1. Almost every African country was founded within the past fifty years. This means -- for historical research -- you must build up a synonym set of colonial names and national names for your country. This can be obvious -- Congo OR Zaire -- but you must accommodate foreign-language names where appropriate -- Cameroon OR Cameroun OR Kamerun -- and the complicated genealogy of very old colonies -- Nigeria OR "Niger Coast" OR "Oil Rivers" OR "Lagos Colony". Consider this one:
2. Colonial-era statistics are hard to locate. You should start with the Mitchell statistical compendium mentioned in class by Nick Okrent. Take care to check Mitchell's notes for the next step. Another GREAT bibliographic source is:
3. A stupid Franklin searching tip for colonial-era publications. You're looking for old books and periodicals, right? So when you've got a search result, change the sort order to "Pub date (old-new)."
4. Colonial-era statistics are often buried in handbooks and annual report-type publications. Depending on how and when we collected them, you will need to visit Van Pelt Reference, the Van Pelt LC AND Dewey stacks, or the University Museum Library, or request volumes from LIBRA. And remember: French books usually have their tables of contents at the end.
5. If Mitchell doesn't satisfy you, go deeper. You will want to examine:
6. Some quick, good hits. For French colonial Africa, take a look at these statistical abstracts:
British colonies issued annual statistical abstracts, called Blue Books. Our Blue Book holdings at present are strong but scattered among the Van Pelt stacks, LIBRA, and microfilm reels in Van Pelt Microtext. Don't bother trying this keyword expert search in Franklin:
The Blue Books were considered so opaque that Parliament required Annual Reports to explain them. These Annual Reports are found in a couple different ways.
Stanford University Libraries prepared a finding aid for the annual reports of African colonies appearing in the series, Colonial Reports-Annual, for 1920-1938, covering reports numbered 1072 through 1936. The Stanford finding aid appears to have been suppressed in 2015, but it lives on in the Internet Archive.
Use the Stanford table below with the HathiTrust digitized versions from University of Illinois, covering report nos. 1555-1895 (published in 1930-1937) or to retrieve specific printed reports by report number from LIBRA, covering nos. 1414-1936.
Colonial reports: Ashanti
1920-1925/26
|
||||||||||||||||||||
nos. |
1107
|
1142
|
1200
|
1252
|
1289
|
1339 | ||||||||||||||
Colonial reports: Basutoland
1920/21-1938
|
||||||||||||||||||||
nos. |
1085
|
1131
|
1176
|
1212
|
1244
|
1292
|
1336 |
1385
|
1428
|
1490
|
1527
|
1583
|
1628
|
1666
|
1723
|
1760
|
1804
|
1854
|
1898
|
|
Colonial reports: Bechuanaland
1920/21-38
|
||||||||||||||||||||
nos. |
1083
|
1133
|
1178
|
1210
|
1269
|
1317
|
1379
|
1424
|
1438 |
1491
|
1554
|
1579
|
1650 | 1687 |
1742
|
1792
|
1809
|
1871
|
1911
|
|
Colonial reports: Gambia
1920-1938
|
||||||||||||||||||||
nos. |
1120
|
1121 | 1160 | 1201 | 1249 |
1306
|
1347 |
1399
|
1444
|
1506
|
1543
|
1572
|
1616
|
1664
|
1715
|
1755
|
1799
|
1852
|
1893
|
|
Colonial reports: Gold
Coast 1920-1938/39
|
||||||||||||||||||||
nos. |
1119
|
1154
|
1207
|
1255
|
1287
|
1333
|
1386
|
1418
|
1464
|
1504
|
1559
|
1602
|
1657
|
1684
|
1748
|
1785
|
1836
|
1882
|
1919
|
|
Colonial reports: Northern
Territories of the Gold Coast 1919-1925/26
|
||||||||||||||||||||
nos. |
1082
|
1105
|
1126
|
1194
|
1229
|
1284
|
1328
|
|||||||||||||
Colonial reports: Kenya
Colony and Protectorate 1920-1923, 1926,
1928-38
|
||||||||||||||||||||
nos. | 1073 | 1089 |
1122
|
1153
|
1188
|
1227
|
1282 | 1321 |
1352
|
1425 |
1463
|
1510
|
1562
|
1606
|
1659
|
1688
|
1722
|
1771
|
1806
|
1920 |
Colonial reports: Mauritius
1920-1938
|
||||||||||||||||||||
nos. | 1115 |
1149
|
1179
|
1234
|
1281
|
1332 |
1373
|
1400
|
1465
|
1503
|
1549
|
1597
|
1627
|
1685
|
1731
|
1770
|
1828
|
1874
|
1905
|
|
Colonial reports: Nigeria
1920-1938
|
||||||||||||||||||||
nos. |
1098
|
1114 |
1155
|
1197
|
1245
|
1315
|
1335 |
1384
|
1435
|
1493
|
1528
|
1569
|
1625
|
1668
|
1710
|
1763
|
1842
|
1886
|
1904
|
|
Colonial reports: Northern
Rhodesia 1924/25-1938
|
||||||||||||||||||||
nos. |
1292
|
1363
|
1380
|
1410
|
1470
|
1516
|
1561
|
1592
|
1626
|
1669
|
1721
|
1769
|
1811
|
1868
|
1935
|
|||||
Colonial reports: Nyasaland
1919/20-1938
|
||||||||||||||||||||
nos. | 1075 | 1096 |
1156
|
1162
|
1204
|
1257
|
1296 |
1389
|
1445
|
1489
|
1545
|
1580
|
1658
|
1665
|
1739
|
1776
|
1824
|
1885
|
1902
|
|
Colonial reports: Seychelles
1920-1924, 1926-1937
|
||||||||||||||||||||
nos. | 1106 |
1146
|
1191
|
1236 |
1272
|
1329 |
1375
|
1420
|
1450
|
1484
|
1560
|
1609
|
1651
|
1700
|
1747
|
1772
|
1844
|
1890
|
||
Colonial reports: Sierra
Leone 1920-1934, 1936-1938
|
||||||||||||||||||||
nos. |
1090
|
1150
|
1165
|
1219
|
1275
|
1320
|
1359
|
1417
|
1430
|
1476
|
1532
|
1578
|
1631
|
1678
|
1744
|
1829
|
1873
|
1916
|
||
Colonial reports: Somaliland
1920-1937
|
||||||||||||||||||||
nos. |
1100
|
1152
|
1193
|
1226
|
1271
|
1316
|
1355 |
1390
|
1451
|
1479
|
1524
|
1570
|
1613
|
1660
|
1707
|
1758
|
1815
|
1880
|
||
Colonial reports: Swaziland
1920/21, 1922-1938
|
||||||||||||||||||||
nos. |
1102
|
1138
|
1180
|
1211
|
1261
|
1307
|
1340 |
1404
|
1459
|
1501
|
1553
|
1594
|
1654
|
1694
|
1740
|
1793
|
1831
|
1884
|
1921
|
|
Colonial reports: Uganda
Protectorate 1919/20-1938
|
||||||||||||||||||||
nos. |
1079
|
1112
|
1151
|
1182
|
1220
|
1280 | 1318 |
1377
|
1392
|
1439
|
1486
|
1556
|
1601
|
1645
|
1670
|
1729
|
1773
|
1810
|
1860
|
1903 |
Colonial reports: Zanzibar
Protectorate 1920-1938
|
||||||||||||||||||||
nos. |
1091
|
1125
|
1163
|
1209
|
1254
|
1312
|
1346 |
1397
|
1434
|
1480 | 1529 |
1587
|
1623
|
1675
|
1706
|
1766
|
1807
|
1847
|
1892
|