Listening (Again) for the African Past: A Five-College Project on the Production of Historical Knowledge



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Listening (Again) for the African Past: A Five College Project on the Production of Historical Knowledge
Fall 2003 - David Newbury
reference contact: Pamela Skinner x2961

FIND BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Here is a selection of encyclopedias, dictionaries, and standard histories, all located in Smith's Neilson Library. Feel free to ask at the reference desk for other suggestions.

Reference Source	Reference Call Number
Africa Contemporary Record; Annual Survey and Documents. 1968+	ref DT 1 .L43 (level 1 north; earlier years on level B west)
Encyclopedia of Africa South of the Sahara. 4 v.	ref DT 351 .E53 1997 (level 1 north)
Encyclopedia of African History and Culture. 3 v.	ref DT 3 .P27 2001 (level 1 north)
Encyclopedia of Precolonial Africa.	ref DT 2 .E53 1997 (level 1 north)
Historical Dictionary of Pre-Colonial Africa.	ref DT 17 .C65 2001 (level 1 north)
Historical Dictionary of Civil Wars in Africa.	ref DT 21.5 .A76 1999 (level 1 north)
Historical Dictionary of . . . [For historical dictionaries on individual countries, check the online catalog by subject, entering your country name followed by "history dictionaries," e.g. Ghana history dictionaries]	ref DT . . . (level 1 north)
African Biographical Dictionary.	ref DT 18 .B76 1994 (level 1 north)
Dictionary of African Biography. [. 1. Ethiopia-Ghana -- v. 2. Sierra Leone-Zaire -- v. 3. South Africa-Botswana Lesotho-Swaziland]	ref DT 18 .D55 1977 (level 1 north)
Cambridge History of Africa.	DT 20 C28 (level B west)
Colonialism in Africa, 1870-1960.	DT 31 .G35 (level B west)
General History of Africa [UNESCO].	DT 20 G45 1981 (level B west)

FIND BOOKS

4 College Library Catalog

Lists books, journals, etc. at Smith (SC), Amherst (AC), Mount Holyoke (MH) and Hampshire (HC) colleges. University of Massachusetts (UM) holdings are listed in the UMass catalog.

Note that the "correct" subject heading isn't always obvious. If a subject search yields no results, try keyword search instead. Then click on the subject headings to conduct a more comprehensive subject search.

Sample subject headings for your topics:

Wenchi stool (Ghana):	Kenneth Spooner:
Ghana history	Missions South Africa
Chiefdoms Ghana	South Africa church history
Land tenure Ghana	African American missionaries Africa
Local government Ghana	Missionaries Africa
Tribal government Ghana
	Modernization in Tanzania:
Women and slavery in Ghana:	Tanzania economic conditions
Ghana history	Tanzania economic policy
Ghana race relations	Tanzania rural conditions
Slave trade Ghana	Tanzania social conditions
Slavery Ghana	Agriculture Tanzania

Malaria control in Kenya:	Wartime Burundi:
Imperialism health aspects	Burundi ethnic relations
Medical care Kenya	Burundi genocide
Medical policy Kenya	Burundi history
Medicine Kenya	Burundi massacre 1972
Social medicine Kenya	Burundi politics and government
	Burundi refugees
Women in Christian Associations:	Burundi relations Rwanda
Church work with women Africa	Human rights Burundi
Women in Christianity Africa
Women Congo Democratic Republic	French cultural policy:
Women Africa	France colonies Africa
	France colonies Africa west
	Cultural policy

WorldCat [on-campus access only]
Use WorldCat to expand your search for books beyond the 5-colleges.

FIND ARTICLES, ESSAYS, AND DOCUMENTS

Use the tools listed below to identify articles on your subject. If the database doesn't provide the full text of the article, then check to see if Smith owns the journal by using the 4-college catalog and the Electronic Journal Locator. If you prefer online journals, use the e-journal locator first; if you prefer print, use the online catalog first. But, if you don't find your journal listed in one, make sure you try the other, since neither is comprehensive.

The three major bibliographies for African history:

Historical Abstracts [on-campus access only]
Lists articles published in historical journals 1956-present. Links to full-text of articles in J-STOR and ProjectMuse (see below).

Africabib.org [Davis Bullwinkle, Institute for Economic Advancement, Univ. of Arkansas, Little Rock]
Consists of three databases, each listing items published 1975-present:

Bibliography of Africana Periodical Literature Database
African Women's Database
Women Travelers, Explorers and Missionaries to Africa: 1763-2000

Africa Bibliography. ref DT3 .B54

Full-Text Databases :

Project Muse [on-campus access only]
Full-text articles from major African studies and history journals, among other disciplines; coverage limited to ca. current five years.

J-STOR [on-campus access only]
Full-text articles from major African studies and history journals, among other disciplines; coverage lags ca. three years behind printed version of journals.

Academic Search Premier [on-campus access only]
Indexing and some full-text access to scholarly journals, news and opinion magazines, etc.

Expanded Academic Index [on-campus access only]
Indexing and some full-text access to scholarly journals, news and opinion magazines, etc.

Other possibilities:

ATLA Religion Database

Bibliography of British and Irish History

International Bibliography of the Social Sciences [on-campus access only]
Covers anthropology, economics, political science, and sociology.

PAIS International [on-campus access only]
Covers current affairs and public and social policy.

