African Resources

Study, research and teaching on Africa take place throughout Harvard’s many schools, programs and research centers. In our African related programs section one will find links to the most important programs which sponsor fellows conducting research and events on Africa. Each year these programs support the research of over 50 visiting scholars.

The Harvard University library system, with over 15 million volumes, is the largest university library in the United States. Of its 90 libraries, the most significant for Africa research is Widener Library, which has a rich collection of historical materials and a special acquisitions section for Sub-Saharan Africa materials. A gateway to the collection can be found at Harvard College Library’s Sub-Saharan African Collection. Harvard’s library has also made use of the Committee on African Studies previous work to create a guide to Harvard Libraries African Video Collections.

Houghton Library, with its manuscripts and rare books, is also of special interest to scholars of Africa because of its unique historical materials, such as the African archives of the American Board of Foreign Mission and the private papers of Wole Soyinka and Chinua Achebe.

Harvard’s Peabody Museum of Archeology and Ethnology is another exceptional research resource with over 20,000 African ethnographic artifacts, a collection which began in the early 1800’s. The Peabody Museum also has archaeological holdings on Africa. The museum has an online search feature which allows access to information on individual items in its African collections.

There are also centers for the study of Africa throughout the world which can be accessed online. The African Studies Association, with its annual meetings, provides an opportunity for thousands of scholars to present their most recent research on Africa.