George J. Mitchell Department of Special Collections & Archives

“The U.S. and Africa,” a wood engraving by Tom Killion, © 1991.

Africana Studies Resources in the George J. Mitchell Department of Special Collections & Archives, Bowdoin College Library

Library resources for Africana studies mainly are represented in the Library’s online catalog . These include printed works (newspapers, books, pamphlets, magazines, and broadsides), unpublished materials such as letters, diaries, photographs, and business files, and the archival record of Bowdoin College.

Catalog information can be general, however, and so more detailed descriptions, especially for manuscripts, are also available online, as is a comprehensive guide for Africana Studies that summarizes the indexes, databases, edited versions of primary sources, and reference books available through the library’s collections and services.

The tabs above lead to summaries of resources in Special Collections that are especially rich in documenting the enslavement of Africans, their passage to the Americas, and the subsequent African American experience, particularly in Jamaica and the United States.