Social Sciences Abstracts [on-campus access only]
Covers core journals in anthropology, economics, political science, and sociology.

Women's Studies International [on-campus access only]

Online historical newspapers/periodicals:

New York Times Historical. 1851+ [on-campus access only]

Periodical Contents Index. 1770+ [on-campus access only]

Readers' Guide Retrospective. 1890+ [on-campus access only]

Times (London) Digital Archive. 1785-1985 [in progress] [on-campus access only]

Washington Post Historical. 1877+ [on-campus access only]

A SAMPLING OF BIBLIOGRAPHIES

Bibliographies list published research (and sometimes primary source material) on a topic. Watch for the words "bibliography," "indexes," or "abstracts" as you search by subject in the Five College Library Catalog. Examples:

Reference Source	Reference Call Number
American Historical Association's Guide to Historical Literature. 2 v. If you're overwhelmed by the number of books on your topic, use this to help you identify the best ones!	ref D 20 .A55 1995
Africa : A Guide to Reference Material.	ref DT 3 .M3 1993
Reference Guide to Africa : A Bibliography of Sources.	ref DT 4 .K15 1999
Bibliography of Imperial, Colonial, and Commonwealth History since 1600.	ref DA 16 .B535 2002
Central and Equatorial Africa Area Bibliography.	ref DT 351 .H377 1999
French Colonial Africa : A Guide to Official Sources.	DT 532 .W47 1992
[For bibliographies on individual countries, check the online catalog by subject, entering your country name followed by "bibliography," e.g. Gambia bibliography]	ref DT . . .

LOCATING PRIMARY SOURCE MATERIAL

Finding Aids/Bibliographies

Reference Source	Reference Call Number
Access UN. 1946+	click here [on-campus access only]
French Colonial Africa: A Guide to Official Sources.	DT 532 .W47 1992
A Guide to Original Sources for Precolonial Western Africa Published in European Languages: For the Most Part in Book Form.	ref DT 476 .F34 1994
Index to British Colonial reports, 1889-1938/39: Great Britain. Colonial Office. Annual reports on the Colonies. no. 1-1,936 (1889-1938/39).	JV 33 .G7 A42
The Making of Modern Africa: A Guide to Archives.	DT 20 .C66 1995
Non-Self-Governing Areas with Special Emphasis on Mandates and Trusteeships: A Selected List of References. 2 v.	325.3 AUn3n

Collections of Diplomatic Documents

Reference Source	Reference Call Number
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	JX632 .B769 1995
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	oversize JX 632 .B7694 1994
British Documents on Foreign Affairs--Reports and Papers from the Foreign Office Confidential Print. Part III, From 1940 through 1945. Series G, Africa	oversize JX 632 .B7767 1998
British Documents on Foreign Affairs--Reports and Papers from the Foreign Office Confidential Print. Part IV, From 1946 through 1950. Series G, Africa, 1946	oversize JZ 632 .B777 2000
British and Foreign State Papers. Indexes: 1 (1812/1814)-170 (1967/1968)	JX 103 A3

Newpapers: Print and microfilm

Reference Source	Reference Call Number
Belgian Congo To-Day. 1952-1960.	967.5 B4135
Congo. 1959-1967. [Political documents of a developing nation]	967.5 C3335c
East African Standard (Nairobi, Kenya). . 1960-1974	Microfilm 504
Fighting Talk; A Monthly Journal for Democrats in Southern Africa. Jan. 1954-Feb. 1963.	Microfilm 187
Guardian (Cape Town, South Africa). Feb. 1937-May 1952	Microfilm 189
Manchester Guardian [daily]. 1821-Aug. 22, 1959	UMass microfilm A 21
Manchester Guardian Weekly. 1919-Aug 15, 1968, Dec 17 1978)-Jan 7 1979, 1988+	UMass microfilm A 700
Le Monde. 1944-Dec.1945,1958,1968,1990- [note: UMass has 1944+ at microfilm A204]	Microfilm 608
New Age (Cape Town, South Africa). 1961-1962	Microfilm 141
Nigerian Outlook. 1960-1966	Microfilm 570
Standard (Nairobi, Kenya). 1974-1977	Microfilm 504
Wall Street Journal. 1974+ [note: UMass has 1889+ at microfilm A 7 ]	Microfilm 494

INTERNET LINKS

There are several web sites that offer primary texts as well as other materials relating to African history.

University of Pennsylvania African Studies Center
This site has links to a large number of African Studies electronic resources, including country-specific pages, internet resources, multimedia archives, and news from the African Studies Association.

Africa South of the Sahara: Selected Internet Resources
An excellent select list created by Karen Fung for the Electronic Technology Group of the African Studies Association.

Also check out the Internet Meta-Sites and Internet Resources section of the Libraries' History webpage.

REFERENCE DESK HOURS

Weekdays:
Monday - Friday: 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. (reference librarian)

Weekday Evenings:
Monday: 7 p.m. - 10 p.m. (reference librarian)
Tuesday- Thursday: 7 p.m. - 10 p.m. (reference assistant w/ reference librarian on-call)

Weekends:
Saturday: 1 p.m. - 5 p.m. (reference librarian)
Sunday: 1 p.m. - 5 p.m. (reference librarian)

CONTACT THE REFERENCE LIBRARIAN

Contact Pamela Skinner, the instructor for your library session: pskinner@smith.edu

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Last Updated: November 20, 2006