Attention Visiting Researchers: The Liberian Collections are currently closed for research. The Liberian Collections maintains the world’s largest non-governmental collection of Liberian materials. Holdings spanning back to the 1820s include personal papers of Liberian political leaders, intellectuals and scholars, ethnographic research records, government publications, newspapers and photographs.
The materials in the Jeanette Carter Reports include reports published by international organizations, the Liberian government and various countries. It also consists of clippings from international news media websites, programs and publications and correspondence.
The materials in the Peter Sevareid Papers include correspondence, one of Sevareid's publication drafts, and conferences programs and papers. It also consists of research materials, including publications, reports, news clippings and interviews from the Liberian Customary Law Project.
The Friends of Liberia collection consists of educational, and government material. Within the collection there is also information about the organization, and "subject files."
A. Romeo Horton was best known in Liberia as a banker, the founder and former president of Liberia's first indigenous bank, the Bank of Liberia. Horton was also a dedicated public servant and was committed to economic cooperation in West Africa. In addition to his work in Liberia, Horton also had a successful career in Philadelphia as the president of the Phildelphia Corporation for Development and Cooperation and helped establish the United Bank of Philadelphia. This collection contains materials pertaining to his career as a banker, his involvement with numerous organizations, government materials, and his manuscripts and drafts.
Raymond Smyke worked in African education for over 30 years teaching and developing programs to assist teachers and leaders in English and French speaking countries. He was the executive secretary of the World Confederation of Teachers and published several books and articles on Africa, especially on Momulu Massaquoi, a king of the Vai people and the first indigenous African diplomat, and his family
The Liberian Newspaper Collection is one of the largest collections of Liberian newspapers in the world. An exhaustive list of titles, including many with small circulation or a limited run. The collection is ever growing and the finding aid will be updated frequently to reflect the additional titles.
William Siegmann was the leading expert on the arts in Liberia and Sierra Leone. His collection contains an exhaustive lists of resources, both primary and secondary, pertaining to the arts, culture, language, and history of Liberia and Sierra Leone. Also included are materials from his various projects, espeically those from his "Aesthetics of Power: African Art Along the Windward Coast." Correspondence with various museums and universities, personal and teaching materials are also in this collection.
The Jeanette Carter Papers spans the dates 1928-2014. Renowned anthropologist on West Africa and women, this collections includes her research on women in Liberia and the Gambia, personal accounts of the Liberian Civil War, her field notes, research on ethnic groups, and extensive reports, publications and news articles on Liberia.
A student of Cuttington College, Fr. Christopher K. Kandakai became an ordained Epsicopal priest in 1951. He was Liberia's longest serving Episocpal priest and served as rector and priest-in-charge of many Episcopal churches in Liberia and trained many Episcopal theologians. Additionally, Kandakai was an avid linguist who translated the New Testament into both Gola and Vai languages. This collections contains materials pertaining to the Episcopal Church as well as to adult education and linguistics. A large selection of his materials are written in Vai, only one of two African languages with an original script, unrelated to Latin or Arabic.