The dissemination of publications afforded the Bureau one of its best means of influencing and educating public opinion both at home and abroad. It pursued this opportunity energetically, producing close to 100 pamphlets and books, a number of periodicals (frequently accompanied by supplements, at times running several simultaneously), a flow of variously described information sheets on single topics in irregular series, and a range of more ephemeral open letters, statements, releases, and circulars. At the same time, it assisted with the production and distribution of publications originating outside the Bureau in various ways. The publication of two of its periodicals continued after the closure of the Bureau itself.

Some of the Bureau's most substantial publications were those arising from the Study Projects and the papers relating to these have been arranged in a section immediately following the publications section, in MSS. Afr. s. 1681/109-146. The Study Projects separate themselves naturally from the Bureau's regular publications programme in that they were all designated as Study Projects per se, they depended on outside finance specifically organised for each project by the Bureau, and they all belong to the same period of the Bureau's life. Nevertheless, any study of the Bureau's publications must include the volumes produced by the Study Projects.

The publications policy was formulated by the Executive Committee and carried out by the Bureau's officers, and the committee papers and officers' correspondence are essential to the study of the publications. After 1960, the papers of the Africa Publications Trust, MSS. Afr. s. 1712, are also of fundamental importance and take the place, for all aspects of the publications programme, of a separate publications committee and financial organisation.

This section of the papers begins with a box of files that refer to the publications in general; succeeding boxes relate to individual works. After the foundation of the Africa Publications Trust in 1960, some publications were still issued with the imprint of the Africa Bureau, while others were stated to be published by the Africa Publications Trust. In theory, the Trust's publications should have been educational, since the Trust was a charity, while those with a political content should have gone out over the Bureau's name. In practice, this distinction was not always very clear. For readers' convenience, (Africa Bureau) or (Africa Publications Trust) have been inserted in brackets in the list where the identity of the nominal publisher has been ascertained, as this can influence the way in which the publications are catalogued by libraries and facilitate the consultation of printed copies.

General papers, MSS. Afr. s. 1681/68:

For students of the Bureau's publications, the most interesting file in this box is that containing the publications lists, MSS. Afr. s. 1681/68, folder 2. Unfortunately, these lists are very far from complete. Any attempt to supplement them from such sources as the book lists in the Bureau's periodicals is made difficult by their habit of sometimes listing, without distinction, items approved by the Executive Committee with items published by it. The minutes of the Executive Committee are a helpful source, but time limitations have prevented the compilation of a full list of Bureau publications to accompany the present guide.

Books and Pamphlets not in series, MSS. Afr. s. 1681/69-76:

The papers that have survived concerning the books and pamphlets published by the Bureau are very varied in character and concern only a random sample of the Bureau's total output. They have been arranged as a file or files for each publication and the files have been arranged in the order in which the publications came out, as far as it has been possible to ascertain. In the main, there is not a great bulk of papers relating to any publication, since authors retained their own working papers. The exception is The Great White Hoax, MSS. Afr. s. 1681/73-76, on which a great deal of editorial work was carried out in the office and for which the research materials were collected by the Bureau.

Periodicals and Series, MSS. Afr. s. 1681/77-92:

Since some of the Bureau's periodicals appeared irregularly, it has been most convenient not to try to distinguish between them and those publications that came out as issues in a series. A further argument for treating the two types of publication as one is that continuously numbered series, such as the Africa Digest Guides or the Africa Bureau Document Papers, were sent out to readers with copies of periodicals, but not necessarily with every issue, and it has been most natural to keep these series with the periodicals that they accompanied, very much in the role of supplements.

The two most long-lived series produced by the Bureau, the Anniversary Addresses and Annual Reports, have been placed at the beginning of the sub-section, followed by the other periodicals and series in date order of the first issue, and concluding with a file of occasional circulated material with no coherent numbering. Some series, covering particular aspects of the Bureau's work, fall outside the publications action. Details of these are given at the end of the introduction to the periodicals and series sub-section.

Anniversary Addresses: MSS. Afr. s. 1681/77, folders 1-4. These were lectures delivered at the Annual General Meetings and published by the Bureau, but such meetings did not take place every year and the series is in other respects irregular. Few papers concerning the addresses have survived and, for the convenience of readers, a list follows of the addresses that have been identified as having been published from references elsewhere in the papers:

Annual Reports: MSS. Afr. s. 1681/77, folder 5. The papers retained in this file concern only the printing and distribution of the reports; a few copies of the reports themselves and of drafts for them are preserved in MSS. Afr. s. 1681/5, folder 11. The reports and accounts were not published annually; sometimes they covered more than one year and sometimes no report appeared at all, as for the year 1968, when a précis of Peter Calvocoressi's address at the Annual General Meeting was printed in the Africa Digest of Feb 1969 in lieu.

