Collections of African material at the University of Birmingham in part reflect links with Cadbury's whose gifts of land helped to establish the University on its Edgbaston site, and whose involvement in the early West African cocoa track is well-known; the Library's collections of Africana have however been particularly developed over the last thirty years or so, since the establishment of the Centre of West African Studies here in 1963. All relevant library and archive materials are kept in the Main Library not at the Centre.

The most notable archive is that of the Church Missionary Society (CMS), which is on deposit at the University Library. This archive is in three sections: early papers up to 1880; 1881-1934; and 1935-49. Later material has been retained at CMS. The archives cover many African countries, including Nigeria, and all other countries in which the CMS has worked.