Guide to the Carroll R. Stegall Papers

The Carroll R. Stegall Papers document Stegall’s experiences as a missionary in the Belgian Congo from 1915 to 1950. The bulk of the collection consists of typescripts of his unpublished memoir, “Forty Years in the Congo,” and manuscript journals in which he describes the daily work of the mission, the villagers of Luebo, local customs and culture, the natural environment and wildlife, and interactions with Roman Catholic missionaries. The collection also includes images (circa 1905-1940) of missionaries and church congregations, native religious rituals, buildings, family groups, and native clothing and body decoration. In addition, there are several photos of Stegall and the radio equipment used to send transmissions from the Luebo mission station during the 1930s.

There is a small amount of correspondence in the collection, most of it between Stegall and Walter C. Johnson, discussing Stegall’s activities after his return to the United States. The correspondence also includes a 1926 Christmas card from L.A. McMurray which features a small map of the Luebo mission station. Other materials in the collection include articles by Stegall about conflicts between Protestant and Roman Catholic missionaries and about the capture and killing of Patrice Lumumba; a diary kept by Stegall when he visited the Congo in the early 1960s; and newsletters published in Kongo by the American Presbyterian Congo Mission. Finally, the collection contains Stegall’s sermon notes, and an audiocassette recording of a sermon given in Tshiluba by Pastor Kanyinda Isaac at Montreat, N.C. around 1950, with a recorded translation and typed transcription in English by Stegall.