| Description | The files relate mainly to language, culture and folk-lore in the Benin area of Southern Nigeria.
First trip to Benin: Fieldnotes on Benin City and surroundings, 1951-1952; fieldnotes mainly on the Ekho area, 1951-1952.
Second trip: Esako miscellaneous notes from records, 1931-1949; fieldnotes mainly on the Ehor area, 1952; fieldnotes from Benin, 1953-1954; fieldnotes mainly on the Ovia river cult, 1953-1954
Third trip: Benin Scheme fieldnotes, 1957-1961;
Other papers include notes on a 35mm film series; notes on photographs and slides; Benin Division records, 1900-1952; miscellaneous notes and press cuttings relating to Benin, 1885-1957; notes from the Benin Voice publication, 1949-1958; Esako miscellaneous notes from records, 1918-1939; other miscellaneous notes from records 1917-1937; notes on Isoko; notes on Itsekiri, 1914-1930; Ivbiosak on miscellaneous notes; North West Edo intelligence reports, 1918-1941; work of associates on the Benin scheme. |
| Administrative History | Dr Robert Elwyn Bradbury of the Birmingham University Centre for West African Studies made three field tours in Benin over a 10 year period. The first was in 1951-2 when he spent 18 months as a Horniman Student of the Royal Anthropological Institute. The notes he made formed the basis of his doctoral thesis (London 1956). The second trip was in 1952-4 as a Research Fellow of the International African Institute, and completed the basis for his contribution to the Ethnographic Survey of Africa, The Benin Kingdom , 1957. The third tour was from 1956-1961 (interrupted by periods at Ibadan) during which he worked for Ibadan University, at first on the Benin Historical research scheme.
Reference: Catalogue for GB 0150 US3. |