Who's behind the news?
Who's behind the news?
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Newsjunkie.net is a resource guide for journalists. We show who's behind the news, and provide tools to help navigate the modern business of information.
Use of Data
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The Archives Nationales du Cameroun (National Archives of Cameroon) is the official national archival institution of the Republic of Cameroon, headquartered in Yaoundé. It serves as the central repository for the preservation and management of Cameroon's national documentary heritage and falls under the administrative authority of the Ministry of Arts and Culture.
Archival services in Cameroon date to the French colonial administration: a Service for Archives and Documentation was established in Yaoundé in 1952. Following independence in 1960 (French part) and 1961 (British part), the institution evolved into a unified national body. The National Archives was formally established in 1966 according to the institution's own records, with subsequent legal reorganization by Decree No. 2014/0882/PM of April 30, 2014, which defined its current structure as a service attached to the cultural heritage ministry with autonomous management. A second branch in Buea preserves British colonial-era records from 1914 onward. Dr. Esther Olembe has served as director since 2016.
The main branch in Yaoundé holds a library of approximately 64,000 volumes. The archives contain German, French, and British colonial records reflecting Cameroon's unique history of administration under three colonial powers, as well as post-independence administrative records, presidential collections, and documentary materials. The Buea branch holds material from the British administration beginning in 1914. Given Cameroon's trilingual colonial history, the national archives are a major source for West African colonial history. The archives have been undergoing reorganization and digitization since 2016.
The archives reopened in limited form for remote access following the 2016 reorganization. Researchers can request access by writing to the director with a list of specific documents. Digital photographs of documents can be ordered for a fee. The institution has been advancing digitization and electronic archiving as part of Cameroon's broader e-government strategy.
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