Colony and protectorate · 1896–1960
Clothandcraft
What hands made: country cloth spun and woven on the narrow loom, gara dyeing, baskets, pots, carving and smithing.
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. 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, press “Report this picture” under it: your note reaches our editors with the picture attached, and they can take it down straight away. You can also write to hello@dt-ets.com.
Weaving country cloth on a narrow loom, Upper Mende, 1901 1901
Original title: Weaving country cloth on a native loom, Upper Mendi
T. J. Alldridge · Public domain · Internet Archive · Source ↗ · Report this picture
A camwood tree, Upper Mende country (Alldridge, 1901) 1901
Original title: The Sherbro and its hinterland (1901) (14780924554)
Internet Archive Book Images · No restrictions · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
This picture shows nudity. Many old pictures like this were taken by European visitors, colonial officials and missionaries, and we often cannot know whether the people in them agreed.
Mende woman spinning country-grown cotton, 1910 1910
Original title: Native woman spinning country-grown cotton, Mendiland
T. J. Alldridge · Public domain · Internet Archive · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Inside a Mende town: houses and cloth drying, 1930–31 1930
Original title: Village, house
Bolinder, Gustaf Wilhelm · Public domain (CC0) · Museum of Ethnography, Stockholm · Source ↗ · Report this picture
This picture shows nudity. Many old pictures like this were taken by European visitors, colonial officials and missionaries, and we often cannot know whether the people in them agreed.
Mende woman spinning cotton, 1930–31 1930
Original title: Hantverk, spindle, woman
Bolinder, Gustaf Wilhelm · Public domain (CC0) · Museum of Ethnography, Stockholm · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Inside a smithy, Kissi country, 1930–31 1930
Original title: Forge
Bolinder, Gustaf Wilhelm · Public domain (CC0) · Museum of Ethnography, Stockholm · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Putting up a web: laying the warp for the loom, Kissi country, 1930–31 1930
Original title: Village, men
Bolinder, Gustaf Wilhelm · Public domain (CC0) · Museum of Ethnography, Stockholm · Source ↗ · Report this picture
This picture shows nudity. Many old pictures like this were taken by European visitors, colonial officials and missionaries, and we often cannot know whether the people in them agreed.
Weaving cotton for making native cloth (Lisk-Carew postcard) 1930
Original title: Spindle, spinning, women
Lisk-Carew, Alphonso · Public domain (CC0) · Museum of Ethnography, Stockholm · Source ↗ · Report this picture
This picture shows nudity. Many old pictures like this were taken by European visitors, colonial officials and missionaries, and we often cannot know whether the people in them agreed.
Dyeing native threads for making cloths, Sierra Leone Protectorate (Lisk-Carew postcard) 1930
Original title: Women, cotton, huts
Lisk-Carew, Alphonso · Public domain (CC0) · Museum of Ethnography, Stockholm · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Round basket with a lid, Sierra Leone peninsula Collected by 1931
Original title: Basket
Public domain (CC0) · Museum of World Culture, Gothenburg · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Calabash bowl with a lid, Sierra Leone peninsula Collected by 1931
Original title: Vessel
Public domain (CC0) · Museum of World Culture, Gothenburg · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Carved calabash with a lid, painted white, Sierra Leone peninsula Collected by 1931
Original title: Vessel
Public domain (CC0) · Museum of World Culture, Gothenburg · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Calabash spoon Collected by 1931
Original title: Kalebassked, spoon
Public domain (CC0) · Museum of World Culture, Gothenburg · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Clay pot of coarse ware, Sierra Leone peninsula Collected by 1931
Original title: Vessel
Public domain (CC0) · Museum of World Culture, Gothenburg · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Plaited tray, Sierra Leone peninsula Collected by 1931
Original title: Bricka, plate, tray
Public domain (CC0) · Museum of World Culture, Gothenburg · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Round basket with a hinged lid closed by a peg, Mende Collected by 1931
Original title: Basket
Public domain (CC0) · Museum of World Culture, Gothenburg · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Plaited chicken basket for carrying fowls, Mende Collected by 1931
Original title: hönsbur
Public domain (CC0) · Museum of World Culture, Gothenburg · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Hammock of bast cord with yellow stripes, Mende Collected by 1931
Original title: Hammock
Public domain (CC0) · Museum of World Culture, Gothenburg · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Plain hammock of plaited bast cord, Mende Collected by 1931
Original title: Hammock
Public domain (CC0) · Museum of World Culture, Gothenburg · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Weaver's reed (comb) of wood, Mende Collected by 1931
Original title: Fabric
Public domain (CC0) · Museum of World Culture, Gothenburg · Source ↗ · Report this picture
A pinwheel toy: a leaf on a stick, Mende Collected by 1931
Original title: Leksak
Public domain (CC0) · Museum of World Culture, Gothenburg · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Plant dye for colouring yarn and cloth, Kissi Collected by 1931
Original title: färgämne
Public domain (CC0) · Museum of World Culture, Gothenburg · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Tall Kissi stool with a carved foot Collected by 1931
Original title: Stol
Public domain (CC0) · Museum of World Culture, Gothenburg · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Small black clay pot, Kissi Collected by 1931
Original title: Vessel
Public domain (CC0) · Museum of World Culture, Gothenburg · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Round black clay pot with a burnt-in pattern, Kissi Collected by 1931
Original title: Vessel
Public domain (CC0) · Museum of World Culture, Gothenburg · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Fan, southern Sierra Leone Collected by 1931
Original title: Fan
Public domain (CC0) · Museum of World Culture, Gothenburg · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Black clay pot with a lid, southern Sierra Leone Collected by 1931
Original title: lerkärl
Public domain (CC0) · Museum of World Culture, Gothenburg · Source ↗ · Report this picture
This picture shows nudity. Many old pictures like this were taken by European visitors, colonial officials and missionaries, and we often cannot know whether the people in them agreed.
