John McIlwaine who died on 11 July 2025 trained, mentored and befriended generations of librarians and archivists in African Studies, compiled prizewinning reference books for the pre-digital age, was Scolma’s great elder statesman and a long-serving editor of this journal in its previous incarnation as Africa Research and Documentation (ARD).
John was born in Oxford but spent his childhood and adolescence in Jamaica. According to his own account he spent most of his time there watching cricket, which became a lifelong enthusiasm, along with jazz and birdwatching. He returned to Oxford in 1958 to read Modern History at Exeter College. For his Dip Lib thesis at the School of Librarianship, University College London (UCL), he prepared A Bibliography of Neville Cardus (1888–1975), who is generally considered to have set the style and standard for all subsequent writing on cricket.
After working briefly at the India Office Library, he returned to the UCL School as a lecturer in 1965. There he met his wife, Ia. They married on the last day of 1966 and worked together at UCL for over thirty years before retiring to Blakeney in Norfolk (Figure 1). They were both active in the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA). Ia, an expert on the Universal Decimal Classification, and compiler of an exhaustive bibliography of Herculaneum, died in 2019. Their daughter Anne also went on to a distinguished career in librarianship and university administration.
John McIlwaine, in Norfolk.
John taught a number of courses on the postgraduate Library and Information Studies programme, including Modern book production, Collection development, Preservation and conservation management and Information sources and bibliography, but will be best remembered for his Oriental and African bibliography course.
He never forgot a student but followed their careers and maintained contact and correspondence with many of them for the rest of his life. His students remember him with great affection for his inspiring teaching, painstaking scholarship and many acts of personal kindness. As his UCL obituary puts it:
He had numerous friends and acquaintances in very many countries, and it was not unusual to find someone wandering about the Department, having just arrived unannounced from some far-flung outpost, and confident that they would find him ready to welcome them – which of course he invariably did.Footnote 1
John’s most significant publications are listed in the Select bibliography below. He was recognized with several prestigious rewards, including the Library Association’s Besterman Medal for an outstanding work of reference in 1993 (for Africa: a guide to reference material) and, in 2001, its Walford Award for sustained and continual contribution to the art of bibliography. In 1998, Writings on African Archives was a joint winner of the biennial Conover-Porter Award for Excellence in Africana Bibliography or Reference Work of the Africana Librarians Council of the African Studies Association (US).
His contribution to Scolma was immense, as Editor of ARD (issues 39 to 49 (1985–89) and 63 to 95 (1993–2004)), Chair 1989–93 and Treasurer 1980–85.
In addition to Scolma, he was active in other networks notably as Chair of what was then NCOLR (National Council of Orientalist Library Resources), now NACIRA (National Committee for Information Resources on Asia), and IFLA where he chaired the Preservation Section 1999–2003.
Modest, convivial, scholarly, charming, always encouraging, John was insistent that he wanted no funeral or memorial service, no ‘fuss’, but he will be long and lovingly remembered.
Select bibliography
Books
1967
Introduction to Subject Study, by R. Staveley, I. C. McIlwaine and J. H. St. J. McIlwaine, London: Deutsch.
1977
Progress in African Bibliography: SCOLMA conference, Commonwealth Institute, London, 17–18 March 1977: proceedings. [London]: Scolma.
1978
Theses on Africa, 1963–1975, Accepted by Universities in the United Kingdom and Ireland [comp. and ed. for] Standing Conference on Library Materials on Africa [SCOLMA]. London: Mansell.
1983
Bibliography and Reading: a festschrift in honour of Ronald Staveley. I. McIlwaine, J. McIlwaine and P. G. New (eds), Metuchen NJ: Scarecrow Press.
1993
Africa: a guide to reference material, London and New York NY: Hans Zell Publishers.
1996
Writings on African Archives, with an essay by A. Thurston and contributions by P. Akotia and J. Wamukoya. London and New Providence NJ: Hans Zell Publishers. [See also Supplements 1–10 in Africa Research and Documentation below.]
1997
Maps and Mapping of Africa: a resource guide. London: Hans Zell.
2000
Collecting and Safeguarding the Oral Traditions: an international conference. The Hague: IFLA.
