This collection is the result of the work of the Oxford Development Records Project relating to education in Africa during the colonial period. From 1978 to 1984 the Project set out to record the experiences and preserve the reminiscences of people who had been involved in education, whether as Colonial Education Officers or as missionaries active in the educational field. An aide-memoire was sent to potential contributors, which they were invited to answer in the form of a memorandum, adding any original papers they were willing to donate. The period mainly covered was from the end of World War Two to independence.