Information Digest and Africa Digest: MSS. Afr. s. 1681/78-85. This was the first and also the longest lived of the Bureau's periodicals. It first appeared in stencilled form, under the title Information Digest in Jul 1952. Issues 2-6 followed monthly between Sep 1952 and Jan 1953. The format was then changed, with smaller paper and photographic reproduction being used, and it continued, almost always on a bimonthly basis, until issue 14 of Feb/Mar 1954. At this point, the title was altered, the issues of Information Digest were taken as making up Vol. I, and the first issue of Africa Digest appeared as Vol. II No. 1, Apr 1954. It continued to come out on a bimonthly basis, although rather irregularly, but the numbering of the volumes is extremely confusing, as the number of issues to a volume was not consistent. In Apr 1960, the Africa Publications Trust took over the production of Digest (Vol. VII No. 5). In Nov 1967, Africa Digest Ltd. was incorporated to publish Digest under licence from the Publications Trust. The purpose of this was to increase the advertising revenue by getting Digest out of the hands of a charity. Unfortunately, this was not successful, and in Feb 1970 Digest reverted to the Publications Trust, who continued to publish it until the last issue in Dec 1974.

Digest consisted of factual information about events in Africa in the preceding months, book reviews, notices of Bureau publications, and sometimes some Bureau news and advertisements of other publications. In its early days, Information Digest was accompanied by some supplements on particular questions, and between 1972 and 1974 Africa Digest Guides were inserted regularly, dealing with specific territories or topics. The papers relating to Digest commence with MSS. Afr. s. 1681/78, which deals with indices for Information Digest and Africa Digest. The first two files of the following box, MSS. Afr. s. 1681/79, concern Information Digest, with the Bureau entitling folder 2 'Circulars for Digest and Bureau'. It is likely that the contents were sent out as supplements with Information Digest, although only one paper, fols. 8-10, can be positively identified from the index. A more formal version of this paper, numbered as Supplement 11, is preserved in the Trusts section of the collection: MSS. Afr. s. 1681/320, folder 2, fols. 6-8.

MSS. Afr. s. 1681/79, folder 3 to MSS. Afr. s. 1681/81, folder 6 relate to Africa Digest. The files vary greatly in character and have been arranged chronologically. The picture of the management of Digest may be filled out by reference to the minutes of the Publications Trust, MSS. Afr. s. 1712/1, folders 2-6. MSS. Afr. s. 1681/79, folder 5 contains the papers of the Africa Digest Committee, set up in 1967 to consider changes in Digest. The committee created Africa Digest Ltd. and then lapsed.

MSS. Afr. s. 1681/82 contains papers relating to the 18 Africa Digest Guides. There is no surviving material concerning No. 3, Nigeria, Jun 1972; No. 5, Botswana, Oct 1972; No. 8, Political Alignments in Sub-Saharan Africa, Apr 1973; No. 9 Economic Alignments in Sub-Saharan Africa, Jun 1973; or No. 12, Malawi, Dec 1973. After the demise of Africa Digest, it was decided to continue 'in Africa Currents the Guides which were a popular feature of Africa Digest' (MSS. Afr. s. 1681/92, folder 1, fol. 13). Several issues of Currents included coloured insertions similar in appearance to Digest Guides, but these were not numbered in series. They were: Mozambique: President Sanora Machel's Installation, Autumn 1975; Angola, Independence Chronology, Winter 1975/6; Namibian Diary, Spring 1976; Western Sahara, Background to Conflict, Winter 1977/8. The Guides are followed by a box of file copies of Africa Digest from 1968 to 1974, MSS. Afr. s. 1681/83. These are incomplete. The Digest sub-section papers end with two boxes concerning Africa Digest Ltd., MSS. Afr. s. 1681/84-85. The establishment of the company was first discussed in the Africa Digest Committee, MSS. Afr. s. 1681/79, folder 5, and it was decided that advertising revenue might be increased and Digest made profitable if it were produced by a commercial company instead of a charity, and in Nov 1967 Africa Digest Ltd. was incorporated to produce Digest under licence from the Africa Publications Trust. The hoped-for profits did not materialise, and Digest reverted to the Publications Trust in 1970, but Africa Digest Ltd. was not wound up until 8 May 1974, because of a threatened libel suit, as it was decided to keep a limited liability company in being to bear possible damages for six years after the alleged libel.

Africa Bureau News: MSS. Afr. s. 1681/86, folder 1. This was intended to be a quarterly, supplementing Africa Digest with more news of Bureau activities, interviews, and feature articles. It was printed and five issues appeared between Spring 1962 and Summer 1963.

What's Happening in South Africa, MSS. Afr. s. 1681/86, folder 2, was a monthly publication, issued free to Bureau members, MPs, the press, and people regarded as influential in forming or expressing public opinion. It ran from Dec 1963 to Feb 1965 in a four-page printed format and contained facts, news, and comment.

