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Africa: primary sources

General

Confidential Print: Africa, 1834-1966
For a list of the included records, see http://www.archivesdirect.amdigital.co.uk/Introduction/Confidential_Print_Africa/Default.aspx#naturescope

Confidential print: Africa. [microform]
1456.114.41
101 reels
Printed guide: none
Material from the British Colonial Office (CO 879). Covers Africa 1642-1916.

Africa [microform] : [Confidential print. 1834-1912]
1457.114.41.2
58 reels
Printed guide: none
Material from the British Foreign Office (FO 403). Covers Africa 1834-1912. Note that our holdings of this collection are incomplete. As described by the National Archives, "this series contains confidential print relating to Africa. It comprises selected correspondence and papers relating to various African countries, including Liberia; Madagascar; Morocco, 1919 to 1920 and 1942 to 1946; Algeria and Tunisia, to 1951; Suez Canal and Egypt, 1942 to 1946; Abyssinia, 1911 to 1913, 1919 to 1923 and 1942 to 1946."

Africa [microform] : [General correspondence before 1906]
MICROFILM 12619
8 reels
Printed guide: none
Material from the British Foreign Office (FO 2). As described by the National Archives, " this series contains general correspondence relating to Africa. Includes papers relating to various expeditions and missions. From 1893 it contains the correspondence, etc., of the African Departments." Note the the complete set comprises 84 reels, of which we own only a few.

African documents [microform]
RECAP Microfilm S00886
86 reels
Printed guide: Firestone Microforms DT1.G64
This collection comprises miscellaneous documents relating to Africa and selected by Lawrence Thompson. The documents were prepared by a variety of government and non-governmental organizations. Most date from the 1960's, but there is some earlier material.

British documents on foreign affairs is a multivolume printed edition of records from the British Foreign Office Confidential Print. These records are diplomatic papers and reports originally published for the British government. See the Main Catalog record for this title for a list of countries and dates of coverage in each volume.

British documents on foreign affairs--reports and papers from the Foreign Office confidential print. Part I, From the mid-nineteenth century to the First World War. Series G, Africa , 1848-1914
Firestone Oversize JX632 .B769 1995q

British documents on foreign affairs--reports and papers from the Foreign Office confidential print. Part II, From the First to the Second World War. Series G, Africa , 1914-1939
Firestone Oversize JX632 .B769 1994q

British documents on foreign affairs--reports and papers from the Foreign Office confidential print. Part III. From 1940 through 1945. Series G. Africa
Firestone JZ632 .B767 1998q
 
British documents on foreign affairs--reports and papers from the Foreign Office confidential print. Part IV, From 1945 through 1950. Series G, Africa, 1946
Firestone Oversize JZ632 .B777 1999q

British documents on foreign affairs: reports and papers from the Foreign Office confidential print. Part V, From 1951 through 1956. Series G, Africa, 1951
Firestone Oversize JZ632 .B77967 2005q

Collections in British Online Archives:

  • African Blue Books, 1821-1953
  • Annual Departmental Reports relating to the Gambia, 1881-1966
  • Annual Departmental Reports Relating to Sierra Leone, 1893-1961
  • Colonial Africa in official statistics, 1821-1953
  • Colonial Law in Africa, 1808-1919
  • Colonial Law in Africa, 1920-1945
  • Early colonial and missionary records from West Africa
  • Gambia under colonial rule, in Government reports, 1881-1966
  • Ghana and Sierra Leone in colonial and missionary records, 1700-1850
  • Ghana and Togo under colonial rule, in Government reports, 1843-1957
  • Ghana in Records from colonial missionaries, 1886-1951
  • Kenya under colonial rule, in Government reports, 1907-1964
  • Malawi under colonial rule, in Government reports, 1907-1967
  • Nigeria and Cameroon under colonial rule, in Government reports, 1887-1962
  • Scottish trade with Africa and the West Indies in the early 18th century, 1694-1709
  • Sierra Leone under colonial rule, in Government reports, 1893-1961
  • South African archives of the USPG
  • South Africa in records from colonial missionaries, 1819-1900
  • South Africa under Apartheid, reports and research by a journalist, 1949-1995
  • Tanzania and Malawi in records from colonial missionaries, 1857-1965
  • Uganda under colonial rule, in Government reports, 1903-1961
  • Universities' Mission to Central Africa
  • Zimbabwe under colonial rule, in Government reports, 1897-1980

 

Specific countries

General Correspondence: Political 1906-1953 Abyssinia
Available through interlibrary loan from the Center for Research Libraries.
Material from the British Foreign Office (FO 371)

Annual departmental reports relating to Kenya and the East Africa High Commission, 1903/4-1963
Microfilm 10597
121 reels
Printed guide: Firestone Microforms DT433.57 .A668
This collection comprises reports of departments of the British administration in East Africa and Kenya, and annual reports of the East Africa High Commission post-1947. The originals are held in several British libraries, including the Royal Commonwealth Society and the Public Record Office. See http://www.microform.co.uk/guides/R97282.pdf

Annual departmental reports relating to Nigeria and British Cameroons [microform]
Microfilm 10573
173 reels
Printed guide: none
This collection comprises reports of departments of the British administration in Nigeria and the British Cameroons. See http://www.microform.co.uk/guides/R97002.pdf.

Records of the Cape Colony [microform]
Microfilm 06826
Printed guide: none
Copied for the Cape government, from the manuscript documents in the Public Record Office, London. Records from Feb. 1793 [v. 1] to Apr. 1831 [v. 35]. Vol. 36 comprises a cumulative index.