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Bodleian Library of Commonwealth and African Studies at Rhodes House

The Bodleian Library of Commonwealth and African Studies at Rhodes House was founded in 1929 as a dependent library of the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford. It specialises in the history and current poltical, economic and social affairs of the Commonwealth and sub-Saharan Africa. Its coverage does not extend to the Indian sub-continent or Burma, and only partially to Sri Lanka - readers wishing to consult material on these areas should contact the Indian Institute Library at the New Bodleian Library. The Library is housed for the benefit of the University by the Rhodes Trustees in Rhodes House, the Rhodes Trust's headquarters, designed by Sir Herbert Baker.

The Bodleian Library of Commonwealth and African Studies at Rhodes House holds over 4,000 manuscript collections. These relate chiefly to British colonial administration (mainly in sub-Saharan Africa, though other territories are also well covered). The Library has been the principle recipient of material gathered by the Oxford Colonial Records Project (OCRP) and the schemes which have succeeded it. The major collections include the papers of Cecil Rhodes, the Anti-Slavery Society, the Fabian Colonial Bureau, the United Society for the Propogation of the Gospel, Sir Roy Welensky, and the Anti-Apartheid Movement.

Special feature: Cecil John Rhodes (1853-1902)

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Web: www.ouls.ox.ac.uk/rhodes

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