Scope and Content
The
Fr. Christopher K. Kandakai Collection spans the period from
1928-2011 and is
organized into six series: Education, Episcopal Church, Government and Politics,
Language and Linguistics,
Programs and Announcements, and Subject Files.
The Education series contains materials from various
schools and missions thoughout Liberia, including the University of Liberia and Cuttington
College. Also within this series is the Adult
Education subseries which contains reports and correspondence from a
number of Liberian adult education associations.
The Episcopal Church series has correspondence,
financial information and reports pertaining to the Episcopal Church. Also included in this
collection are many religious newsletters, magazines, and newspapers. A major
subseries is the Diocesan Conventions which span the
years from 1954-2003.
Government and Politics includes materials from the three
branches of the Liberian government as well as materials on the Constitutional
Advisory Assembly.
Language and Linguistics contains reports, correspondence
and other materials from different language programs in Liberia. It is within this series that all of the
Vai materials are housed; this includes teaching materials, booklets and extensive
manuscripts from Kandakai's bible translations.
The Programs and Announcements series is a lengthly series
that includes funeral and wedding programs,
Liberia Official Gazette
death announcements, life sketches and other religious and non-religious
programs. A complete list of individuals who have a funeral program in this
collection can be obtained by contacting the staff at the Liberian Collections at
Indiana University.
The Subject Files series contains miscellaneous materials
that couldn't easily be housed in other series. These include non-religious
newsletters and magazines, invitations, personal materials, conference materials,
reports and correspondence. Fr. Kandakai was an elaborate
notetaker who documented his daily musings, sermon ideas, thoughts and feelings in
notebooks, on scrap paper and on any other surface he could find. All of these notes
have been kept together and put into a subseries within this series. They are
arranged chronologically when possible but most of the notes are undated.