George Way and Winifred Jewell Harley papers, 1907-1976

Using These Materials Teaser

Using These Materials Links:

Using These Materials

Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
More about accessing and using these materials...

Summary

Creator:
Harley, George W. (George Way), 1894-1966
Abstract:
Medical doctor and anthropologist George Way Harley (1894-1966) and botanist Winifred Jewell Harley (1895-1979) founded the Ganta United Methodist Mission in Ganta, Liberia, in 1926 and worked there until retiring to Lancaster, Va. in 1960. Collection includes awards, clippings, correspondence, diaries, diplomas and certificates, maps, notes, photographs, scrapbooks, writings, and other printed materials that document George and Winifred Harley's careers as anthropologists, botanists, and medical missionaries in Ganta, Liberia, as well as their retirement in Lancaster, Va. Persons and institutions represented in the collection include: American Foundation for Tropical Medicine; Duke University; Earnest Hooton; Edward Hume; Elbert Mathews; Farlow Herbarium; Firestone Plantations Company; Ganta United Methodist Mission; George Schwab; Jean Curran; Methodist Board of Foreign Missions; Nya Kwiawon Taryor; Peabody Museum; Thomas Donohugh; U.S. Foreign Economic Administration; and William V.S. Tubman. Topics about Liberia include: Art; economy; Ganta; history; indigenous religion; Mano language and people; medical practice; missionary work; ritual masks; Sanniquellie District; secret societies (Poro, Sande); slavery and emancipation; snake mythology; traditional medicine; travel; and the effects of World War II on Liberia. Tropical diseases discussed include Leprosy; Schistosomiasis; sleeping sickness (Trypanosomiasis) and control of the Tsetse-fly; Smallpox; and Yaws.
Extent:
6.5 Linear Feet
Language:
English, Hebrew, Mano.
Collection ID:
RL.00508

Background

Scope and content:

Collection includes awards, clippings, correspondence, diaries, diplomas and certificates, maps, notes, photographs, scrapbooks, writings, and other printed materials that document George and Winifred Harley's careers as anthropologists, botanists, and medical missionaries in Ganta, Liberia, as well as their retirement in Lancaster, Va. Persons and institutions represented in the collection include: American Foundation for Tropical Medicine; Duke University; Earnest Hooton; Edward Hume; Elbert Mathews; Farlow Herbarium; Firestone Plantations Company; Ganta United Methodist Mission; George Schwab; Jean Curran; Methodist Board of Foreign Missions; Nya Kwiawon Taryor; Peabody Museum; Thomas Donohugh; U.S. Foreign Economic Administration; and William V.S. Tubman. Topics about Liberia include: Art; economy; Ganta; history; indigenous religion; Mano language and people; medical practice; missionary work; ritual masks; Sanniquellie District; secret societies (Poro, Sande); slavery and emancipation; snake mythology; traditional medicine; and travel. Tropical diseases discussed include Leprosy; Schistosomiasis; sleeping sickness (Trypanosomiasis) and control of the Tsetse-fly; Smallpox; and Yaws.

Biographical / historical:

Medical doctor and anthropologist George Way Harley (1894-1966) and botanist Winifred Jewell Harley (1895-1979) founded the Ganta United Methodist Mission in Ganta, Liberia, in 1926, and worked there until retiring to Lancaster, Va. in 1960.

George Way Harley was born in 1894 in Asheville, N.C. He attended Trinity College (now Duke University; AB 1916); Yale University (MD 1923); London School of Tropical Medicine (certificate 1925); Hartford Seminary Foundation (PhD 1938). In addition, Harley received training in embalming and blacksmithing. From 1923-1924 Harley worked as an intern at Hartford's Municipal Hospital. In 1925 he and Winifred accepted a position as medical missionaries with the Methodist Episcopal Church and moved to Liberia, where they founded a mission in Ganta the following year. The Harleys' activities were widely followed in the American press, which dubbed George "The good witch of Ganta." During furloughs in the United States, Dr. Harley was popular as a speaker before a variety of religious and civic organizations. The couple worked in Ganta until they retired in 1960 and settled in rural Virginia. George died in Lancaster Va. in 1966; his ashes were returned to Liberia and buried near the mission he founded in Ganta.

During the 35 years spent at Ganta Mission, Dr. Harley built a medical dispensary, hospital, church, school, several residences and shops; established a leper village and two "sick villages" to quarantine the ill; and oversaw the vaccination of thousands of Liberians against infectious diseases like smallpox. In addition to his medical work, Dr. Harley was also involved in industrial training (including blacksmithing and brick-making); and religious and secular education for Liberians. Beginning in 1931, Harley also served as a field associate for the Peabody Museum of Ethnology. While in Liberia, Harley undertook research on Liberian secret societies; tribal masks; local customs and art; native medicine; mapping; meteorology; chimpanzee anatomy; and infectious tropical diseases. Harley became an active collector of ceremonial masks, and eventually donated part of his mask collection to the Peabody. After Harley's death, another portion of his mask collection was aquired by the Anthropology Department at the College of William and Mary.

