Oxford LibGuides: Manuscripts: Archives and Modern: Commonwealth & African

Commonwealth & African subject guide

The Bodleian Library: a Subject Guide to the Collections
ed. Gregory Walker, Mary Clapinson and Lesley Forbes (Bodleian Library, 2004), esp. 'Principal Special Collections', pp. 198-222.

General finding aids

Online catalogues of Commonwealth & African collections
(The above link is to) Bodleian Archives & Manuscripts, which includes some full catalogues of Commonwealth and African Studies manuscripts and archives and collection-level descriptions of many of the larger collections.
Archives Hub
A gateway to higher education archives in the UK, including brief descriptions of catalogued Bodleian manuscript collections
Commonwealth & African card index
Card index of catalogued Commonwealth and African collections up to July 2014. They are arranged by name (A – Z) of the person or organisation which created the collection and by region of the world/country. The shelfmark can be found at the top right of each card. ‘Handlist’ indicates that a more detailed hardcopy catalogue is available, some of which can now also be found online.

Printed finding aids (Bodleian and national collections)

The links here are to SOLO records of book or journal holdings within Oxford.

A Guide to Western Manuscripts and Documents in the British Isles relating to South and South-East Asia, with supplements
by J. D. Pearson.and M.D. Wainwright (London, 1965, 1989, 1990).
A Guide to Manuscripts and Documents in the British Isles relating to the Far East
by M.D. Wainwright and J.D. Pearson (Oxford, 1977).
A Guide to Manuscripts and Documents in the British Isles relating to the Middle East and North Africa
by N. Matthews and M. D. Wainwright (Oxford, 1980).
A Guide to Manuscripts and Documents in the British Isles relating to Africa
by N. Matthews and M.D. Wainwright (Oxford, 1971).
Manuscripts in the British Isles relating to Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific
by P. Mander-Jones (Canberra, 1972).

Useful links to external resources

Archives Hub (archives in UK universities)
The Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand
The Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, has digitised a number of Manuscripts and Pictorial Collections including 100,000 pages from the papers of Sir Donald McLean and more than 60,000 New Zealand and Pacific images.
Anti-Slavery International
Anti-Slavery International holds a library of contemporary and historical material relating to slavery worldwide and its related subjects.
Anti-Slavery International - the Transatlantic Slave Trade
Anti-Slavery International's collection of 18th and 19th century literature on the Transatlantic Slave Trade has been digitised and is available online.
Early Canadiana Online (ECO)
A digital library providing access to works published from the time of the first European settlers up to the early 20th century.
Forward to Freedom. The history of the British Anti-Apartheid Movement, 1959-1994.
Website recording the history of the AAM and its campaigns to help the people of South Africa in their fight against apartheid.
Friends of St Helena.
Digitized documents from the Jamestown Archives on St Helena are available on the Friends of St Helena website. These include East India Company records dating from the late 17th century.
International Mission Photography Archive.
Historical images of Protestant and Catholic missionary activities in Africa, China, Madagascar, India, Papua New Guinea and the Caribbean from collections held in Britain, Norway, Germany, France, Switzerland and the United States.
Melville Herskovits Library of Africana
The Melville Herskovits Library of Africana, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, has digitised copies of 113 maps of Africa from the 16th to the 20th centuries
Sources for Missionary Archives
Sources for missionary archives in the UK
Royal Commonwealth Society Library Photograph Collection
Royal Commonwealth Society Library Photograph Collection, University of Cambridge. This collection contains over 70,000 images dating from the mid-1850s to the mid-1980s and provides insight into the history of the Commonwealth, documenting developments in a wide variety of fields including medicine, education and industry.
United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (USPG) Archive
United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (USPG) Archive. The journals, annual sermons and reports of the SPG, 1701-1870, the American material in the SPG archive, 1635-1812, the papers of the Associates of Dr Bray to 1900, the Committee on Women's Work and material relating to Australia, New Zealand, Polynesia and the West Indies are available online from library PCs in Rhodes House.