Scope and Contents

The collection consists of 58 maps, engravings, particularly satirical comics, posters, original documents and photographs related to East, Central and South Africa. There is a special focus on Ethiopia (Abyssinia), Tanzania and the Sudan, and the collection's subjects include East African geography, history, political affairs and African leaders, as well as European (German, Italian, British) and American colonization, exploration and warfare in Africa. A number of engravings feature Benito Mussolini, Menelik, and the first Italian-Ethiopian War of 1895-1896. Additionally, there is a photograph of Haile Selassie. Many of the chromolithographs appeared in popular publications in England, France and the U.S., including Punch, or The London Chariviari, The London Illustrated News, The Graphic, and Le Petit Journal during the late 19th – early 20th century.

There are a few ephemeral items related to travel and transportation in Africa, including African Steamship travel tickets, menus and a Uganda railway poster. Other items are related to exploration, hunting and safaris, including original sketches and engravings of motor safari camps in East Africa.

Arrangement

Arranged in one series by medium.

Biographical / Historical

Thomas P. Ofcansky (1947-) is a former African affairs analyst with the State Department Bureau of Intelligence and Research, and a retired professor of political science from the University of West Virginia. In the 1990s, he developed a detailed database that tracked the suppliers and shipments of small arms to Africa (PBS/Frontline interview, February, 2002). Ofcansky is the author of numerous publications including Uganda: Tarnished Pearl of Africa (1999), Paradise Lost: A History of Game Preservation in East Africa (2002), and has co-authored numerous volumes in the Historical Dictionary of Africa series and Ethiopia: A Country Study (1993–2014).

Custodial History

Collected by Thomas Ofcansky. Purchased by the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives, National Museum of African Art, in February 2015.