2001
Collecting and Safeguarding the Oral Traditions: an international conference Khon Kaen, Thailand, 16–19 August 1999; organized as a satellite meeting of the 65th IFLA General Conference held in Bangkok, Thailand, 1999. J. Mcllwaine and J. Whiffrin (eds). Munich: KG-Saur.
2007
Africa: a guide to reference material (2nd rev. and exp. ed.). Lochcarron: Hans Zell.
Articles in Africa Research and Documentation
1973
‘The teaching of African bibliography’, 3: 10–13.
1978
Evans, D. W., M. Wise and J. H. McIlwaine, ‘African Studies and British Library schools’, 16/17: 12–17.
1987
‘SCOLMA – a chronology’, 43: 1–7.
1993
‘Writings on African archives Part 1: Africa general’, 62: 25–41.
‘Writings on African archives Part 2: eastern and Central Africa’, 63: 13–47.
1994
‘Writings on African archives Part 3: southern Africa’, 64: 22–55.
‘Writings on African archives Part 4: general and anglophone’, 66: 21–43.
1995
‘Writings on African archives Part 5: West Africa: non-Anglophone’, 67: 12–26.
1996
‘Writings on African archives Part 6: North Africa’, 70: 42–57.
‘Bibliophilia Africana VII: seventh South African Conference of Bibliophiles, Cape Town, 8–10 May 1996’, 71: 44–6.
Kisor, J., J. McIlwaine and A. D. Roberts, ‘Photographs of Africa: a preliminary biography’, 72: 16–39.
1997
‘Writings on African archives: supplement 1’, 73: 30–8.
‘Birds of Africa: a guide to reference material’, 75: 12–38.
1998
‘Writings on African archives: supplement 2’, 76: 34–52.
‘Mammals of Africa: guide to reference material’, 77: 20–38.
1999
‘Birds of Africa: supplement 1’, 80: 35–7.
‘Flora of Africa: guide to reference material’, 81: 23–51.
‘Writings on African archives: supplement 3’, 79: 39–61.
2000
‘Reptiles, amphibians and fishes of Africa: a guide to reference materials’, 82: 13–30.
‘Writings on African archives: supplement 4’, 84: 9–25.
2001
‘Flora and fauna of Africa: a guide to reference material: supplement 1’, 86: 27–38.
‘Writings on African archives: supplement 5’, 87: 75–89.
2002
‘SCOLMA: a chronology of forty years 1962 to 2002’, 88: 3–17.
2003
‘Writings on African archives: supplement 6’, 91: 11–58.
2004
‘Writings on African archives: supplement 7’, 94: 21–38.
2008
‘Writings on African archives: supplement 8’, 106: 15–44.
2011
‘Writings on African archives: supplement 9’, 117: 59–98.
2012
‘SCOLMA across the years: a personal view’, 118: 5–14.
McIlwaine, J. and T. Barringer, ‘SCOLMA: a chronology of fifty years, 1962–2012’,
118: 15–32.
2021
‘Writings on African archives: supplement 10: publications of the decade 2011–2020’, 139: 3–100’.
Other publications
1997
‘Archives’ in J. H. Shafritz (ed.) The International Encyclopaedia of Public Policy and Administration. Boulder CO: Westview Press.
‘Bibliographies and indexes in publishing’ in R. Musiker (ed.), Bibliographies and Indexes in Publishing. Johannesburg: Association of Southern African Indexers and Bibliographers.
‘Keynote address: current state of publishing and bibliography of African materials’, in P. E. Westra and L. Twentyman-Jones (eds), The Love of Books: proceedings of the Seventh South African Conference of Bibliophiles held at the South African Library, Cape Town, 8–10 May 1996. Cape Town: South African Library.
1998
‘Some reflections from the UK’ in N. Schmidt (ed.), Africana librarianship in the 21st century: treasuring the past and building the future; proceedings of the 40th Anniversary Conference of the Africana Librarians Council, Columbus. Columbus OH: Indiana University African Studies Program.
1999
‘The work of the IFLA Section on Preservation and Conservation’, International Preservation News 20: 6–9.
2006
IFLA Disaster Preparedness and Planning: a brief manual, under the direction of M.-T. Varlamoff (ed. and trans. into French); C. Koch (trans. into Spanish); S. Hernandez. Paris: IFLA-Parc.
