T. J. Alldridge’s Sierra Leone collections

Abstract Through his books, The Sherbro and its Hinterland (1901) and Sierra Leone: A transformed colony (1911), and his collections of ethnographic material from southern Sierra Leone, Thomas Joshua Alldridge (1847–1916) has probably had a greater influence in shaping the wider world’s perception of Sierra Leone’s traditional culture than any other single individual. The present article traces the history of his collections, showing that they were more extensive than is generally recognized, and documenting their dispersal to public institutions and private collectors in Europe and America. Among the questions it raises is how far the objects in Alldridge’s collections are an authentic representation of the ways of life of the peoples of southern Sierra Leone on the eve of colonization.