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Northwestern University Library Microfilm Collection of Dutch Archival Records

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 May 2014

Larry W. Yarak
Larry W. Yarak*
Affiliation:
Texas A&M University
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Extract

During 1976-1981 the Melville J. Herskovits Africana Library of Northwestern University acquired a substantial microfilm collection of archival material from the Netherlands' Algemeen Rijksarchief (National Archives). A brief description of part of that collection was published by David Henige in History in Africa, 4 (1977). At this writing the collection numbers 301 microfilm reels, of which 165 have been cataloged (Film A374). It is no exaggeration to state that the collection places at the disposal of historians an indispensable--and so far underutilized--corpus of documentary source material for reconstructing the political and social history of the eighteenth and nineteenth century Gold Coast.

The overwhelming majority of the records are in the Dutch language, though there are several reels containing original correspondence with the English forts on the Gold Coast for both the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. In general the quality of reproduction is good to excellent; however, a number of reels, particularly those containing eighteenth century material, reproduce documents that have water damage or are otherwise difficult to read. It is important to note that much of this damaged or fragile material is not let out to readers by the Algemeen Rijksarchief staff, and must be consulted on microfilm at the archive.

One of the major objectives in putting together the Northwestern collection was to obtain as complete a set as possible of the so-called Elmina Journals, that is, the daily record of events on the coast maintained by successive governors based at the Dutch headquarters at Elmina.

Type
Research Article
Information
History in Africa , Volume 13 , 1986 , pp. 399 - 408
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 1986

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References

Notes

1. Acquisition of this material would not have been possible without the support of the Africana library Curator, Hans Panofsky, and the dedicated efforts of Daniel Britz, Africana Bibliographer.

2. Unfortunately, a few reels do suffer from poor quality of reproduction.

3. “Archive of the Dutch Possessions on the Gold Coast”; suggested abbreviation: NBKG. These documents constituted the archive of the Dutch administration on the Gold Coast headquartered at Elmina. They were transferred to the Netherlands following the cession of the Dutch forts to England in 1872. The descriptions following each inventory number or set of inventory numbers in this list are my translations of those found in the full inventory located at the Dutch National Archives, The Hague; this has been published in Burnier, M., “Het Archief van de Nederlandsche Bezitting enter Kuste van Guinea” Verslagen omtrent's Rijks Oude Archieven, 44 (1915), 337–82.Google Scholar Cf. Carson, P., Materials for West African History in the Archives of Belgium and Holland (London, 1962), 41–51Google Scholar; and Roessingh, M.P.H. and Visser, W., Guide to the Sources of the History of Africa South of the Sahara in the Netherlands (Munich, 1978), 52–61.Google Scholar

4. “Archive of the Second West Indies Company”; suggested abbreviation: WIC. The descriptions of the items listed here are taken from Carson, , Materials, 54–58.Google Scholar Cf. Roessingh, and Visser, , Guide, 48–50.Google Scholar

5. “Archive of the Committee for the Affairs of the Colonies and Possessions on the Coast of Guinea and in America (West Indies Committee)”; suggested abbreviation: WICt. The descriptions used here derive from Roessingh and Visser, , Guide, 93–94.Google Scholar

6. “Archive of the Council for the American Possessions and Establishments”; suggested abbreviation: RAK. Descriptions used here are derived from Carson, , Materials, 59.Google Scholar Cf. Roessingh, and Visser, , Guide, 97–98.Google Scholar

7. “Archive of the Ministry of Colonies, West Indies 1806-1810”; suggested abbreviation: MKWI. This is the title that was used in the Dutch National Archives when the author did research there during 1978-80. It corresponds to Carson's “West Indian Ministries” and it is from there that the descriptions used here are derived; see Carson, , Materials, 60.Google Scholar Cf. Roessingh, and Visser, , Guide, 98–100.Google Scholar

8. “Archive of the Ministry of Colonies 1814-1849”; suggested abbreviation: MK. Descriptions used here are derived from Carson, , Materials, 34.Google Scholar Cf. Roessingh, and Visser, , Guide, 102–105.Google Scholar

9. “Archive of the Dutch Consulate at Elmina 1872-1880”; suggested abbreviation: NCE. The descriptions used here are derived from Roessingh, and Visser, , Guide, 88.Google Scholar Cf. Carson, , Materials, 35–36.Google Scholar

10. “Acquisitions 1902 XXVI”; suggested abbreviation: Nuyts's Diary. Cf. Carson, , Materials, 67.Google Scholar