Collection context
Summary
- Creator:
- Townsend, E. Reginald, and Townsend, Evelyn Diggs
- Abstract:
- E. Reginald Townsend (1917-1980) is best known as the man who built Liberia's Information Service. He served as Press Secretary and Chief of the Bureau (now the Department of Information, Culture and Tourism) to William V.S. Tubman, President of Liberia from 1944 to 1971, and as Minister of State for Presidential Affairs to William R. Tolbert, President of Liberia from 1971 to 1980. Townsend's wife, Evelyn Diggs Townsend (1932-2004), was involved in and led several church and women's organizations. After a coup brought down the Tolbert government and resulted in her husband's execution in 1980, she worked to attain peace in Liberia. The materials in this collection include papers from the years of Reginald Townsend's service during the Tubman and Tolbert presidencies and those from Evelyn Townsend's work in many service organizations, as well as personal correspondence and memorabilia from the Townsend family
- Extent:
- 7 cubic feet; (7 records cartons)
- Language:
- Materials are primarily in English
- Preferred citation:
[item], The E. Reginald Townsend and Evelyn Diggs Townsend Papers. Bloomington, IN: Liberian Collections, Indiana University Libraries, 2008.
Background
- Biographical / Historical:
Edison Reginald Townsend was born July 23, 1917 in Schieffelin, Marshall Territory, Liberia. His early education took place in Brewerville, Liberia, and at Liberia College High School. He attended Liberia College in Monrovia (now the University of Liberia) from 1940-1943, before studying in the United States, first at American University from 1950-1952 and later at Michigan State University from 1952-1953, where he received an M.A. After completing his studies, Townsend began working as a journalist. In 1954, he was designated Press Secretary to President William V.S. Tubman . He went on to become Chief of the Bureau, later known as the Ministry of Information, Culture, and Tourism. When William R. Tolbert was appointed President of Liberia, he named Townsend Minister of State for Presidential Affairs. Townsend is best known as the man who built Liberia's Information Service. Because of his efforts, Liberia gained its first broadcasting and television system. He also developed the local press. On April 12, 1980, President Tolbert was overthrown and executed by militants headed by Samuel Doe. Before the end of the month, all of Tolbert's cabinet ministers, including E. Reginald Townsend, were sentenced to death and shot by firing squad on a beach near Monrovia.
Evelyn Diggs Townsend was born November 15, 1932. After her mother died at a young age, Evelyn was raised by her aunt, who sent her to London for her schooling. Upon returning to Liberia, she worked at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where she cooperated with the United Nations and assisted in bringing the Organization of African Unity (now the African Union) to Monrovia in 1979. After her husband was killed by rebel forces led by Samuel Doe following the 1980 coup, Evelyn raised their eight children while remaining very active in the efforts of Inter-Faith and Churches United for Peace, as well as several women's groups. While carrying out her work in these organizations, Evelyn and her associates visited several locations that others feared were too risky to travel to, speaking with leaders of rebel groups in an attempt to gain peace. They also traveled to Abuja, Accra and Akosombo for peace talks and conferences. Evelyn Townsend worked for Liberian peace until her death on December 4, 2004. A testimony to her unyielding commitment to achieving a lasting peace in Liberia, she once stated, "Attaining peace is a process; it's not an event. The guns ceased, but we have to create the mechanism for peaceful growth; maintaining the peace is the responsibility of every citizen."