Dr. Harley was not immune to the ethnocentric biases of mid-century American or Western values, but as a missionary he proved to be sensitive to indigenous practice; he called his approach "applied Christianity" and sought to create a fusion of Western science and technology with traditional medicine, religious beliefs and lore. Harley recognized areas where traditional medicine and medical practice produced positive results. At the same time he tried to demonstrate where certain ailments were, for example, the result of infectious disease and not witchcraft. His efforts won a degree of respect among traditional healers, and he was initiated into one of Liberia's tribal cults, the snakebite society. Harley's work was recognized by the Liberian government through several awards: Knight Commander of the Liberian Humane Order of African Redemption (1946); Distinguished Service citation (1947); Order of the Star (1949); Knight Great Band of the Liberian Humane Order of African Redemption (1960). In 1959 the G.W. Harley Hospital in Sanniquellie was dedicated in his honor. On his death in 1966, Liberian president William V.S. Tubman declared a national day of mourning and issued a proclamation praising the long service of Dr. Harley on behalf of Liberia and its people.

George Harley's publications include: Liberia (1938); Native African medicine: with special reference to its practice in the Mano tribe of Liberia (1941); Notes on the Poro in Liberia (1941); The prehistoric archaeology of northwest Africa (1941); Tribes of the Liberian hinterland: report of the Peabody Museum expedition to Liberia (with George Schwab; 1947); Masks as agents of social change in northeast Liberia (1950).

Winifred Jewell Harley was born Winifred Frances Jewell in 1895 in Merrimac, Mass. She attended Bates College (BA 1915) and Yale University, where she met George Harley. The two were married in 1923. At the Ganta mission, Winifred conducted research on the region's plant life and published a series of articles based on her work. She also helped with the mission's medical activities as well as many of its administrative tasks dealing with finance, payrolls, and educational programs. In recognition of Winifred's service, the Liberian government awarded her a Distinguished Pioneer American Woman award in 1947. After George's death, Winifred moved to Cambridge, Mass. and died there in 1979.

Winifred Harley's publications include a family history, My great-grandmother Judith Sargent Gile, 1804-1891 (1960); a memoir, A third of a century with George Way Harley in Liberia (1973); and A handbook of Liberian ferns (1976).

Acquisition information:
The George Way and Winifred Jewell Harley papers were deposited in the Rubenstein Library by Mrs. Winifred J. Harley, 1973-1977; converted to a gift in September 1986.
Processing information:

Processed by: Steven L. Hensen, completed June 26, 1987; Encoded by Stephen Douglas Miller.

Reprocessed and re-described by Richard Collier, December 2024.

Arrangement:

Organized into two series: George Way Harley Papers; Winifred Jewell Harley Papers.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Subjects

Click on terms below to find related finding aids on this site. For other related materials in the Duke University Libraries, search for these terms in the Catalog.

Subjects:
Medicine -- Practice -- Liberia
Missions -- Liberia
Art, Liberian
Anthropology -- Liberia
Missions, Medical
Tropical medicine
Mano (African people)
Mano language
Poro (Society)
Sande Society
Serpents--Mythology
Snakes--Religious aspects
Missionaries -- Africa -- Biography
Missionaries--Liberia
Missionaries, Medical
Secret societies -- Social aspects
Slavery--Africa
African trypanosomiasis
Tsetse-flies
Schistosomiasis
Smallpox
Yaws
Leprosy
Masks, African
Indigenous peoples -- Africa, West
Folk religion
Traditional medicine
Anthropologists
World War, 1914-1918
Names:
Methodist Episcopal Church. Board of Foreign Missions
Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology
United States. Foreign Economic Administration
Firestone Plantations Company
Farlow Reference Library and Herbarium
American Foundation for Tropical Medicine
Ganta United Methodist Mission
Duke University
Harley, George W. (George Way), 1894-1966
Harley, Winifred Jewell, 1895-
Hooton, Earnest Albert, 1887-1954
Schwab, George
Tubman, William V. S., 1895-1971
Donohugh, Thomas Smith, b. 1875
Mathews, Elbert G. (Elbert George), 1910-1977
Taryor, Nya Kwiawon, 1947-
Hume, Edward H. (Edward Hicks), 1876-1957
Curran, Jean Alonzo, 1893-
Places:
Liberia -- History -- 1847-1944
Liberia -- History -- 1944-1971
Liberia -- Description and travel
Liberia -- Economic conditions
Liberia -- Social conditions

Contents

Using These Materials

Using These Materials Links:

Using These Materials

Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Terms of access:

The copyright interests in this collection have not been transferred to Duke University. For more information, consult the copyright section of the Regulations and Procedures of the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library.

Before you visit:
Please consult our up-to-date information for visitors page, as our services and guidelines periodically change.
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], The George Way and Winifred Jewell Harley papers, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.

Permalink:
https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/m13g82