Anthony Kirk-Greene's weekly letters from Nigeria

Collection

Anthony Kirk-Greene's weekly letters to his parents from Nigeria, 1950-1966, as a colonial administrator and as a member of staff at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, including letters while a visiting fellow in the USA.

Dates

Creation: 1950-1966

Extent

0.45 Linear metres (3 boxes)

Language of Materials

English

Conditions Governing Access

Some material is closed.

Preferred Citation

Oxford, Bodleian Libraries [followed by shelfmark and folio or page reference, e.g. MSS. Afr. s. 1313/1, folder 1].

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Full range of shelfmarks:

MSS. Afr. s. 1313/1-3

Collection ID (for staff)

CMD ID 2793

Additional Description

Abstract

Anthony Kirk-Greene's weekly letters to his parents from Nigeria, 1950-1966.

Biographical / Historical

Anthony (Tony) Hamilton Millard Kirk-Greene (1925-2018) was educated at Rugby School and Clare College, Cambridge, and served in the army in India from 1943 to 1947. He joined the Colonial Service in 1950, serving in Northern Nigeria where he became interested in Hausa language and culture, and was a founding member of staff at Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria from 1961 to 1966, in the Institute of Administration and then as Head of the Department of Languages.

From 1967 until retirement in 1992 Kirk-Greene was a Fellow in African Studies at St Antony's College, Oxford, publishing extensively on the history of Nigeria and the history of the Colonial Service. He was closely involved in the Oxford Colonial Records Project and was Director of it successor, the Oxford Development Records Project, from 1980 to 1984, both projects securing archive collections for the benefit of researchers. He was President of the African Studies Association of the UK, 1988-1990.