In 2013, the VAD’s working group on research and information infrastructure in the field of African Studies conducted the first survey of existing archives and libraries with a focus on Africa. The aim was to gain an overview of which materials on Africa (books, journals, newspapers, research data etc.) are collected and regularly purchased and by which universities. This information has been made available here for researchers.
The detailed account of the collections, inventory codes, acquisition profiles and digital services is found on the appended PDF. Additions are very welcome.
Below is a shortened overview
Bayreuth
- DEVA – Digitalization, Edition, and Networking in African Studies (Digitalisierung, Edition und Vernetzung in den Afrikawissenschaften).
12,000 objects in photo archives and bequests; 8,000 objects “Africa Studies in Bayreuth” (Afrikastudien Bayreuth); 47,000 objects of the Iwalewa-Haus collection (Contemporary art and Africa’s popular culture).
http://deva.uni-bayreuth.de/
Berlin
- Branch library of Asian and African Studies at the HU Berlin.
25,000 volumes on all countries and areas in Africa, A comprehensive collection of the SSG folklore and ethnography is found the university library of the HU.
Digitalisation project “preservation of the Hoffman- Collection of the Cultural Heritage of the Northern Sotho”
http://www.ub.hu-berlin.de/standorte/invalidenstrasse
- Jahnheinz-Jahn-Archive, Seminar for Africa Studies, HU Berlin
Jahnheinz Jahns bequest, including unpublished manuscripts, correspondences with African authors, contemporary photos, rare publications.
- Dambudzo Marechera Archive, Seminar for African Studies, HU Berlin
Bequest from Zimbabwean authors, manuscripts, unpublished works, etc. (https://rs.cms.hu-berlin.de/marecheraarchive/pages/home.php)
- Centre for Modern Orient (ZMO)
Library: approx. 70,000 books, of which approx. 10,000 are on sub-Sahara Africa, countries in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia. Historian Jürgen Herzog’s and Ambassador Wolfgang Zielke’s bequests of Material on African, The section on Africa’s History in the library of the DDR’s Science Academy.
http://www.zmo.de/biblio/main.htm
Frankfurt am Main
- Specialized information Services “Africa Studies“, University of Frankfurt/Main library
DFG-Special collections for "Sub-Sahara Africa" (1964-2014): 200,000 Books; 53,000 Colonial photographs; all sub-Saharan African states
Digitalization project: Colonial photo archive (DFG 1999-2004) with 53,000 historical photographs:
http://www.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/afrika/bildsammlung.html
http://www.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/afrika/afrika.html
- Ethnographic library, Frobenius-Institut
120,000 Volumes (not only on Africa), ca. 1,800 cards, approx. 1,800 DVDs und VHS-cassettes; bequests from the private libraries of von Leo Frobenius, Theodor Koch-Grünberg, Walter Krickeberg and Karl von den Steinen
Library catalogue: http://bibliothek.frobenius-katalog.de/
Photo archive: http://bildarchiv.frobenius-katalog.de/
Hamburg
- GIGA Information centre: specialized library for Africa
54,900 Books containing current literature on economic, political and social development in Sub-Saharan Africa; 9,380 electronic documents (available online for free, licensed); Special collections of grey literature from sub-Saharan Africa (Funded by the DFG 1978-2010); detailed evidence of newspapers articles and electronic documents and the creation of bibliographies on special topics
opac.giga-hamburg.de
http://www.giga-hamburg.de/iz
- Department of African Studies and Ethiopian Studies, University of Hamburg
Books: approx. 29,000 on African Linguistics (Hausa, Swahili, Amharic, Berber, Pidgin- und Creole languages, Niger-Congo, Nilo-Saharan, Afro-Asian, Khoisan); Focus on countries (In the linguistic aspect): Cameroon, Nigeria, Tanzania, Ethiopia
http://www.aai.uni-hamburg.de/afrika/
Köln
- Ethnological library, Institute for Ethnology University of Köln
28,000 monographies on Asia (especially Southern Asia and Indonesia), Africa (especially Southern Africa, Approx. 3,500); anthropology, Human-environment-conflict, Social-ethnology
http://ethnologie.phil-fak.uni-koeln.de/bibliothek.html
Leipzig
- Open Access African Studies, Bibliotheca Albertina
6,630 monographs in the African Studies open access section; Special collections: Libraries of Prof. Dr. Gerhard Grohs (Sociology, History of Africa, and literature on developing countries), Hans G. Mukarovsky und Ernst Dammann
Open Access-journal „Swahili-Forum“
http://afrikanistik.gko.uni-leipzig.de/index.php/de/
- Archive holdings in the Institute for African Studies, Leipzig
Collection of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania in Moshi, Tanzania: 40,000 digitalized pages of the "Records of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania in Moshi" (ca. 1896-1960)International Mission Photography Archive: almost 4.000 historical photographs of the Leipziger, Herrnhuter und Hermannsburger Missionaries from Africa, for the Internet-Databank
IMPA (Tanzania, Kenya, South Africa, Ethiopia)
Mainz
- Archive for African Music, Institute for Ethnology and African Studies, Johannes-Gutenberg University, Mainz
Recordings of popular African music: acetate records (ca. 100), shellac records (78rpm/ca. 800), vinyl LPs (33 rpm/ca. 5200), vinyl singles (45 rpm/ca. 1900), music cassettes (ca. 1500), CDs (ca. 980), VHS (ca. 1300), DVDs (ca. 250), Video CDs (ca. 270)
Focus on popular music in sub-Saharan Africa
http://www.ama.ifeas.uni-mainz.de/
- Photo archives on Independence Day celebrations in African countries, Institute for Ethnology and Africa Studies, Johannes Gutenberg-University, Mainz
Approx. 16,000 images from 12 African countries with photos of Independence Day celebrations (Mostly of the 50th jubilee) mainly from 2010
https://bildarchiv.uni-mainz.de/AUJ/
Basel
- The Basler Mission Archive und Library / Mission 21
Library containing approx. 35,000 volumes, 200,000 historical photographs, engravings, portraits, slides (approx. 37,000 have been digitalised), 10,000 historical maps (approx. 6,700 have been digitalised), Ghana, Cameroon, Nigeria, DR Congo, Tanzania, South Sudan, Southern Africa
http://www.bmarchives.org
http://www.bmarchives.org/
- Basler Bibliographies on Africa. Namibia Resource Centre & Southern Africa Library
Library containing approx. 35,000 volumes 4.000 placards; around 150 private archive und partial bequests; 120,000 historical photographs, albums and postcards; Southern Africa, specifically Namibia
http://baslerafrikabibliographien.faust-web.de/