As SOAS marks Black History Month we continue to hi-light historical collections held by SOAS Archives, which reveal the long-standing Black presence in the UK, as well as the contributions and achievements of Black peoples in local, national and international arenas. This week we look at papers in the archives relating to Seretse Khama (1921-1980), the first President of Botswana, who spent some of his early life in Britain. He is also the subject of a
SOAS Archives is pleased to announce that the papers of the anthropologist and museum curator Dr Johanna Agthe (1940-2005) are now available to researchers at SOAS Library, University of London. The following biographical overview of Johanna Aghte and description of her papers (Ref: MS 381135) is taken from the catalogue overview authored by Elsbeth Court (SOAS Subject Lecturer in African Art). SOAS Archives would like to acknowledge Elsbeth’s excellent work
The Life and Afterlife of David Livingstone: exploring missionary archives is running at the Brunei Gallery, SOAS, until 17 May 2014. This blog series highlights some of the fascinating stories and archives selected for the exhibition from the collections at SOAS Library. Livingstone’s maps, reports and published narratives of his travels gave the world their first view of the interior of south-central Africa and changed people’s perceptions of that continent. By looking
The Life and Afterlife of David Livingstone: exploring missionary archives is running at the Brunei Gallery, SOAS, until 17 May 2014. This blog series highlights some of the fascinating stories and archives selected for the exhibition from the collections at SOAS Library. On his return to Britain at the end of 1856, Livingstone published an account of his cross-continental African travels with a leading publisher of travel literature, John Murray. Missionary Travels and
The Life and Afterlife of David Livingstone: exploring missionary archives is running at the Brunei Gallery, SOAS, until 17 May 2014. This blog series highlights some of the fascinating stories and archives selected for the exhibition from the collections at SOAS Library. David Livingstone was one of the first medical missionaries to enter Southern Africa. He was a skilled physician-surgeon, whose medical expertise and reputation was also the means by which he
The Life and Afterlife of David Livingstone: exploring missionary archives is running at the Brunei Gallery, SOAS, until May 2014. This blog series highlights some of the fascinating stories and archives selected for the exhibition from the collections at SOAS Library. This time, we look at the broader historical context and the role of African converts in scriptural translation. Missionaries sought to provide translations of Christian texts to their congregations. In order
The Life and Afterlife of David Livingstone: exploring missionary archives is running at the Brunei Gallery, SOAS, until May 2014. This blog series highlights some of the fascinating stories and archives selected for the exhibition from the collections at SOAS Library. This blog looks at the broader historical context at the time of Livingstone’s arrival in Southern Africa. With the British occupation in 1795, the Cape Colony emerged as an inviting mission
The Life and Afterlife of David Livingstone: exploring missionary archives is running at the Brunei Gallery, SOAS, until May 2014. This blog series highlights some of the fascinating stories and archives selected for the exhibition from the collections at SOAS Library. Sechele I was Kgosi, or chief of the baKwena, in modern-day Botswana, from 1831 until his death in 1892. Sechele is seen as a visionary leader, warrior and modernizer who laid
The Life and Afterlife of David Livingstone: exploring missionary archives is running at the Brunei Gallery, SOAS, until May 2014. This blog series highlights some of the fascinating stories and archives selected for the exhibition from the collections at SOAS Library. David Livingstone began his career in Africa as a missionary, spending sixteen years in the service of the London Missionary Society, 1840-1857. Stationed first at Kuruman and then at Mabotsa and
The Life and Afterlife of David Livingstone: exploring missionary archives is running at the Brunei Gallery, SOAS, until May 2014. This blog series will highlight some of the fascinating stories and archives featured in the exhibition. Based on historical material found in missionary archives held at SOAS Library, and taking as its focus Livingstone’s early years as a missionary (1840-1856), this exhibition seeks to explore the life and after-life of this multi-faceted