Cotton, Sierra Leone 1944 (3134619990) 1944
Sludge G ,2008-12-25 02:13 · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Decorated clay spindle whorl, Musaia Collected by 1957
Original title: sländtrissa
Public domain (CC0) · Museum of World Culture, Gothenburg · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Loom reed for beating in the weft, Sinkunia Collected by 1957
Original title: Loom, comb, fabric
Public domain (CC0) · Museum of World Culture, Gothenburg · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Loom heddle, Sinkunia Collected by 1957
Original title: Loom, solv, fabric
Public domain (CC0) · Museum of World Culture, Gothenburg · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Wooden cloth-beater, used like an iron on new cloth, Sinkunia Collected by 1957
Original title: klappträ
Public domain (CC0) · Museum of World Culture, Gothenburg · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Dyeing Native Threads for making Cloths, Sierra Leone Protectorate Lisk-Carew postcard, c. 1905–1920s
Original title: SierraLeoneP001
Lisk-Carew Brothers, Freetown, Sierra Leone. Copyright Sierra Leone: photographs: 50 years after publication. See http://www.sierra-leone.org/Laws/2011-08.pdf ( · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Hammock with Openwork early 20th century
Unknown author Unknown author · CC BY 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Landscape Photographed 1930–31
Bolinder, Gustaf Wilhelm · Public domain (CC0) · Museum of Ethnography, Stockholm · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Blue cotton cloth with a white ground, Kissi Collected 1930–31
Original title: Tissue, weave
Public domain (CC0) · Museum of Ethnography, Stockholm · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Country cloth: white cotton with blue geometric squares, collected 1931 Collected 1930–31
Original title: Tissue, weave
Public domain (CC0) · Museum of Ethnography, Stockholm · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Country cloth: white with black and red patterns Collected 1930–31
Original title: Tissue, weave
Public domain (CC0) · Museum of Ethnography, Stockholm · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Country cloth made of sewn strips Collected 1930–31
Original title: Tissue, weave
Public domain (CC0) · Museum of Ethnography, Stockholm · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Narrow-loom cloth strip with a brown centre stripe, collected 1931 Collected 1930–31
Original title: Woven cloth, stmele., cloth
Public domain (CC0) · Museum of Ethnography, Stockholm · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Narrow-loom cloth strip, brown with a dark brown and blue stripe, Vai, collected 1931 Collected 1930–31
Original title: Woven cloth, cloth, fabric
Public domain (CC0) · Museum of Ethnography, Stockholm · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Narrow-loom cloth strip with three brown stripes, collected 1931 Collected 1930–31
Original title: Fabric, tissue
Public domain (CC0) · Museum of Ethnography, Stockholm · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Woven cotton strip embroidered in black, Vai, collected 1931 Collected 1930–31
Original title: Cloth, woven cloth, fabric
Public domain (CC0) · Museum of Ethnography, Stockholm · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Narrow-loom cloth strip, white with light brown stripes, Vai, collected 1931 Collected 1930–31
Original title: Woven cloth, cloth, fabric
Public domain (CC0) · Museum of Ethnography, Stockholm · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Plain round basket, Sierra Leone peninsula Collected 1930–31
Original title: Basket
Public domain (CC0) · Museum of Ethnography, Stockholm · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Basket Collected 1930–31
Public domain (CC0) · Museum of Ethnography, Stockholm · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Small round basket with a lid, Sierra Leone peninsula Collected 1930–31
Original title: Basket
Public domain (CC0) · Museum of Ethnography, Stockholm · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Small lidded basket with a loop handle, Sierra Leone peninsula Collected 1930–31
Original title: Basket
Public domain (CC0) · Museum of Ethnography, Stockholm · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Tiny lidded basket with a loop handle, Sierra Leone peninsula Collected 1930–31
Original title: Basket
Public domain (CC0) · Museum of Ethnography, Stockholm · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Lidded basket on a foot, Sierra Leone peninsula Collected 1930–31
Original title: Basket
Public domain (CC0) · Museum of Ethnography, Stockholm · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Round basket with a domed lid, Sierra Leone peninsula Collected 1930–31
Original title: Basket
Public domain (CC0) · Museum of Ethnography, Stockholm · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Lidded basket with five loop handles, Sierra Leone peninsula Collected 1930–31
Original title: Basket
Public domain (CC0) · Museum of Ethnography, Stockholm · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Basket bottle with a lid, Sierra Leone peninsula Collected 1930–31
Original title: Basket, basket bottle
Public domain (CC0) · Museum of Ethnography, Stockholm · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Hammock Collected 1930–31
Public domain (CC0) · Museum of Ethnography, Stockholm · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Plain hammock, Bullom Collected 1930–31
Original title: Hammock
Public domain (CC0) · Museum of Ethnography, Stockholm · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Pointed hat of bast, oversewn in yellow and black (worn more by Temne than Mende), collected 1931 Collected 1930–31
Original title: Hat
Public domain (CC0) · Museum of Ethnography, Stockholm · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Pointed bast hat, Mende, collected 1931 Collected 1930–31
Original title: Hat
Public domain (CC0) · Museum of Ethnography, Stockholm · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Man's gown of indigo-blue cotton Collected 1930–31
Original title: Clothing, costume, garb
Public domain (CC0) · Museum of Ethnography, Stockholm · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Round lidded basket with black and red stripes Collected 1930–31
Original title: Basket
Public domain (CC0) · Museum of Ethnography, Stockholm · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Lidded basket with a long braided handle, Mende Collected 1930–31
Original title: Basket
Public domain (CC0) · Museum of Ethnography, Stockholm · Source ↗ · Report this picture