Africa Bureau Broadsheets: MSS. Afr. s. 1681/86, folders 3-5 and MSS. Afr. s. 1681/87, folder 6. These were reproduced in the office on specially headed paper and sent to subscribers and free to press contacts. They are often referred to as quarterly, but in fact appeared very irregularly between Jun 1965 and Oct 1971. No formal decision to cease the publication is recorded, but after this, references to Broadsheets cease.

Africa Bureau Briefings: MSS. Afr. s. 1681/86, folder 6 - MSS. Afr. s. 1681/87, folder 6. Briefings were reproduced in the office in the same format as Broadsheets and using the same type of material. They were devoted to a single topic, came out at irregular intervals and unnumbered, and were distributed free to MPs, journalists, civil servants, and others regarded as influential in the formation of public opinion. The first mention of Briefings occurs in 1969 and the last example to survive is dated 1974.

X-Ray, Africa Bureau Fact Sheets, Africa Bureau Document Papers: MSS. Afr. s. 1681/88-91. X-Ray originated during the Bureau's financial heyday and was an ambitious project, envisaged as a monthly publication, to be distributed free in Great Britain, by subscription abroad, and produced by separate paid staff. It was intended to make available factual material on South Africa not widely reported in Great Britain and was to be accompanied by a single-topic Fact Sheet. Work on launching X-Ray began in Sep 1969 and the first issue appeared in Jul 1970. X-Ray was printed and came out on a monthly basis at first, although with marked irregularities, becoming bimonthly in Oct 1974, because of rising costs. Most issues were accompanied by either a Fact Sheet, or, after Mar 1972, a Document Paper; these were numbered as separate series. In Mar 1972, the Executive Committee minutes record a decision to transfer X-Ray to the Africa Publications Trust, but it is not clear how far this decision was implemented during the life of the Bureau; certainly X-Ray continued to appear over the Africa Bureau's name until the issue of Jan/Feb 1980, when the reader is confusingly referred to the 'Africa Education (sic) Trust' for further information. Subsequent issues, Mar/Apr 1980 onwards, bear the Africa Publications Trust's name. In 1976, the Bureau received a grant from the Swedish International Development Authority the Swedish International Development Authority (SIDA) for X-Ray, which was repeated in 1978, but correspondence about this was being handled by the Publications Trust in 1979. X-Ray continued to be published until 1983.

The papers relating to X-Ray and its companion series were received in files that had an obvious, coherent identity. Some of these were too large for convenient handling and have been split chronologically into two or more files, but as far as possible the division of papers into files and the order of papers within files has been retained and the files have then been arranged approximately chronologically, although some overlapping has resulted. Four files of copies of X-Ray and its enclosures conclude the sub-section.

Africa Currents, MSS. Afr. s. 1681/92, folder 1, was first printed in 1975. It was planned as a successor to Digest, aiming to reflect African developments through African eyes. Much of the material consisted of reprints of items published elsewhere. Issues 1-4, Spring 1975-Winter 1975/6, came out quarterly; issues 5-10, Spring 1976-Winter 1977/8, came out on a trimestral basis; issue 11 was dated Summer 1978 and was followed by a double issue, 12/13 for Autumn/Winter 1978. Issue 14, Spring 1979, was a single issue, but thereafter a trimestral pattern of an irregular kind, involving the use of double issues, re-emerged. Currents was always published by the Africa Publications Trust and it was originally intended that Guides similar to the Digest Guides should be included; the four that were published have been described above in the part of this introduction devoted to Digest Guides.

Letters and statements circulated to members of the Bureau and others: MSS. Afr. s. 1681/92, folder 2. The periodicals and series sub-section concludes with a file of published material, issued between 1961 and 1972, which resembles the 'Circulars for Digest and Bureau' of 1952-1954, MSS. Afr. s. 1681/79, folder 2, as already mentioned above. The items, some of which are several pages long and some only a page, are each devoted to a single topic and were apparently distributed free. Some are reproduced using the same paper as Broadsheets and Briefings, but they are not numbered in any sequence, although one is described as a Background Sheet, items 1 and 2, as though it were part of a series. They were probably mainly sent out with periodicals, but not necessarily only to subscribers.

Other periodicals and series:

Apart from papers relating to periodicals and series that fall within the publications section of the collection, material survives in other sections concerning publications of a specialised kind. Material directed to Africa Councils is gathered in MSS. Afr. s. 1681/20, folder 16, which contains examples both of the Liaison Letter to Africa Councils, a numbered publication, probably a periodical, and of Africa Bureau Background Papers, as well as of other publications for Councils that were not in series. It should be noted that in the sections of this list describing papers relating to a particular territory, the term 'Background papers' has an entirely different significance. The Central African Newsletter, duplicated in the office and intended to be a fortnightly publication, was produced during 1959, starting on 16 Feb, and at least ten issues followed; copies are preserved in MSS. Afr. s. 1681/233, folder 10. Newsbrief Rhodesia was published by the Bureau for the '1973 Justice for Rhodesia Campaign' and a complete set of the ten issues that appeared between Feb and Nov 1973 may be found in MSS. Afr. s. 1681/266, together with papers relating to their production. Papers concerning the series of volumes arising from the Study Projects are filed in MSS. Afr. s. 1681/109-146.

