Colony and protectorate · 1896–1960
How people and goods moved: canoes and steamers, the railway (1896–1974), lorries, bridges and the airport.
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.
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 ↗ · Report this picture
Outside the booking office 7 Nov 1942
John Atherton · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Congo Bridge, Mountain Railway 1910s
Lisk-Carew Brothers · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Cotton Tree Station 1915
The Mountain Railway's “Bungalow Train” at its city-centre station.
Sir Kenneth James Beatty · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Hammock Bridge, Sierra Leone Lisk-Carew postcard, c. 1905–1920s
Original title: SierraLeoneP015
Lisk-Carew Brothers, Freetown, Sierra Leone. Copyright Sierra Leone: photographs: 50 years after publication. See https://www.sierra-leone.org/Laws/2011-08.pdf · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Moa river bridge, Sierra Leone Lisk-Carew postcard, c. 1905–1920s
Original title: SierraLeoneP016
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
A bridge built in the local way, Taiama, 1930–31 1930
Original title: Bridge, landscape
Bolinder, Gustaf Wilhelm · Public domain (CC0) · Museum of Ethnography, Stockholm · Source ↗ · Report this picture
A bridge, Kissi country, 1930–31 1930
Original title: Bridge
Bolinder, Gustaf Wilhelm · Public domain (CC0) · Museum of Ethnography, Stockholm · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Fishing boats in Freetown harbour (Lisk-Carew postcard) 1930
Original title: Boat, harbour
Lisk-Carew, Alphonso · Public domain (CC0) · Museum of Ethnography, Stockholm · Source ↗ · Report this picture
A hammock bridge of lianas (Lisk-Carew postcard) 1930
Original title: Lian, suspension bridge, bridge
Lisk-Carew, Alphonso · Public domain (CC0) · Museum of Ethnography, Stockholm · Source ↗ · Report this picture
A rope bridge on a forest path (Lisk-Carew postcard) 1930
Original title: Bridge
Lisk-Carew, Alphonso · Public domain (CC0) · Museum of Ethnography, Stockholm · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Pilot Officer J H Smythe of Sierra Leone, a newly-qualified navigator, being instructed in the use of the sextant by an instructor at No. 11 1939–45
Royal Air Force official photographer, No. 11 OTU · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Boat-shaped weaving shuttle, Sinkunia Collected by 1957
Original title: Skyttel
Public domain (CC0) · Museum of World Culture, Gothenburg · Source ↗ · Report this picture
German cargo ship MV Vogelsberg when unloading bags and general cargo in the port of Freetown - 1958 1958
Buonasera · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Bowl, vessel Collected 1930–31
Public domain (CC0) · Museum of Ethnography, Stockholm · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Wooden bowl with a lid and a burnt-in pattern Collected 1930–31
Original title: Vessels, bowl, paint
Public domain (CC0) · Museum of Ethnography, Stockholm · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Bottle, vessel Collected 1930–31
Public domain (CC0) · Museum of Ethnography, Stockholm · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Plaited basket bottle, Krim Collected 1930–31
Original title: Bottle, vessel
Public domain (CC0) · Museum of Ethnography, Stockholm · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Freetown-Railway c. 1900
Unknown author Unknown author · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture