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The Archives of the Missionnaires du Sacre-Coeur (M.S.C.) at Bamanya (Zaire)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 May 2014

Sam Nelson
Sam Nelson*
Affiliation:
Stanford University
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Extract

Archival research in the Equateur region of Zaire is a frustrating and often unsuccessful endeavor. Colonial documentation on a specific locality is seldom located in a central repository and items have been scattered throughout the region. What records are found are usually highly disorganized and partially decomposed. In many cases, significant sources have been lost or destroyed. With this bleak prospective, it is not surprising that historical research in this area has been very limited.

In contrast, a little known yet important source of historical and ethnographic material exists at the Missionnaires du Sacre-Coeur (M.S.C.) library at Bamanya, situated approximately ten kilometers from Mbandaka in the Equateur region. The library contains a wide range of both printed and archival material that has recently been organized and cataloged. Historians will find the archives to be of great interest and value, particularly for studies on the Nkundo-Mongo ethnic groups of the central forest region of Zaire.

Type
Research Article
Information
History in Africa , Volume 11 , 1984 , pp. 391 - 394
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 1984

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References

Notes

1. Compare this account with Harms, Robert, “Some Archives in the Bandundu and Equateur Regions of Zaire,” HA, 4 (1977), 291–97.Google Scholar

2. A complete listing of the library's contents may be found in Annales Aequatoria, 2 (1980).Google Scholar