Special Collections Research Center

Scope and Contents Collection of 33 captioned photographs and four postcards of the Booker T. Washington Institute in Kakata, Liberia. Many of the photographs feature three African American teachers at the school: Lawrence E. James, the so called US Adviser to the school, Sarah Dennis, a Fulbright scholar and Secretarial Science teacher, and Jerry Chambers, Bookkeeping and Accounting instructor. The school was the first agricultural and vocational school in Liberia. Many of the images show both teachers and...

Content Description

One, three page letter from H. W. Ellis, an emancipated emigrant missionary in Liberia, to Charles D. Drake in New York.

Content Description This collection contains materials pertaining to the professional career and personal life of Dr. John Thomas Baldwin Jr. Also included are the professional papers of Dr. Bernice Speese, a William & Mary professor and colleague of Dr. Baldwin.Materials include articles, drawings, maps, personal and academic correspondence, media clippings and written research notes, report drafts, photography, and government documents related to Baldwin’s work with the United States...

Scope and Contents

Four page letter addressed to Benjamin Coates in Philadelphia, PA. In the letter, King introduces himself and explains how he heard of Coates while studying at college in Liberia. Knowing Coates' sentiment toward the African race and his support of colonization of Liberia, King asks Coates for funding to build a sugar mill in Harrisburg along the St. Paul's River near the capital of Monrovia in Liberia.

Scope and Contents 14 page letter written to his father in Washington, DC from a missionary trip in Garmu, Liberia. In his letter, Martin gives great detail of the weather, jungle conditions, and the farming practices of the natives. He informs his father, also, of traditions and cultural practices of the natives, like their worshiping of the cottonwood tree, referred to as the "tree of worship" and musical practices to welcome the full moon. Martin retells of an arduous journey through the bush that came...

Content Description

2 letters, a total of five pages, written by Rev. James M. Priest to Rev. Daniel Wells, and Hon. Walter Lowrie respectively. Rev. Priest was a formerly enslaved person, freed on the condition that he emigrate as a missionary to Africa. In both letters, Rev. Priest complains about the lack of funds being provided to his mission and the school he founded in Liberia.

Content Description

A three page letter written and signed by Thomas Walker, an African American emigrant teacher in Liberia.