Basler Afrika Bibliographien (BAB)Klosterberg 23, 4051 Basel, SwitzerlandOpening Hours:Mondays closedTuesday to Friday, 10-13 and 14-17Contact Information

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Finally online: PARC

Name: 11th Namibia Research Day, 17th & 18th October 2025: Call for Papers
Start: 2025-10-17T08:00:00+02:00
End: 2025-10-18T17:00:00+02:00
Location: Basler Afrika Bibliographien

Visit www.parc-portal.org to explore the meta catalogue for all Africana collections in Basel.

New at the BAB Publishing House

New Publication:
Defending the Investment

New Publication:
Narrating Africa – Narrating Namibia

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Journals typically convey subjective impressions, experiences and appraisals of people and circumstances. Here is a look at a journal from the Personal Archive pf Fritz Gaerdes. Gaerdes lived in Namibia and recorded observations of wildlife and the natural environment in his journals, in addition to his travels in the so-called “native reserves”. His journal entries often correspond to photos and negatives in his image collection. PA.1.
Archives of correspondence provide important insights into social networks, communication flows and aspects of knowledge transfer. Here is an excerpt from a letter written by Gottlieb Mutjinde from Ellis Ras, South Africa, to ethnologist Katesa Schlosser in Kiel, Germany. Mutjinde provided Schlosser with important information about the history of Herero settlements in Botswana, one of her research focuses. Personal Archive PA.44.
Personal archives from scholars and journalists usually include unpublished manuscripts that document various stages of editing. Pictured here is an excerpt from a manuscript containing corrections by journalist Ruth Weiss, found in her Personal Archive PA.43.
Archives of organisations often include press and ephemera collections with newspaper excerpts, flyers and brochures relating to selected themes and regions. Here is a look at the systematically compiled collection on all African regions and countries in the General Archive AA.15 of the Informationszentrum Dritte Welt (iz3w), Freiburg im Breisgau.
Text archives often contain protocols of meetings and newsletters from associations and organisations, which enable insights into negotiation processes within organisations and between their individual members. Here is a look at documents belonging to the solidarity group Komitee Südliches Afrika (Zürich-Winterthur) found in Personal Archive PA.45 Thérèse and Kurt Hillmann-Marti.
Manuscript archives from scholars at times contain sub-archives from third parties; for example, European researchers’ archives often contain documents written or collected by Africans. Pictured here are copies of documents from the private archive of Namibian politician Jariretundu Kozonguizi (1932–1995), found in the Personal Archive PA.48 of South African historian Tony Emmett.

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The archive holdings contain extensive written materials emphasising Namibia and southern Africa in the 20th century. They encompass unpublished personal documents such as diaries, correspondence and manuscripts; minutes, newsletters and press releases from organisations; as well as thematically organised collections comprising published materials.

The holdings of written materials are continually being indexed. To date, the written materials from approximately 60 collections from both Personal and General Archives have been indexed on the level of files or subfiles (occasionally at the level of individual documents) and may be accessed using detailed finding aids and the archive catalogue.

For further information:
Archive catalogue
archive@baslerafrika.ch

Upcoming Events

Lunch Talk: Explore the Projects of Two Film Students from Windhoek

11th Namibia Research Day, 17th & 18th October 2025: Call for Papers

Finally online: PARC

New at the BAB Publishing House

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