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| Africa Museum Library | |
|---|---|
| Name | Africa Museum Library |
| Established | 20th century |
| Location | Tervuren, Belgium |
| Type | Research library and special collections |
| Collection size | Hundreds of thousands of items |
| Director | Curator |
Africa Museum Library is a specialized research library attached to a major European museum of African art and ethnography. It supports scholarship on African cultures, histories, languages, colonial archives, and material culture, serving researchers, curators, and the public. The library's holdings and programs intersect with international institutions, academic centers, and conservation initiatives.
The library developed alongside the museum during the late 19th and 20th centuries, shaped by figures connected to King Leopold II, Paul Hankar, Kingdom of Belgium, and the colonial administration of the Congo Free State. Collections expanded through acquisitions related to expeditions by Adrien de Gerlache, correspondence with collectors such as Georges-Théodore Verdonck, and gifts from ethnographers like Camille Maes. During the interwar period the library cataloguing practices paralleled reforms at institutions including the British Museum, the Musée du quai Branly, and the Smithsonian Institution. Post-World War II decolonization, including the independence of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and policy shifts in the United Nations, influenced repatriation debates involving archives comparable to those in the National Archives (Belgium) and collaborations with the Royal Museum for Central Africa. Contemporary reforms reference standards from the International Council on Archives and the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions.
Holdings encompass printed books, periodicals, rare manuscripts, missionary records, cartographic materials, and photographic archives. Notable correspondences and field notebooks relate to explorers and scholars such as Henri Mortiaux, Jan van Riebeeck, Léon Rommelaere, Hermann von Wissmann, and Paul-Émile Victor. The periodical collection includes serials formerly published by The Royal Geographical Society, Éditions du CNRS, and other presses. Ethnolinguistic resources cover materials on languages studied by linguists like Joseph Greenberg, Mehdi Téké, and Diedrich Westermann. Visual holdings include photographs by Herbert Bruce, Pierre Verger, and studio archives comparable to those of Samuel Fosso. Cartographic and colonial administration documents intersect with records from the Compagnie du Congo pour le Commerce et l'Industrie and correspondences related to the Berlin Conference era. The library preserves missionary archives from organizations such as the White Fathers and the Père Blancs and legal documents tied to treaties like the Treaty of Versailles aftermath and regional accords involving the Organization of African Unity.
The library occupies purpose-built reading rooms and stacks within the museum complex, alongside conservation laboratories and climate-controlled repositories similar to facilities at the Bibliothèque nationale de France and the Netherlands Institute for Art History. Architectural interventions reference Belgian architects who worked on museum projects contemporaneous with Victor Horta and Henri Maquet, and facility planning follows international museum standards set by the International Council of Museums and the European Commission cultural heritage directives. Onsite labs employ equipment and techniques used by conservation programs at the Getty Conservation Institute and the Museo del Prado.
The library supports scholarly work on African history, anthropology, art history, and linguistics, collaborating with universities such as Universiteit Gent, Université Libre de Bruxelles, University of Oxford, School of Oriental and African Studies, and University of Leiden. Services include bibliographic research, interlibrary loan arrangements with the Library of Congress, access to microfilm holdings akin to those of the Royal Geographical Society, and assistance for doctoral work tied to programs at the African Studies Association and the European Association of Archaeologists. The library hosts visiting scholars connected to grants from organizations such as the Horizon 2020 program and fellowships like the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions.
Public-facing activities include curated exhibitions that draw on the library's photographic and archival holdings, coordinated with curatorial teams who have worked on exhibitions with partners including the Musée royal de l'Afrique centrale, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Victoria and Albert Museum. Programs feature lectures, seminars, and workshops in partnership with cultural festivals such as FESPACO and scholarly conferences like the African Studies Association Annual Meeting. The library contributes to catalogues and exhibition publications alongside publishers such as Reaktion Books and Cambridge University Press.
Access policies balance conservation and scholarly use, offering reading-room access similar to the protocols at the British Library and digitization projects modeled on initiatives by the Digital Public Library of America and the Europeana platform. Digitization priorities include fragile manuscripts, photographic negatives, and rare maps, with metadata standards informed by the Dublin Core and linked-data practices championed by the World Wide Web Consortium. Collaborative digitization has been undertaken with partners such as the HathiTrust and national libraries including the Koninklijke Bibliotheek.
The library engages in partnerships with universities, museums, and international bodies such as the UNESCO Memory of the World program, the International Council on Monuments and Sites, and conservation projects supported by the Getty Foundation. Conservation collaborations involve institutions like the Tate Conservation Department and the Musée du quai Branly Jacques Chirac conservation teams, and training exchanges reference curricula from the Courtauld Institute of Art and the Queen's University Belfast conservation programs. Ongoing ethical dialogues with stakeholders from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the African Union, and community groups inform provenance research and potential restitutions.
Category:Libraries in Belgium Category:Research libraries Category:Museums in Tervuren