The Sierra Leone archive

Oldphotographs,stampsandfilm

607 items

Photographs, postcards, stamps, maps and film from across Sierra Leone, gathered from open collections. Every item is credited to its maker and the collection that holds it.

About these pictures

Every picture comes from an open collection, mostly Wikimedia Commons and museum open-access programmes, and is credited to its maker and holder under its licence. Follow “Source” to see the original record.

Many were made by colonial officials, missionaries and foreign visitors. Titles and descriptions come from the collections that hold them and can carry the attitudes and language of their time. We show them as historical records, not as endorsements.

Pictures showing nudity, slavery, death or violence are hidden behind a notice until you choose to see them. Dates, eras and categories were assigned automatically from those records and some will be wrong.

If you or your family appear in a picture, you hold rights to one, a detail is wrong, or you think a picture should not be here, tell us through daverosetholley.com.

№ 01

Before the slave trade

to 1561

All 74 →

Freetown SPOT 1094 2006
Cnes - Spot Image · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗

Head (Temne or Bullom) 12th–16th century
Temne or Bullom artist(s) · Public domain (CC0) · The Metropolitan Museum of Art · Source ↗

Seated Figure (Temne or Bullom peoples) 12th–16th century
Temne or Bullom artist(s) · Public domain (CC0) · The Metropolitan Museum of Art · Source ↗

Seated male figure (Temne or Bullom peoples) 12th–16th century
Temne or Bullom artist(s) · Public domain (CC0) · The Metropolitan Museum of Art · Source ↗

Head (Temne or Bullom peoples) 12th–16th century
Temne or Bullom artist(s) · Public domain (CC0) · The Metropolitan Museum of Art · Source ↗

Figure (Africa, West Africa, Sierra Leone, Sapi-style carver) possibly early 1400s
Africa, West Africa, Sierra Leone, Sapi-style carver artist · Public domain (CC0) · Cleveland Museum of Art · Source ↗

Figure of a Man Holding a Crocodile 15th century or earlier
Unknown author Unknown author · CC BY 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗

№ 02

The colony

1787–1895

All 150 →

A view of Freetown 1803
One of the earliest pictures of the settlement, from Thomas Winterbottom's account of the colony.
Thomas Masterman Winterbottom · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗

Regent's Town c. 1820
Public domain · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗

Free Town, Sierra Leone 1850
Public domain · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗

Freetown from the water c. 1856
John Leighton Wilson or an uncredited artist employed or licensed by him · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗

Pademba Road 1856
Public domain · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗

The New Burial Ground 1860
Julia Sass · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗

Freetown from the hills c. 1892
Robert Brown · CC0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗

Plan of Free Town 1885
J. T. F. Wallace · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗

№ 03

Colony and protectorate

1896–1960

All 361 →

The Cotton Tree, Bungalow Train 1910s
The Mountain Railway's 3.30 p.m. train waiting at Cotton Tree Station, photographed by Freetown's own Lisk-Carew Brothers studio.
Lisk-Carew Brothers, Freetown · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗

The Lisk-Carew Bros. studio, Freetown 1938
Many of the city's early photographs and postcards were made here.
Public domain · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗

Market day on Sackville Street 1915
Sir Kenneth James Beatty · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗

Freetown rooftops 1915
Sir Kenneth James Beatty · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗

Kroo Town Road 1911
William H. Heard · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗

A building on the waterfront c. 1911
CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗

Bai Bureh 1898
The Temne leader of the 1898 Hut Tax War, photographed as a prisoner by Lieutenant Arthur Greer of the West India Regiment.
Lieutenant Arthur Greer · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗

Troops embarking at Freetown for Douala 1914
Agence Rol · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗

№ 04

Independence

1961–1990

All 5 →

The Cotton Tree 1970
Photographed in October 1970.
Batobureh · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗

Looking over the city 1968
John Atherton · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗

Freetown and the harbour 1967–68
John Atherton · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗

Young woman, Freetown 1968
John Atherton · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗

The Law Courts and the Cotton Tree 1984
Brian Harrington Spier · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗

№ 05

Since 1991

1991–today

All 11 →

The stump, two years after the fall 2025
The tree fell in a storm in May 2023.
Smoking Tyre · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗

The King's Yard gateway 2016
danbjoseph @ Mapillary.com · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗

St. John's Maroon Church 2016
redcross @ Mapillary.com · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗

The Maroon flag outside St. John's 2017
Caupolicaningles · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗

St. George's Cathedral 2016
danbjoseph @ Mapillary.com · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗

The old Fourah Bay College building, Cline Town 2007
Jared & Melanie & Huxley Ponchot · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗

The Deep Water Quay from Fourah Bay College 2008
mifl68 · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗

№ 06

On film

Freetown, Sierra Leone 1950s

Views of the capital, including the law courts.

Sierra Leone Greets the Queen 1961

Queen Elizabeth II's visit, 25 November – 1 December 1961, months after independence. Made by British Pathé for the Central Office of Information.

Internet Archive · Crown copyright (Central Office of Information) · Source ↗

Sierra Leone on 8mm 1950s

Home-movie footage shot in the 1950s.

Sierra Leone on 8mm, reel two 1950s

More 1950s home-movie footage.

▶Watch at Colonial Film catalogue

Birch Collection: Freetown and Yengema 1950s

Amateur film by John Birch, head of Unilever in Sierra Leone and a member of the Legislative Council.

Colonial Film catalogue · Catalogue record, viewing via the holding archive · Source ↗

▶Watch at Colonial Film catalogue

Africa's Fighting Men 1940s

Wartime film with scenes of Freetown: anti-aircraft crews and sailors in training.

Colonial Film catalogue · Catalogue record, viewing via the holding archive · Source ↗

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About these pictures

If you or your family appear in a picture, you hold rights to one, a detail is wrong, or you think a picture should not be here, tell us through daverosetholley.com.