Through the Bureau's life, references are made to the Bureau's 'Background Papers' or 'Background Sheets', and at different times these references appear to indicate various different publications: the Background Papers for Africa Councils, MSS. Afr. s. 1681/20, folder 16; the Digest Supplements, MSS. Afr. s. 1681/79, folder 2 and Digest Guides, MSS. Afr. s. 1681/82; Broadsheets and Briefings, MSS. Afr. s. 1681/86, folder 3 to MSS. Afr. s. 1681/87, folder 6 or Facts Sheets and Document Papers issued with X-Ray, MSS. Afr. s. 1681/88-91. Some publications bore the specific description of being background papers or sheets, but none of these are numbered in series. Examples may be found in MSS. Afr. s. 1681/320, folder 2, item 19; MSS. Afr. s. 1681/79, folder 2, fols. 15 and 16; and another version of the same publication, MSS. Afr. s. 1681/320, folder 2, fols. 9 and 10; and MSS. Afr. s. 1681/92, folder 2, items 1-2 and fol. 1 and item 5. In 1957-1958, a numbered series of Background Facts were published, but no papers have survived concerning them. Their titles were: No. 1 Ghana, No. 2 Nigeria, No. 3 Sierre Leone and the Gambia, and No. 4 Tanganyika, Zanzibar and Pemba.

Publications assisted by the Bureau, MSS. Afr. s. 1681/93-94:

In addition to producing its own publications, the Bureau gave aid to the publications of other bodies and persons, whether by giving them free publicity, acting as distributors, or by handling funds for them. The publications of the Bureau's related trusts and of Michael Scott's Mandate Trust were handled by the Bureau, as were the publications of the '1973 Justice for Rhodesia Campaign'. Included in this sub-section, MSS. Afr. s. 1681/93, folders 11-13, are papers relating to the publications and finances of the 'South-West Africa Unit Account of the Africa Bureau'. This was a special account into which money was paid from Michael Scott's Mandate Trust to finance research, particularly into investment in Africa. Roger Murray was employed and the Research into Research papers, MSS. Afr. s. 1681/93, folder 11, and a pamphlet, MSS. Afr. s. 1681/93, folder 12, was produced. Some seeding money for the Study Project on External Investment, MSS. Afr. s. 1681/120-146, was also paid from this account.

Publications about the Bureau, MSS. Afr. s. 1681/94, folder 3:

A photocopy of a few pages referring to the Bureau from a book is the only material in this sub-section, although innumerable press cuttings referring to the Bureau are scattered through all sections of the collection, and the Annual Reports are gathered in MSS. Afr. s. 1681/5, folder 11.

Sales of Publications, MSS. Afr. s. 1681/95-98:

This sub-section contains enquiries for publications and documentation for sales arranged chronologically and not by publication, as many order forms are for several different publications. It includes sales of Study Project productions and of publications distributed by the Bureau but produced by others. To build a complete picture of the sales of publications, it is necessary to consult a number of other files: MSS. Afr. s. 1681/50, 50A and 52-54 for sales on a subscription basis; MSS. Afr. s. 1681/68, folders 5 and 6 for exchanges of publications; MSS. Afr. s. 1681/91, folder 5 for subscriptions and donations to X-Ray; MSS. Afr. s. 1681/109, folders 3 and 10, the accounts of the Mass Removals Study Project and material concerning reprints and translations of its studies, and MSS. Afr. s. 1712/2, folder 9 for covenants made with the Africa Publications Trust for Digest.

Abortive Projects, MSS. Afr. s. 1681/99-101:

This sub-section covers both projects initiated by the Bureau that came to nothing and cases where manuscripts were submitted or subjects proposed by authors, but the Bureau did not proceed with them. The files have been arranged chronologically by starting date.

Material Related to Publications, MSS. Afr. s. 1681/102-103:

These two boxes contain published material that made its way into the Bureau's offices in connection with its publications, either as research materials or because it represented work by an author or on a subject in which the Bureau was interested.

Photographs and Maps, MSS. Afr. s. 1681/104-108:

The last five boxes of the Publications section contain mainly photographs, together with a few maps. These were not only used by the Bureau to illustrate its own publications and publicity campaigns but were frequently lent to other people and bodies. Precise identification and dating of these has often proved impossible.