Researcher finds crucial post-slavery documents

The BFSS Archives welcomed an American researcher who used the BFSS Annual Reports and the Jamaica letters from the BFSS foreign correspondence files to look at education in Jamaica. She wrote:

“My dissertation examines education for Afro-Jamaicans as they struggled to establish a life free from the bondage of the plantation after the abolition of slavery. During my time at the BFSS Archives at Brunel University, I have found countless documents that I will utilize in my dissertation.

“Before visiting, I was having a hard time finding sources that included information about teaching methods and training. I also had a gap in my research in the mid-1850s, but to my delight, the BFSS Archives had many documents from missionaries and teachers that will help me to fill the gaps in my research and work towards the completion of my dissertation.”

Researcher Chelsey Smith plans to incorporate these sources into her historical study by analysing the successes as well as the struggles that schools across Jamaica faced during the mid-nineteenth century.

She added: “My time here has been wonderful and that was made possible by the very helpful and knowledgeable archivists who work diligently to provide a welcoming space for visiting researchers!”

Pictured below are Jamaican letters and BFSS slave book embroidery, both held in the Archives

Read the BFSS Archives Annual Report 2023