- Scope and Content:
The E. Reginald Townsend and Evelyn Diggs Townsend collection spans the years from 1905-2002 with the bulk of the documents covering the years 1971-2000and comprises 6 cubic feet. The collection is divided into three series: The E. Reginald Townsend Papers, The Evelyn Diggs Townsend Papers, Publications
The E. Reginald Townsend Papers, spanning the years 1947-2002, the bulk of which spanning 1971-1979, are made up of documents covering governmental affairs and processes, political parties, education, organizations and companies and the Freemasons. The Evelyn Diggs Townsend Papers deal specifically with her involvement in several women and church organizations, specifically the National Federation of Liberian Women's Organizations. The Publications series consists of bound books and pamphlets dealing with a range of topics in Liberia and other African nations. The Reginald and Evelyn series overlap significantly, and the subseries under them were divided loosely under who the bulk of the papers dealt with. The E. Reginald Townsend series has nine subseries: Budgets,Church Organizations, Correspondence, Education, Government, Government Processes, Masons, Organizations/Companies, Political Parties and Speeches/Programs. The largest of these subseries, is Government which deals extensively with Reginald's career as Minister of State for Presidential Affairs. It contains documents dealing with the creation of acts and bills, Annual Reports, attendance at conferences and Letters Patent. Another folder contains papers dealing with governmental trips to other countries, specifically a scrapbook holding newspaper clippings and photos from Reginald's visit to several Asian countries. Another large subseries holds documents about the Freemasons, which Reginald was actively involved with. Folders under this subseries contain constitutions and by-laws, minutes from meetings, schedules and reports. The Organizations and Companies subseries contains papers from a variety of businesses and organizations the Liberian government dealt with while Reginald held office. Some of these include the Bong Mining Company, Inspectorate Worldwide Services, Inc., the Liberia Matches Corporation, the Firestone Plantation and the Sino-Liberian Development and Investment Corporation. There is also a folder containing companies interesting in mining diamonds and oil in Liberia>. The Speeches/Programs subseries holds speeches made by Charles Ghankay Taylor, William R. Tolbert, William V.S. Tubman, E. Reginald Townsend and Evelyn Diggs Townsend.
The Evelyn Diggs Townsend series has fourteen subseries: ACP/EU Joint Assembly, Aid Organizations, Church Organizations, Correspondence, Grants/Funding, Legal Matters, National Federation of Liberian Women's Organizations, Miscellaneous, Photos, Publications, Publications/Periodicals about Women, Reports, Women's Conferences and Women's Organizations. Because of Evelyn's active struggle for peace, she was in contact with several grant and funding foundations across the world, and therefore, one of the largest of these subseries is titled Grants/Funding. This subseries contains information about the writing of grants, how to get them, potential funders, and several of the actual applications that Evelyn used in which to obtain funding. Another of the largest subseries is titled Legal Matters. In this subseries, under the folder heading Inheritance/Wills/Death Certificates, is the death certificate of E. Reginald Townsend sent to Evelyn after his execution. This folder also contains inheritance information and certificates granting Evelyn Townsend Executrix of Reginald's estate. The Women's Conferences and Women's Organizations subseries contain a lot of information on the organizations that EvelynEvelyn started or was involved in along with the activities and aid they provided. The Photos subseries contains photos and negatives of women's conferences as well as Townsend family photos, many of which are damaged.
The Publications/Reports series contains the following bound volumes: Central Rediffusion Services Limited(1956). Commercial broadcasting in the British West IndiesLondon: Butterworths Scientific Publications Checchi and Company(1966). Study of the Liberian Broadcasting CorporationNew York: Checchi and Company Femmes Africa Solidarite(1997). Women's participation in the peace process in Sierra LeoneSwitzerland: AGL FM Production Liberia Telecommunications Corporation(1990).Liberia telephone, telex and telefax directoryMonrovia, Liberia: Youbotty Production National Federation of Liberian Women Organizations.Leadership skills for Liberian women's community organizations: Train the Trainers Workshop Organisation of African Unity (1979).What kind of Africa by the year 2000? (Final report of the Monrovia Symposium on the future development prospects of Africa towards the year 2000)Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: Organisation of African Unity Patchett, G.N.(1973). Radio servicing: Basic electrotechnology(Vol. 1) London: Norman Price Publishers Ltd. Sankawulo, W. The legend of Chief Kortuma Sena, B.& Jaworski, H.(1972). Three case studies in another development.Deveopment Dialogue Ugwuanyie, F.E. (1996). Woman: What she is and what she is not (A review of woman status). Uwani Enugu: Cidjap Printing Press Warner & Warner International Associates, Inc.(1970).An investment survey of the prospects for aiding in the development of tourism in six West African countries: The Gambia, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Senegal, Sierra Leone. Washington D.C. Yang, E.U. (comp.)& Jimenez-David, R. (ed.)(1994). Why women, What politics? (Proceedings of the first Asia-Pacific Congress of Women in Politics held 21-23 June 1994).Baclaran, Pranaque, Metro Manila, Philippines Center for Asia-Pacific Women in Politics (CAPWIP)
This series also contains three subseries: Publications, Publications/Periodicals Pertaining to Women and Reports. The divide between the publications exists because many of the publications about women belong to Evelyn while the majority of the documents in general publications deal with the government and therefore belong to Reginald. The most substantial folders in the Publication subseries are Government Publications, Informational Publications, The Liberia Official Gazette, Periodicals and Publications about Liberia. The most substantial of those folders in the Publications/Periodicals Pertaining to Women subseries is titled Publications/Periodicals, which contains Women in Action magazine, the Journal of the International Alliance of Women, The Education of Girls: The Ouagadougou Declaration and Framework for Action, The National Council of Women, Femmeline and many more. The Reports subseries contains government reports, several conference reports and telecommunications reports from Reginald's years of developing the Liberian telephone industry. Note that the reports for church organizations remained under the Church Organizations series because they were combined in a folder with programs and budgets.
