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16 October 2020

King's Archives showcase part of their collection ahead of Africa Week 2020

Archives Collections Manager at King's, Kate O'Brien, takes us through a selection of historical pamphlets, booklets and maps which tell us about the relationship between Britain and Africa during the 20th century.

Pamphlet advertising tourist cruises at Lake Victoria

The King's College London Archives and the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives provide a rich resource for study into the relationship between Britain and Africa during the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

The Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives was founded at King’s in 1964, and now holds the personal papers of over 800 senior British defence personnel, from the late nineteenth century onwards. They include a huge array of unique items relating to the history of the British throughout Africa, including diaries, letters, reports, maps and photographs, covering active warfare, the Cold War, colonial administration and settlement, boundary-making, leisure pursuits and the dismantling of Empire.

Kate O'Brien

As an introduction to some of the themes that will be discussed during Africa Week, Kate takes us through a selection of the archive's pamphlets, booklets and maps, drawing our attention to the legacies of colonialism and the British Empire and introducing us to the common discourse used in writing about, and speaking to, Africans.

As is noted in the preface to the videos, these items were filmed as evidence of attitudes and assumptions common at the time of their creation.

About the King's College London Archives and the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives

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