history, science, the social sciences, music, art, drama, archaeology and architecture.

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