- Custodial history:
Copyright interests for this collection have been transferred to the Trustees of Indiana University. For more information, contact the Indiana University Liberian Collections
E. Reginald Townsend accumulated the bulk of these personal papers and government documents during his service in the government (1954-1980). Additional materials date from his pre-government life and documents issued after his death. Evelyn Diggs Townsend accumulated the bulk of her papers during her years of service in many non-profit and church agencies. Additional materials from her life outside of these organizations are also included in this collection.
During the Liberian civil wars, the papers were stored in less than ideal conditions and were exposed to damage due to mishandling and Liberia's tropical climate. In 2005 the materials were retrieved from Liberia and shipped to the E. Lingle Craig Preservation Laboratory at Indiana University where they were deep frozen at -10ยบ F to stop mold growth and exterminate insects. Conservators then cleaned, flattened and disinifected the documents. The conservation team completed work on the Townsend Papers on March 23, 2006. The archiving of the papers was completed in 2008.
- Processing information:
Andrea Bertrand, Megan MacDonald,
- Bibliography:
African Women and Peace Support Group(2004). <span><em>Liberian women peacemakers: Fighting for the right to be seen, heard and counted</em></span>Trenton, N.J.: Africa World Press, Inc.
Dickie, J.(1973). <span><em>Who's who in Africa; the political, military and business leaders of Africa </em></span>London: African Development
Indexed Terms
- Subjects:
- Liberia. Politics and government 1944-1980.
Liberia. Social conditions
Liberia History (1905-2005) - Names:
- Firestone Plantations Company
Freemasons
Liberia. Supreme Court
Liberia College
Presbyterian Church of Liberia
True Whig Party
United Methodist Church in Liberia
University of Liberia
Tolbert, William R., Jr., 1913-1980
Townsend, E. Reginald, 1917-1980
Townsend, Evelyn Diggs, 1932-2004
Tubman, William V. S., 1895-1971 - Places:
- Liberia. Dept. of Justice
Liberia. Dept. of State
Liberia. Legislature
Monrovia (Liberia)
Access
- RESTRICTIONS:
-
Open for research.
- TERMS OF ACCESS:
-
All research at the Liberian Collections Project is by appointment only.
- PREFERRED CITATION:
-
[item], The E. Reginald Townsend and Evelyn Diggs Townsend Papers. Bloomington, IN: Liberian Collections, Indiana University Libraries, 2008.
- CAMPUS:
- Indiana University Bloomington
- LOCATION OF THIS COLLECTION:
-
Herman B Wells Library1320 East Tenth StreetBloomington, Indiana 47405, United States
- BEFORE YOU VISIT:
- Processed Liberian Collections are open to researchers with advance notice. However, the African Studies Librarian position is currently vacant and because of this, reference and research support is limited.
- CAMPUS:
- Indiana University Bloomington
- CONTACT:
-
afstlib@indiana.edu