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The Livingstone Documentation Project

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 May 2014

Gary Clendennen  and
James A. Casada
Gary Clendennen
Affiliation:
Livingstone Documentation Project
James A. Casada
Affiliation:
Winthrop College
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Extract

The centenary anniversary of Dr. David Livingstone's death in 1973 occasioned a number of further additions to the already vast corpus of literature dealing with the renowned missionary-explorer's career. More importantly, the centennial observances resulted in an undertaking which promises to be a singular landmark in Livingstone studies as well as being of more general importance to Africanists in a variety of areas. This undertaking, which is described below in some detail by its principal researcher, Gary Clendennen, came to be known as the David Livingstone Documentation Project. Its first stage has now been completed with the publication of David Livingstone: A Catalogue of Documents. Clendennen provides ample information concerning the goals and the general development of the Project below, but some thoughts on its potential importance both to students of Livingstone and to Africanists interested in the milieu in which he worked also seemed to be worthy of mention. Accordingly, Clendennen's presentation is followed by my overview Of fields where we need further research on this pivotal figure in European contact with the interior of Africa and its peoples, together with some suggestions regarding how the material brought together by the Project can further such research.

Type
Research Article
Information
History in Africa , Volume 8 , 1981 , pp. 309 - 317
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 1981

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References

NOTES

1. There are three published bibliographies of writings by and about Livingstone. These are Appleyard's, Margaret E. Dr. David Livingstone: A Bibliography (Cape Town: University of Cape Town Libraries, 1949 Google Scholar; reprinted in unchanged form in 1970), a work which originally was prepared as a thesis for a master's degree in librarianship; Casada's, James A. Dr. David Livingstone and Sir Henry Morton Stanley: An Annotated Bibliography (New York: Garland Publishing, 1976)Google Scholar; and Lloyd, B.W. and Lashbrook, J. (compilers), Simons, T.A. (editor), A Bibliography of Published Works by and about David Livingstone 1843-1975 (Cape Town: University of Cape Town Libraries, 1978).Google Scholar The latter two works are much fuller than that by Appleyard.

2. G.W. Clendennen (compiler), assisted by Cunningham, I.C., David Livingstone: A Catalogue of Documents (Edinburgh: National Library of Scotland for the David Livingstone Documentation Project, 1979).Google Scholar

3. See Simpson, Donald H., “Notes on a Scheme for Recording and Publishing Livingstone's Papers” in David Livingstone and Africa (Edinburgh: Centre of African Studies, 1973), 200–02.Google Scholar

4. See Schapera, Isaac (ed.),David Livingstone: Family Letters, 1841-1856, 2 vols., (London: Chatto and Windus, 1959)Google Scholar; Livingstone's African Journal 1853-1956, 2 vols., (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1963)Google Scholar; Livingstone's Missionary Correspondence, 1841-1856 (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1961).Google Scholar and Livingstone's Private Journals, 1851-1853 (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1960).Google Scholar Livingstone, David, South African Papers, 1849-1853 (Cape Town, 1975).Google Scholar

5. See letter 1435 in the Catalogue.

6. See letter 429 in the Catalogue.

7. Of note in this context is the recent appearance of the notebook Thomas Baines kept while serving as storekeeper to the Zambezi Expedition. See Charles J. Sawyer's Catalogue No. 304 (1979), 2.

8. The best modern biographies are Tim Jeal's Livingstone; Oliver Ransford David Livingstone: The Dark Interior; and George Seaver, David Livingstone: His Life and Letters. Roy C. Bridges touches on a number of these areas in “The Documentation of David Livingstone: Some New Materials,” 1977 Annual Report of the Hakluyt Society, 1–8.Google Scholar Two publications which appeared in 1973 in connection with the centenary of Livingstone's death also consist of specialized articles. These are B.W. Lloyd (ed.), Livingstone, 1873-1973 and Bridglal Pachai (ed.), Livingstone: Man of Africa.