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Guide to African Archives in Belgium

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 May 2014

Hugues Legros  and
Curtis A. Keim
Hugues Legros
Affiliation:
Université libre de bruxelles
Curtis A. Keim
Affiliation:
Moravian College
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Extract

In 1982 Carol Dickerman and David Northrup published a useful article on Africa-related archives in Belgium. Their work was limited, however, to two public institutions in Brussels which, in the past 12 years, have moved and grown. What is needed now is a more up-to-date and comprehensive list of Belgian public and private collections with historical or ethnological archives concerning Africa.

In Belgium such archives are unfortunately not grouped in one place, but are spread over a dozen public and private institutions according to their nature—diplomatic, military, religious, ethnological—or origin. Thus the foreign researcher who attempts to find these archives must often undertake trying adventures, and once they have succeeded, they still must obtain numerous authorizations to use reading rooms and to consult and photocopy documents. Thus this paper aims to list the different Belgian institutions with major archives, to indicate what is available in their collections, and to describe how to gain access, in the hope that foreign researchers will be able to benefit fully from the archival riches of Belgium.

The Africa-related documents in Belgian archives and libraries mostly concern Central Africa in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In addition, some collections are relevant to Belgian African politics in general and to Leopold II's expansionist aims in other parts of the continent.

Type
Research Article
Information
History in Africa , Volume 23 , January 1996 , pp. 401 - 409
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 1996

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References

Notes

1. Dickerman, Carol and Northrup, David, “Africanist Archival Research in Brussels,” HA, 9 (1982), 359–65.Google Scholar

2. While the majority of archives concern Central Africa, the only complete guide to African archives in Belgium is on West Africa: Carson, Patricia, Materials for West African History in the Archives of Belgium and Holland (London, 1962).Google Scholar

3. Van Grieken-Taverniers, M., La colonisation beige en Afrique Centrale. Guide des Archives Africaines du Ministère des Affaires Africaines, 1885-1962 (Brussels, 1981)Google Scholar; idem., Supplément au Guide des Archives Africaines du Ministère des Affaires Africaines, 1885-1962 (Brussels, 1983).

4. Van Grieken, E. and Van Grieken-Taverniers, M., “La Commission d'Histoire du Congo et les Archives historiques de l'Institut royal colonial belge,” Académie Royale des Sciences Coloniales, 12/2 (1958), 33–61.Google Scholar

5. Simons, E., “Inventaire des études africaines en Belgique,” Cahiers Africains, 1/2 (1993), 1–341.Google Scholar

6. Most of these archives are accessible on microfilm at the Archives Africaines. A mimeographed inventory for each of these figures is available in the reading room of the AGR. For more complete information consult Van Haegendoren, M., Les Archives Générales du Royaume. Aperçu des fonds et des inventaires (Brussels, 1955)Google Scholar, and Nicodeme, J., Répertoire des inventaires des archives conservées en Belgique, parus avant le 1 Janvier 1969 (Brussels, 1970).Google Scholar

7. Luwel, M., “Inventaire des archives historiques du Musée royal du Congo Belge à Tervuren,” Bulletin des seances de l'Académie Royale Colonial Belge, 25 (1954), 799–821.Google Scholar

8. Idem., Inventaire des documents provenant de la mission F. Cornet au Congo (1948-49) et conservés au Musée Royal de l'Afrique Centrale à Tervuren (Brussels, 1960).

9. Idem., “Les archives photographiques du Musée Royal du Congo Belge à Tervuren,” Bulletin de l'Académie Royale des Sciences Coloniales, 5 (1959), 820-35.

10. J.M. Goris, “Les archives Stanley,” H. M. Stanley, explorateur au service du roi, (Tervuren, 1991) 81-84; Luwel, M., “De Stanley Papers van Pirbright naar Tervuren,” Bulletin des Séances de l'Académie Royale des Sciences d'Outre-Mer, 30/2 (1984), 121–31.Google Scholar

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15. Boijen, R., Inventaire du fonds des opérations militaires belges à l'étranger: 1826-1955: Etat Indépendant du Congo et Congo Belge (1885-1960) (Brussels, 1979).Google Scholar

16. Martin, D., Archief Albert De Vleeschauwer (Brussels, 1981).Google Scholar

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18. Bakonzi, Agayo, “The Archives of the Gold Mines of Kilo Moto,” HA, 9 (1982), 355–58.Google Scholar

19. For a dated but useful guide to the locations of Protestant archives see Slade, R. M., English-Speaking Missions in the Congo Independent State (Brussels, 1959).Google Scholar

20. Dickerman, C., “On Using the White Fathers' Archives,” HA, 8 (1981), 319–22Google Scholar; Raskin, A., “The Archives of the Congregation of the Immaculate heart of Mary (CICM),” HA, 4 (1977), 299–303Google Scholar; Schoenbrun, D.L., “Using the White Fathers Archive: An Update,” HA, 20 (1993), 421–22.Google Scholar

21. De Craemer, W., “The Congo/Zaïre Archives of the Northern (Flemish) Belgian Jesuit Province in Brussels, Belgium,” HA, 4 (1977), 287–90.Google Scholar