The most comprehensive place for searching and collecting African historical and cultural materials

“Throughout my years as a researcher in South Africa and in the UK, I have never come across an indispensable and comprehensive digital resource as this. It's simply a historian's/academic's dream archive and has the potential to revolutionize how we pursue research, teach, and disseminate Africa-centred scholarship, history and culture. “

Dr Siyabonga Njica
Smuts Research Fellow in African Studies,
University of Cambridge

640+
Organizations

We’ve identified 600+ organizations around the world with significant materials from and pertaining to Africa.

4,350+
Collections

We’ve selected collections with significant content for teaching and learning.

575,000+
Documents

We’ve selected, indexed, and made documents fully searchable.

Free hosting

Registered members can add items quickly and easily. Those in Africa can do so without charge.

 

Supports digitization

Ten percent of sales go towards funding new digitization projects with African archives. We anticipate 50,000 pages of rare and endangered materials will be digitized this way.

High quality

We’ve selected and indexed quality materials from openly available collections across the world. We provide a single, simple, yet powerful search, then link users back to the original sites.

Preservation

Where rights permit, we make copies of digital artifacts. Items at risk of disappearing through lack of funds or organizational changes are preserved and safe.

Contributed materials

Organizations and individual members of Africa Commons are encouraged to contribute relevant links (if they don’t hold copyright) and files (if they do hold copyright). Materials are published for the Africa Commons community minutes after submission.

Digitization

Institutions who subscribe to African History and Culture directly support future digitization projects in Africa. Coherent Digital is working with African archives to select, digitize, and make these rare collections accessible. Please contact us for more details.

  • Books

  • Magazines

  • Newspapers

  • Historical journals

  • Government documents

  • Posters

  • Manuscripts

  • Letters

  • Diaries

  • Ephemera

  • Photographs

  • Art

  • Music

  • Videos

  • Oral histories

Sample materials

 

Kwame Nkrumah  to H. K. Banda to, April 24th, 1965, Indiana University, H.K. Banda Archive.

Editorial board

We thank our distinguished editorial board for their advice and assistance:

  • Dr. Buhle Mbambo-Thata, (Board Chair), University librarian, University of Lesotho

  • Dr. Stephen Akintunde, Professor, University of Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria

  • Dr. Elisha Rufaro Chiware, Library Director, Cape Peninsula University of Technology

  • Dr. Perpetua S. Dadzie, Associate Professor, University of Ghana

  • Dr. Tandi Lwoga, Professor and Deputy Rector, College of Business Education, Tanzania

  • Ms. Blessing Mawire, Senior Consultant and Director, Integra Professional Services

 

Collections

Our index covers over 4,350 collections from around the world. We have in-depth coverage of sites primarily focused on African history and culture, along with selective coverage of sites that include African materials generally.

We even index and provide details for inactive sites that no longer function.

 

Guides and finding aids

Documentation for collections within Africa is sparse, and the content is hard to find and search. African History and Culture brings together current finding aids with printed guides and even spreadsheets and MS-Word documents. They make it possible to find hitherto hidden source materials.

Organization Directory

We’ve built a landmark directory of archives, libraries, museums, galleries, other cultural organizations within Africa, and organizations outside of Africa with significant African holdings.

The directory currently stands at 640+ organizational entries, together with URLs and searchable snapshots of their websites.

A sample of the organizations in our directory

Membership and access

Limited access to African History and Culture is freely available to registered users. Register for free at https://africacommons.net

Full access, including the complete database and content hosting, is free for African institutions and American HBCUs. Please contact us here for access.

Access for organizations outside of Africa is by annual subscription or a purchase of perpetual rights. Contact us for pricing or to take a free trial.

Also on the Africa Commons platform.

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