Visualizing the Sudan United Mission: Moving from Lists to Graphical Representations of Special Collections

Abstract

Special collections held in a number of university libraries and archives, especially those from the colonial period in Nigeria (1861–1960), remain restricted to avoid debates that may arise from these sensitive ethno-religious, economic, and political information contents. This article explores the use of visualizations to promote the collection of Sudan United Mission to its potential users. Significant datasets from this collection’s box list were identified, gathered, cleaned, and analyzed. Five visualizations created from these datasets were used to describe this special collection beyond its box list. This article concludes that potential users could gain insight into this collection and be able to raise scholarly questions through these visualizations. It suggests that professionals handling special collections should learn decoloniality methods and be more creative when presenting potentially sensitive political and ethno-religious issues.