Scope and Contents

The collection includes photographs taken by Ann O'Hear of leatherworking and pottery technology in Ilorin, Nigeria, from 1980 to 2015.

Images in Series 1 (Leatherworking in Ilorin) depict a saddle, including details of tooling, bridle, triangular decorations for horses, Alh. Imam Idiaro weaving and cutting out a template for use on saddle blankets, and a horse in ceremonial trappings waiting to welcome the Emir of Ilorin, Alh. Sulu Gambari, on his return from a trip abroad. Photographs were taken in Ilorin, including in the areas of Ile Onigaari and Balogun Alanamu.

Series 2 (Pottery Technology in Ilorin) includes images of potters, including Madam Fatimoh, constructing pots at the Ebu Dada pottery center, and in Ile Babaoye, Okelele, and Ile Mulabi, Ilorin.

Arrangement

Images arranged in two series:

Biographical / Historical

Ann O'Hear is a professor specializing in Nigerian material culture. Following graduation from college, she worked as a graduate volunteer teacher in Nigeria (1965‒1967) and in 1969 received an MA in African Studies from the Centre of West African Studies, University of Birmingham, UK. In 1976, she returned to Nigeria and worked as a lecturer at the Kwara State College of Technology, Ilorin, and researched the economic history of Ilorin. Studying under Professor J. D. Fage, she received her Ph.D. in History/African Studies in 1984 from the University of Birmingham. She left Kwara State College of Technology in 1985, and moved to America, where she became Coordinator of Intercultural Studies at Niagara University. She also worked in publishing, including as co-editor of the African Economic History journal. She authored the book Power Relations in Nigeria: Ilorin Slaves and Their Successors (1997), edited a new edition of Letters from Nigeria, 1899‒1900 of David Wynford Carnegie (1992), and has published numerous articles.

Related Materials

Additional archival and art collections by Ann O'Hear are held at the following locations:

Ann O'Hear Collection: Research on Master Weaver Yahaya Kalu Olabintan of Ilorin. A digital collection including an introduction, a research note with bibliographical references, images with captions, and an appendix, deposited in the National Museum of African Art Library, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.

The Dr. Ann O'Hear Archive, The Hull History Centre. An annotated collection of articles, books, interviews, research notes, correspondence, archival materials, etc., on slavery and related subjects.

The Ann O'Hear Collection, Royal Albert Memorial Museum (RAMM), Exeter. A collection of lantana beads from Ilorin (Nigeria).

"Additions to the Lovejoy-Adesiyun Collection." A digital collection including interviews, a research note, images, etc., Harriet Tubman Resource Centre, Harriet Tubman Institute, York University, Toronto, Canada. See http://digital.tubmaninstitute.ca/collections/show/11.

The O'Hear Collection of West African textiles, presented to ULITA—An Archive of International Textiles (University of Leeds). Handwoven cloths, dyed cloths, mostly Nigerian, collected by Ann and Hugh O'Hear, 1960s-1980s.