Bibliotheca Missionum: A Case of Benign Neglect

Abstract

“[The historian] ignores this … impeccable bibliography at his (or her) peril.”In this brief note I hope to draw effective attention to Bibliotheca Missionum, a bibliography which, in its scope, reliability, and accessibility stands unequalled among bibliographies of any kind. More important, though, than its superior technical attributes is the fact that Bibliotheca Missionum provides entrée to a vast but largely dormant body of source materials -- materials which are as little used as they are indispensable to the proper study of the African past. With all fairness, it can be said that Bibliotheca Missionum's superiority is rivaled only by our disregard of it.Bibliotheca Missionum was conceived by Robert Streit, a missionary of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate. The first volume in the series appeared in 1917 and since then twenty-nine others have appeared. Initially the volumes appeared more or less under the auspices of the Oblates, but in the late 1920s the project was taken over by the newly-established Pontificia Biblioteca Missionaria in Rome. Streit was succeeded by Johannes Dindinger in 1930 and other Editors have since held office, but Bibliotheca Missionum continues to be referred to as “Streit and Dindinger.” Of the thirty volumes so far published, six (volumes 15 to 20) relate directly to Africa. All were published between 1951 and 1954 and include the following: In addition, Vols. 1, 22, and 23 are devoted to work of general missiological import and naturally contain much that relates to Africa.