Professor Adam Jones, Leipzig University
2006 award - major research project
£27,500 for 12 months
Following the creation of the German protectorate in 1885, German missionary societies established themselves in different parts of Tanzania. The Leipzig Mission founded its first station on the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro in 1893. By 1939 half of the (predominantly peasant) Chagga population had been converted; today most people are Christians. Although German rule ended in 1919, German missionaries returned in 1926, including a leading figure in German anthropology and mission history - Bruno Gutmann (1876-1966). In 1963 the mission church became the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania in Northern Tanganyika [later: Tanzania], consisting of 5 dioceses: Northern, Pare, Arusha, Meru and Central.
Enlarged Image [25 KB]
The archive of this church in the small town of Moshi in the centre of the Northern Diocese houses records which extend back to 1895. Some are in English, others in German or Swahili. Most researchers studying the history or anthropology of northeastern Tanzania visit this archive, although the conditions for research are far from ideal. There are plans for the archive to be extended. The material in Moshi suffers from poor shelving, changing temperature and humidity, a complete lack of boxes, in a few cases termites and silverfish, and above all dust. Some papers are in the process of becoming very brittle because of the influence of light. Those held at other former mission stations are in a similar state. Nevertheless, most of the material is still suitable for copying.
The material, produced by missionaries and subsequently by African converts, falls into seven categories, of which the first is the most important in terms of quantity:
- church registers (births, baptisms, communion, catechists, marriages, funerals)
- mission council records
- education records
- diaries
- files on individual missionaries, notably Bruno Gutmann, and on African teachers, pastors and evangelists
- photographs
- first prints of hymnals and portions of the Bible in African languages.
Six parishes in the Northern Diocese (Kidia, Machame, Mamba, Masama, Mwika, Sika) have already agreed to transfer all their archival material to Moshi. There is additional material of historical interest, even more endangered, lying around elsewhere in the same region. These places, which have no archives of their own, belong to different dioceses (e.g. Ilboru in Arusha Diocese, Nkoaranga in Meru Diocese, Shigatini in Pare Diocese), but the need for cooperation and centralisation is recognised by the respective bishops. In the long term it may be possible to persuade some descendants of the first "native pastors" to donate whatever papers and / or photographs they have.
Enlarged Image [32 KB]
Any material not yet inventoried must be sorted and listed before it can be digitally copied. A finding aid will be produced for such material, serving among other things as a link between the digital copies and the originals.
Enlarged Image [43 KB]
To transfer the Leipzig Mission records to the Tanzania National Archives is not considered desirable in Moshi, where the records continue to have a meaning for the Church and descendants of the early Christians. Hence it seems more appropriate to work towards better conservation in Moshi itself, while depositing a copy of all digitalised records in 1) the Moshi archive, 2) the National Archives (Dar es Salaam) [master copy], 3) the British Library, 4) the University of Leipzig and possibly 5) Yale University.
