Sale 2536 | Lot 290

(MISSIONARIES--MONROVIA, LIBERIA)
An archive of over 90 photographs & ephemeral items related to Methodist Bishop A.P. Camphor & Mamie Camphor.
A personal archive of the Camphors during their time as Methodist missionaries in Liberia, where they developed the College of West Africa, and upon their return to the U.S. Including photographs of Alexander and Mamie Camphor, class pictures, portraits of graduates, and snapshots of family and friends. Silver and albumen prints, the images measuring 2x3 to 7¼x9½ inches (5.1x7.6 to 18.4x24.1 cm.), and the reverse, a few mounted to paper or in studio packaging, and approximately a quarter with names, dates, and/or descriptive information, some addressed to Mamie, in ink or pencil, on recto or verso. 1896-1940s
WITH--Seventeen individual and group photographs of Liberians and depictions of their everyday life. Albumen prints, the images measuring approximately 5¼x8 inches (13.3x20.3 cm.), and the reverse, all flush mounted to album paper.
AND--Twenty-one ephemeral items, including copies of The African Nationalist newspaper, Mamie Camphor's 1927 voter's registration, a sermon, health report, letters, and invitations.

[1,500/2,500]

Alexander Priestly Camphor was born to enslaved parents in Louisiana and was adopted after their death by a white Methodist minister, Stephen Priestly. Camphor graduated from New Orleans University (now Dillard University) in 1887 and attended Gammon Theological Seminary. In 1896, he was commissioned by the Methodist Episcopal Church to serve as a missionary with his wife, Mamie, in Liberia. They served there for nine years, during which time Camphor was an integral force in education by developing the Monrovia Seminary into the College of West Africa, which would be a degree-granting institution. Camphor was the last missionary Methodist bishop of Liberia.