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Goals
Africa
Research Central has as its goal to centralize and constantly update information
about institutions with African primary source collections so as to facilitate
international research in African Studies. Research in African primary
sources--be they records, manuscripts, personal papers, photographs, film,
or artifacts-- has posed challenges to the research community since the
dawn of African Studies as a discipline. Scholars outside Africa struggle
to learn about the holdings, services, and clearance procedures of African
repositories, while scholars within Africa must cope with the fact that
much of the African primary source heritage is housed beyond the borders
of Africa. The core of the site is the Repositories section
with its searchable database of African archives, libraries and museums
with primary source collections. Although far from comprehensive, links
to the web sites of North American and European repositories are also
provided.
In addition to helping researchers, Africa Research Central also assists
African repositories in the urgent task of preserving African primary
sources. A growing number of African institutions have made their preservation
needs known to Africa Research Central and may be searched easily in the
Repository Wish List located in the Preservation
section. In the same section, African institutions may search the International
Funding Agencies database to locate possible international funders.
What's New in the 2004 release
Africa Research Central, first launched in 1998, has been refreshed with
data gathered in the course of a major new survey of repositories during
2003-04, thanks to the generous support of California State University,
Fullerton. In addition to updating and expanding the contact, access and
collections information in the Repositories section, thousands of pages
of finding aids, guides, brochures, and other materials received in the
course of 2003-04 have been linked to the relevant repository records.
The preservation needs information in the Repository Wish List section
of the site has also been greatly expanded. In addition, a new database
of international funding agencies has been added to the Preservation section
of the site in an effort to assist African institutions identify potential
funders. Updating has continued throughout 2005.
The Authors
Susan Tschabrun has a Ph.D. in African history from the University
of Wisconsin-Madison, a M.L.S. from the University of California at Los
Angeles and has done archival research on African history in Khartoum,
Wad Medani, London and Durham. She has completed professional training
in archival management and preservation, and has served as archivist for
a non-profit educational archive of international poster art (Center for
the Study of Political Graphics, Los Angeles, California). She is currently
the Coordinator of Library Instruction at California State University,
Fullerton.
Kathryn Green has a Ph.D. in African history from Indiana University
and has done archival research on African history in London, Paris, Dakar,
Abidjan, Ferkessedougou (Côte d’Ivoire), Ouagadougou, Bobo Dioulasso and
Bamako. She is currently researching the role of archives and museums,
and their formation, in the process of nation-building and democratization
in Africa.
Thanks also
to Seydou Camara (translation, data entry and scanning), Evans
Kahuthu (data entry and scanning), Jason Beers (graphic design)
and Alton Pelowski (Cold Fusion) for their assistance on this project.
Recognition
Since its first release in 1998, Africa Research Central has gained recognition
as an important scholarly and educational resource in African Studies.
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