Missionaries and Congolese community, Congo, ca. 1900-1915

Tinted lantern slide showing a group of three missionaries from the Congo Balolo Mission (one female and two male) with native evangelists and a group of Congolese men and women. The female missionary wears a smart Edwardian dress, and the male missionaries wear suits and wide brimmed hats. One Congolese man in the image seems to be a native evangelist, since he wears a pith helmet with a dark suit and white coat. Whilst three Congolese young men wear the identical shirts (white with dark trim) that were given by the Congo Balolo Mission, other Congolese men and women wear traditional dress, with wraps around their bodies and waists. The seated female missionary ressembles Lily Ruskin, wife of Congo Balolo Mission translator and educator Edward Algernon Ruskin, who stands with his arms folded. The seated male missionary may be H.G Haupt, one of the pioneers of the Congo Balolo Mission. This slide comes from a collection generated by missionaries working for the Congo Balolo Mission, a mission begun in 1889 under the supervision of the East London Training Institute for Home and Foreign Missions that developed into the interdenominational evangelical mission Regions Beyond Missionary Union after 1900.