History: Africa: Primary Sources

Visual images are included in many books and articles. Several large collections of digital images are searchable, including:

The contemporary accounts in newspapers are sometimes used as primary sources. A few newspapers with international coverage in our collection are:

• The New York Times Archive: 1851-1980 - Search the contents of the newspaper. Full-text online articles are available for free for 1851 to 1922 and 1987-date. For other years, with the date and page number from your search you can locate articles on the library's microfilm - at AP 2.N657 in the Periodicals Area. There is also a printed index to The New York Times in Crumb reference at Ref AI 21.N45
  
  
• The Times (London). We have this important international newspaper on microfilm for 1788-1997. An index is on microfilm at AP 4.T52 (1790-1905) and in paper at Ref AI 21.T46 (1906-1996)
  
  
• News Digests are annual, or more frequent, summaries of significant news. Those in Crumb Library print collection, with call# and years available are:
  • The International Year Book. (Ref AE 5.I64) 1914-1929
  • Britannica Book of the Year. (Ref AE 5.E364) 1940-date
  • Americana Annual. (Ref AE 5.A55) 1951-1974
  • Facts on File Yearbook. (Ref D 410.F3) 1943-2000
  • Keesing's Contemporary Archive. (Ref D 410.K4) 1965-1992
  • Yearbook of World Affairs. (JX 21.Y4) 1958-1984
  • Statesman's Year-book. (JA 51.S7) 1933-date (latest years in Ref.) Chapters on each country of the world.
  • Annual Register of World Events. (Ref D 2.A7) 1958-1979
  • The United States in World Affairs (Council on Foreign Relations) (E 744.U66) 1931-40, 1945-67, 1970
• African newspapers. African Newspapers Union List is a project to centrally identify African newspapers held in U.S. libraries.

Magazines can also be seen as primary sources.

• The Drum. Published in South Africa from 1951 to 1965. Indexed in Drum: an index to Africa's leading magazine (on paper - DT 1.D794). The magazine itself can be borrowed on microfilm through interlibrary loan.


• Sources and methods in African history : spoken, written, unearthed.  (DT19 .S68 2003)


• Non-African magazines published accounts of travels in Africa, and reports on African affairs. These can be located using paper indexes in the Crumb Reference Area, including
  • Poole's Index to Periodical Literature. (Ref AI 3.P7) Covers US and UK magazines, 1802-1906.
  • Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature. (Ref AI 3.R478) Covers mainly US popular magazines, 1890-2006.
  • International Index to Periodicals. (Ref AI 3.R49). Covers English language scholarly journals, 1907-1973
  • Essay & General Literature Index. (Ref AI 3.E752) Covers collections of essays published in books, 1900-1998.
  • Index to Selected Periodicals; continued by Index to Periodical articles by and about Negroes; continued by Index to Periodical articles by and about Blacks. (Ref AI 3.O4) The magazines covered are all English-language, and mainly US publicaitions, 1950-1980.
  Examples: "A Journey in Africa" in Putnam's Monthly, v.10:57 (Sept. 1857) p.296 ; "Cameron's Journey across Africa" Harper's New Monthly Magazine v.54:324 (May 1877) p.866-879 ; "The Men and Brutes of South Africa" North American Review v.68:143 (Apr. 1849) p.265-300 - (online versions from The Making of America collection). The Making of America digital collection has two main parts: Search the Cornell MOA collection; Search the Univ. of Michigan MOA collection. Both focus on 19th century materials.
  
  
• National Geographic Magazine. We have paper copies from 1901 to the present at G1.N27 . Search for articles in this magazine using: National Geographic Magazine Index ; or a printed index at G1.N325.
  
  
• JSTOR has the full text of some journals devoted to Africa: for example Journal of the Royal African Society (1901-1944); and other scholarly journals of African studies.
  
  
• Sub-Saharan Africa: a guide to serials. (Ref DT 348.A1U49). This is a large directory of periodicals "issued in Western languages or in African languages that use the Roman alphabet." It includes monographic series, annual reports, yearbooks, etc; but excludes most African government publications, and newspapers and news magazines. Some of these may be available through interlibrary loan.