Democratic Republic of the Congo

The Africana Collection of the MSU Library is one of the largest in the United States, having been built since 1960 to support broad faculty involvement in research and development projects on the continent.

Collectively, the libraries on the Madison campus of the University of Wisconsin constitute one of the premier collections of Africana materials in this country. The core of the collection was acquired during the 1960s and 1970s, but even before this, numerous Africa-related materials were purchased, giving the collection a time depth unusual among U.S. Africana libraries, most of which are not strong in pre-1960 African materials or imperial history.

Yale’s library collections on all of sub-Saharan Africa constitute one of the three largest collections in North America and Yale’s collections on southern Africa may be unrivaled worldwide. Major strengths include the vast collections of primary source archival materials, ranging from manuscripts, diaries and correspondence, to photographs, pamphlets, microfilm, realia, and a large renowned postcard collection. The African Collection is particularly mentioned for the great strength of its holdings of African indigenous languages, which are written in various scripts and represent an impressive portion of languages from the world’s most linguistically diverse continent. The library also includes a correspondence, printed material, and photographs relating to the history of Congo (Democratic Republic) and current political, economic, and social conditions. For accessing the documents, consider the InterLibrary Loan (ILL) system.

The African collections at the Stanford University Libraries include publications, audio-visual materials, archives, manuscripts and digital resources about and from Sub-Saharan Africa. It is one of the finest African studies collections in the world. Two of the many notable holdings at Stanford include African newspapers and the African map collections. The DRC is particularly well represented in the holdings. For accessing the documents, consider the InterLibrary Loan (ILL) system.

The Centre Æquatoria is a research center, library, and collection of archives, annex guesthouse, specialized in the languages, cultures, and the (pre-colonial and colonial) history of sub-Saharan Africa, with special emphasis on the peoples of the central Congo basin. It also produces a yearly africanist periodical, called 'Annales Æquatoria'. It is located on the premises of the Catholic mission station of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart (Missionnaires du Sacré-Coeur, MSC) at Bamanya, a village some 10 kms out of Mbandaka, the capital city of the Equateur Province in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The library of the African Studies Centre Leiden is a research library, which is also open to the general public. The library consists of a digital and a paper library. The digital library gives access to an unlimited number of publications, the paper library holds 91,000 books about and from Africa, 90,000 journal articles and 1,700 films on DVD. These include a strong collection on the DRC.

Established in 1954, the Melville J. Herskovits Library of African Studies at Northwestern University is the largest separate Africana collection in existence. Its scope is as wide as the continent of Africa itself. The collection includes a significant focus on Central Africa in general and the DRC in particular. For accessing the documents, consider the InterLibrary Loan (ILL) system.

Recordings in the eastern, west central, and Ituri Forest areas of the Congo (present-day Democratic Republic of Congo) and Ruanda-Urundi from Sept. 20, 1951 to May 3, 1952.

Journal published from 1971 to 1986, centered on Southern African topics but with interests in the politics of the then Zaire.

The AfricaMuseum manages a large collection of zoological, flora, and rock items, as well as photographs, ethnographic objects, and geological maps related to Central Africa and the DRC in particular.

The museum's collection encompass all continents but is particularly strong in sub-Saharan Africa ethnographic objects, including from the current DRC. The museum also includes an extensive library collection accessible to the public after free registration.

The gallery showcases visual artists who live and work in DR Congo, both established international artists, and young emerging artists. Angalia offers them support, notably by travelling on a regular basis to Kinshasa. Angalia’s local foothold has been strengthened since 2014 by a partnership with the Texaf-Bilembo Cultural Centre, through which the work of the artists is regularly exhibited in Kinshasa. All the works that we showcase have been bought directly from the artists starting in 2007, the year when the founders, Pierre Daubert and Karin Barlet, started to support the first artists. The gallery was formally created in September 2011.

Picha (image in Kiswahili) is a group of young artists from Lubumbashi promoting the art scene in the city and the region. The organization was founded in 2008 at the first Biennale of Lubumbashi.