Photographs taken by Christopher DeCorse during his travels in Ghana, Gambia, Senegal, Mali and Cote d'Ivoire.

The collection dates from 1900 to 1997 and mostly includes images taken in South Africa. The images document the peoples of South Africa, particularly the Loved, Ndebele, San, Sotho, Xhosa, and Zulu peoples. Locations photographed include Basutoland (now Lesotho), Bechuanaland (now Botswana), Johannesburg, Natal, Pretoria, Soweto, Swaziland, Transkei, Transvaal, the Umzimkulu Valley and Zululand. Manuscript and office files include clippings, correspondence, exhibition announcements, invitations and reviews, notes, essays, receipts, and other materials that document Larrabee's career, family history, and personal life.

This collection includes postcards from 45 African countries. Subjects include agriculture; animals; artists; body arts; cityscapes; cultural landscapes; dance; education; expeditions; flora; industry; leaders; marketplaces; medicine; military; missionaries; music; portraits; recreation; rites and ceremonies; and transportation, among many other topics.

The Historic Engravings collection is comprised of 154 pages of engravings, dating from 1747 to circa 1905. The engravings depict subject matter related to Africa and Africans.

Photographs taken by Judge Emile E.O. Gorlia during five journeys through the Belgian Congo and two vacation leaves, one in Belgium and one in the Canaries Islands, 1909-1928 and at the World Exposition in Brussels (1958). The collection dates from 1909-1958. His first mission was from January 1910 to January 1912; the second, from February 1915 to March 1917; the third, from December 1917 to April 1920; the fourth, from November 1920 to February 1923 and, the fifth, from March 1926 to December 1928. For his first four missions at Lusambo in the Kasai province, district of Sankuru, Emile Gorlia was acting as an alternate to the public officer at one of the seven tribunals of first instance. During his fifth and final mission, he was promoted as president of the Court at Albertville in the ditrict of Katanga. Judge E.O. Gorlia was a keen amateur photographer with the advantage of not only traveling extensively around the state but also with the privilege of being able to afford the time and money to produce a prolific number of images. His images illustrate with great detail the full experience of a government official in mission in the Belgian Congo, starting in Antwerp at the pier of this Belgian harbor and taking up his duties at Lusambo, an administrative town in the hearth of th Belgian congo. The majority of images are of the following Belgian Congo districts, Lower Congo, Kassai, Sankuru, and Katanga. They include the cities of Banana, Boma, Matadi, Leopoldville (now Kinshasa), Lusambo, Luebo, Dilolo, Albertville (now Kalemie) in the Belgian Congo, Brazzaville in the French Equatorial africa, Zanzibar, Dar es Salaam, Tabora and Kigoma in tanganyika, Dakar in Senegal, Conakry in Guinea, Freetown in Sierra Leone, Port Said in Egypt and finally Casablanca in Morocco. There are also images of villages scenes and portraits of the Tetela, Songye, Luba, Kanioka, Lunda, Chokwe, Pende, Bangala and Kuba. Also included are images of the natural environment as the Congo river, the Kasai and Sankuru rivers, the banks of Lake Tanganyika and the savanna-woodland of the western part of the Katanga district as well as as the south part of the Sankuru region.

The photographs document many aspects of African life and culture including agriculture, animals, archeology, architecture, art and artisans, children, cityscapes, dance and music, domestic scenes, education, flora, hunting and fishing, industry, landscapes, leaders, markets, medicine, recreation, rituals and celebrations, and transportation. Photographs taken by Eliot Elisofon to document his travels and work. The images portray many aspects of African life and culture including agriculture, wildlife, archaeology, architecture, art and artisans, children, cityscapes and landscapes, leaders, markets, medicine, recreation, ritual and celebration, and transportation. Artisans shown include an Asante weaver making kente cloth in Ghana; a Dogon carver in Mali making a kanaga mask; an Ebrie goldsmith in Cote d'Ivoire; Hausa dyers in Kano, Nigeria; and Nupe beadmakers in Nigeria; as well as artists at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Kinshasa, Congo. Portraits of leaders include the Asante court at Kumase in Ghana; Ebrie chiefs and notables in Cote d'Ivoire; the timi (king) of Ede, a Yourba town, Nigeria; the emir of Katsina, Nigeria; and the Kuba king and his court in the Congo. There are informal portraits showing children of the Kuba royal court dancing, Fulbe women with gold earrings in Mali, Mangbetu women in the Congo, and Maasai elders in Kenya. Masked dances documented include a Dogon dama festival celebration in Mali, an Igbo festival in Nigeria, and Kuba and Pende masked dancers in the Congo. There are also images of Yoruba gelede (men's association) masks in Nigeria. Non-masked dancers shown include Dan professional acrobatic dancers in Cote d'Ivoire, Irigwe dancers in Nigeria, Mangbetu dancers in the Congo, Mbuti dancers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Wodaabe men dancing in Nigeria. Events shown include Hausa riders in chain mail during the Independence Day celebration in Katsina, Nigeria. Images of art in situ include ancestral altars in the King of Benin's palace in Nigeria; Dogon rock paintings in Mali; and Yoruba Shango shrine sculptures in the palace courtyard of timi (king) of Ede in Nigeria. Landscapes include views of mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. Animals shown include birds, buffalos, elephants and giraffes. Traditional architecture shown includes Asante shrine houses with raised wall decorations in Ghana, Dogon villages in Mali and mosques in Mopti.

The collection is comprised of photographs taken by Susan Vogel in Côte d'Ivoire during the 1970s. Most depict the Baule peoples, including during their Goli Dance in Bokpli.

Photographs taken during a research trip to Mali in 1989 to study the art and architecture of the Dogon and Bamana peoples. Accompanying Dr. Ravenhill was Stanley Staniski from Media Resources. Their work resulted in the video production entitled, Togu na and Cheko: Change and Continuity in the Art of Mali, for the National Museum of African Art.

The collection consists of 6,567 color slides taken by Dr. Marilyn Houlberg during various field studies among the Yoruba in southwest Nigeria between 1961 and circa 2005. The images depict Yoruba art and culture with a special focus on artisans, art objects, body arts, costume, festivals, hairstyles, indigenous photography, weaving and textiles. Cultural events depicted include Balufon festivals, Egungun and Gelede masquerades, social events (weddings, christenings, funerals), and religious ceremonies (initiation and animal sacrifice). Also included are various scenes of daily life, architecture, food preparation, markets, portraits and landscapes. Houlberg extensively documented Yoruba artists in the process of creating their art, including carvers Yesufu Ejigboye, Runshewe, and Lamidi Fakeye, as well as the final pieces themselves. Houlberg documentated art in situ, such as Yoruba house posts, shrines, wall art and wood doors and art objects, including Gelede masks, Ibeji (twin) and Eshu figures, Osanyin staffs, and Ogboni and Shango shrines. Manuscript and printed materials, including Houlberg's resume, thesis, and numerous published articles are also available in this collection.