CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY ARCHIVE

Section IV: Africa Missions
Part 12: West Africa (Sierra Leone), 1881-1934

This material continues our coverage of the West Africa (Sierra Leone) Mission with the following materials:

• Letter Books for 1883-1934.
• Original Papers for 1881-1934.
• Précis Books for 1880-1881 and 1887-1934.
• There is a strong emphasis on education and, in particular, on Fourah Bay College and the two Freetown grammar schools.
• The documents also reveal the focus on creating an independent Sierra Leone church and involving the local people in a full share of running the church.
• There are lots of letters, reports, journals of missionaries and newspaper cuttings which give the researcher a very good idea of life and social conditions in this part of West Africa.
• The journals of J A Alley, April-December 1881, describe places visited, meetings with local kings, baptisms and mission journeys “in company with my interpreter, my house servant and two porters.”
• There is a detailed 29 page typescript calendar of the 127 items included in the Original Papers for 1886. There is lots of material on social conditions, the various schools, cultural contacts, Fourah Bay College and the Sierra Leone Native Church.