This collection was created in 1990 in partnership with the Friends of Ethiopia and cataloged in 1992 as “Ethiopian Materials: a collection of manuscripts, personal papers, memorabilia, documents, photographs, and recordings at the Library of Michigan State University.” It was established to hold unique material relating to the post-1800 history of Ethiopia and adjacent areas of Northeast Africa. The bulk of the pre-1990 donations were photocopies of reports in American, British and Italian archives. These were collected by Harold Marcus of the MSU History Department and several of his doctoral students. Additional materials include photos, personal papers, pamphlets, offprints, and unpublished papers received from many different donors. Donated material that did not fit into the scope of this collection went into the Main Collection of the MSU Library or to a specialized branch.