Trustees of Donations for Education in Liberia Records 1842-1939 Guide to the Collection

Table of Contents Collection Summary Historical Information Sources Collection Description Related Materials Organization Detailed Description of the Collection Preferred Citation Access Terms Photographs Removed from the Collection

Collection Summary

Historical Information

Historical Sketch

The Trustees of Donations for Education in Liberia (Trustees of Donations) was founded by Massachusetts Colonization Society president Simon Greenleaf and secretary Joseph Tracy in 1848, about twenty-five years after the first group of Liberian American colonists settled on the northeastern coast of Africa, and one year after Liberia had declared itself an independent nation. The Massachusetts Colonization Society, a local branch of the American Colonization Society, was founded in 1841 to support the emigration of free-born African Americans and emancipated slaves from the United States, specifically Massachusetts, to Liberia.

Liberia had a public school system in place by 1848, but they did not have an established college or university, leaving most of their citizens with limited educational opportunities. Concerned that without educated men to run Liberia, the newly formed nation would not succeed, Greenleaf and Tracy wrote to the American Colonization Society to describe their idea. After much discussion and planning an act was passed in the United States House of Representatives on 19 March 1850 incorporating Simon Greenleaf, George N. Briggs, Joel Giles, and their associates and successors as the Trustees of Donations with the power to manage funds to be used to promote education in Liberia. With the help of Liberia's first president, Joseph Jenkins Roberts, the Liberian Legislature passed an act on 24 Dec. 1851 establishing a charter for Liberia College and incorporating the Liberia College Board of Trustees.

The cornerstone of Liberia College was laid at Cape Mesurado, within the city limits of Monrovia, Liberia on 25 Jan 1858. Over the next few years the Liberian Legislature passed a series of acts granting twenty acres of land in Monrovia as a site for the college and an additional one thousand acres with in the four counties of the republic to the Trustees of the College. In 1861 the Trustees of Donations appointed Liberia College's first three faculty members: Joseph Jenkins Roberts as President and Professor of Jurisprudence and International Law, Alexander Crummell as Professor of Intellectual and Moral Philosophy and of the English Language and Literature, and Edward W. Blynden as Professor of Greek and Latin Language and Literature. On 23 Jan. 1862 Liberia College was incorporated. A year later, on 2 Feb. 1863, the doors of Liberia College were opened to their first seven students, and subsequently to the Preparatory Department a few months later. In 1864 The Laws of Liberia College, Enacted by the Board of Trustees was published, and in the Annual Report of the Trustees of Donations that year it was recorded, "Thus, after so many years of patient, careful, hopeful labor, after overcoming such obstacles and discouragement, Liberia College is established and in successful operation."

As the interest in Liberia waned over the next eighty years, the Trustees of Donations struggled unsuccessfully to raise the funds necessary for the growing expenses at Liberia College. Repeated difficulties with the staff and faculty, frequent turnovers in the college president's position, and a low number of interested or qualified students also threatened toe future of the college. By the mid 20th century, the role of the Trustees of Donations evolved from their initial hands-on management of the college to a more philanthropic role.

In the late 1940's, Liberia College became the University of Liberia still supported by the Trustees of Donations today.

Trustees of Donations for Education in Liberia list of officers

Presidents

Vice Presidents

Secretaries

Treasurers

Liberia College Presidents

Sources

Gardner W. Allen, The Trustees of Donations for Education in Liberia: A Story of Philanthropic Endeavor, 1850-1923 (Boston, 1923).

Collection Description

The Trustees of Donations for Education in Liberia records consist of 15 boxes, 2 pamphlet boxes, 15 volumes in cases, and 1 oversize box that span the years 1842-1936. The collection is divided into four series: Correspondence, Administrative Records, Financial Records, and Printed Materials.

The bulk of the collection consists of letters written and received by the officers of the organization from 1842-1929. The incoming correspondence and retained copies of outgoing correspondence (letterpress books and later carbon copies) reflect the relationships between the Trustees of Donations and the Liberian government; the faculty, staff and board at Liberia College; and the American Colonization Society, among other like-minded organizations. The correspondence also reflects the continual challenges faced by the Trustees of Donations: fundraising; the building and maintenance of the college; the high turnover rate of president and faculty positions; the lack of eligible students; and the general unrest in Liberia. Of special interest is a letter, dated 14 Apr. 1848, written by Joseph Tracy, secretary of the Massachusetts Colonization Society and future secretary of the Trustees of Donations, to the American Colonization Society, describing his and Massachusetts Colonization Society president Simon Greenleaf's idea for the creation of a college or university in Liberia.

Administrative records include, but are not limited to, meeting minutes kept between 1842 and 1927 (with gaps), Trustees of Donations president and secretary reports given from 1850-1926 (with gaps), various addresses given between 1858-1918, records created at Liberia College between 1845-1908, records pertaining to wills and endowments from 1851-1898, and other legal documents created between 1848-1893. Of special interest is a draft of the Constitution of the Trustees of Donations written in 1850.

In addition to the correspondence and administrative records, the collection also includes financial records and printed materials. Financial records include annual reports from the treasurers, account books, bills, and bank statements. Printed materials include Liberian newspapers, clippings, menus and other printed ephemera, and bound publications pertaining to and created by the Trustees of Donations, Liberia College, and the country of Liberia.

Related Materials

The Massachusetts Historical Society (MHS) holds the following collections related to the Trustees of Donations for Education in Liberia records:

Trustees of Donations for Education in Liberia visual materials collection, ca. 1885-1925. Photo. Coll. 49.

Organization of the Collection

The collection is organized into the following series:

Detailed Description of the Collection

Preferred Citation

Trustees of Donations for Education in Liberia records, Massachusetts Historical Society.

Access Terms

This collection is indexed under the following headings in ABIGAIL, the online catalog of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related persons, organizations, or subjects should search the catalog using these headings.

Photographs Removed from the Collection

Photographs from this collection were removed to the Trustees of Donations for Education in Liberia visual materials collection, ca. 1885-1925. Photo. Coll. 49.