Earnest Edward Eells papers

Three bound volumes of carbon copy typescripts by Reverend Earnest E. Eells, containing photographs, maps, and other illustrations, entitled "The Colonization of Liberia with the Story of the United States Navy and the Slavers. A Narrative from Original Sources Not Before Published, Especially the Journal of Rev. John Christian Wiltberger, Jr." (2 vols.) and "The Journal of Rev. Christian Wiltberger, Jr., 1819-1822". The typescripts concern Eell's great-grandfather, the Reverend Christian Wiltberger, Jr., who was an agent of the American Colonization Society.

Wiltberger's diary is actually dated 1821 January 21-December 31. It records Wiltberger's journey aboard the schooner Nautilus to West Africa as part of the American Colonization Society's efforts to settle free Blacks in Africa, and includes his comments on various internal problems within the Society and the difficulties encountered in obtaining land and establishing settlement in Sierra Leone. Also included is information relating to the intervention by the U.S. Navy and Lt. Robert Field Stockton; the founding of Liberia; official relations between the U.S. and Sierra Leone; the colonial government; the American African Union Society; copies of letters and addresses by Governor Charles MacCarthy, Acting Governor A. Grant, Daniel Coker, and Jonathan B. Winn; and extracts from the journal (1820-?) of Elijah Johnson, a free black member of the first and ill-fated Colonization Society voyage to Fourah Bay, Sierra Leone. To his transcription, Rev. Eells appended a "temporary conclusion to this diary" based on family tradition, various appendices, and an index.