README.md

---
license: cc-by-nc-nd-4.0
task_categories:
- image-classification
- image-to-text
language:
- en
tags:
- nigeria
- igbo
- anthropology
- history
- maa-cambridge
- colonial-archives
- africa
size_categories:
- 1K<n<10K
---

# MAA Cambridge (South Eastern Nigeria) Photographic Dataset

This dataset is a curated, scraped collection of historical photographs from **South Eastern Nigeria**, sourced from the [Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (MAA), University of Cambridge](https://collections.maa.cam.ac.uk/).

It focuses specifically on the "South Eastern Nigeria" search query, capturing a vital record of Igbo, Ibibio, and neighboring cultures during the early-to-mid 20th century. This dataset is intended for **non-commercial research, educational, and cultural preservation purposes**.

## 💾 Dataset Structure

The dataset is organized as a standard `ImageFolder` with metadata stored in `data.jsonl`.
- **`/images`**: Contains the high-resolution images (JPEG/PNG).
- **`data.jsonl`**: Contains the rich metadata and linkage to the images.

### Schema (JSONL)
Each line in `data.jsonl` corresponds to a single archival record and follows this schema:

```json
{
  "id": "N.13249.GIJ",
  "source_id": "maa_cambridge",
  "source_url": "[https://collections.maa.cam.ac.uk/photographs/306521](https://collections.maa.cam.ac.uk/photographs/306521)",
  "metadata": {
    "title": "Untitled",
    "idno": "N.13249.GIJ",
    "description": "Mau (Ghost) masquerade. Two characters performing...",
    "place": "W Africa; Nigeria; South Eastern Nigeria; Ontisha Province...",
    "date": "1932 - 1938",
    "photographer": "Jones, Gwilliam Iwan (known as G.I.)",
    "context": "Jones describes the head mask for the character called...",
    "cultural_affiliation": "Igbo [historically Ibo]",
    "raw_text_dump": "..."
  },
  "images": [
    {
      "file_name": "N_13249_GIJ_0.jpg",
      "original_url": "[https://collections.maa.cam.ac.uk/media/library_images/](https://collections.maa.cam.ac.uk/media/library_images/)..."
    }
  ]
}

```

## 📊 Dataset Statistics

* **Total Records:** ~1,217 archival items.
* **Total Images:** ~1,217+ (Some records contain multiple views).
* **Region:** South Eastern Nigeria (Awka, Onitsha, Owerri, Calabar, etc.).
* **Time Period:** Primarily 1900s–1950s.
* **Primary Source:** Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (MAA), Cambridge.

## ⚠️ License and Legal Information

**This dataset contains copyrighted material.**

* **Content License (Images & Data):** The images and metadata in this dataset are made available by the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (MAA) under a **Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)** license.
* **Commercial Use:** **Strictly Prohibited.** You may not use this dataset for commercial purposes without explicit permission from MAA Cambridge.
* **Attribution:** Any use of this dataset must attribute the **Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge**.

**User Responsibility:** It is the user's responsibility to adhere to the MAA's [Terms of Use](https://collections.maa.cam.ac.uk/) and ensuring ethical usage of culturally sensitive material.

## 📚 Citing This Dataset

If you use this dataset in your research or project, please cite both the dataset and the original source:

**Cite the Dataset:**

```bibtex
@dataset{nwokike_maa_cambridge_nigeria_2025,
  author    = {Nwokike, Onyeka},
  title     = {MAA Cambridge (South Eastern Nigeria) Photographic Dataset},
  year      = {2025},
  publisher = {Hugging Face},
  version   = {1.0},
  url       = "[https://huggingface.co/datasets/nwokikeonyeka/maa-cambridge-south-eastern-nigeria](https://huggingface.co/datasets/nwokikeonyeka/maa-cambridge-south-eastern-nigeria)"
}

```

**Cite the Source (Example):**

> *Photograph N.13249.GIJ, "Mau (Ghost) masquerade", Jones, G.I., Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge.*

```