Descriptive Summary
Creator(s)
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Materials marked "Digital" in the Collection Inventory may not be available on Pearl or in their entirety.
Biographical Note / Administrative History
Carroll R. Stegall was born in 1891 in Chattanooga, Tenn., the son of Robert Blackwell and Mary Jefferson Stegall. In 1913, Stegall graduated from the Georgia School of Technology. He married Sarah Valdes in 1914, and the following year he graduated from the Biblical Seminary of New York. In 1915, Stegall was appointed by the Executive Committee of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S. to be a lay missionary to the American Presbyterian Congo Mission. He was stationed at Luebo and later at Lubondai, both in the province of Kasai. Stegall was ordained by the Presbytery of Atlanta in 1923, and continued his work as a missionary. In the 1930s, Stegall operated a radio transmitter, powered by a hand-cranked generator, from the mission station at Luebo. With the onset of war in Europe in 1939, the transmitter was shut down under an order from the Belgian government that all amateur stations cease operation. In 1950, he retired from missionary work and returned to the United States. From 1950 to 1952, he served as associate pastor at Saint Andrews-Covenant Presbyterian Church in Wilmington, N.C.; from 1952 to 1955, he was pastor at Eastern Heights Presbyterian Church in Savannah, Ga.; and from 1955 until his retirement in 1961, he was pastor at Friendship Presbyterian Church in Black Mountain, N.C. Carroll and Sarah Stegall had three children: Sarah (Mrs. W. Norwood), Mary Virginia (wife of Rev. Gaston Boyle, Jr.) and Carroll Richard Stegall, Jr., 1925-1996, who was also a Presbyterian minister. Carroll Richard Stegall died August 14, 1965.
Collection Overview
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 The bulk of the collection consists of typescripts of his unpublished memoir, “Forty Years in the Congo,” and manuscript journals in which he describes the daily work of the mission, the villagers of Luebo, local customs and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.
Organization and Arrangement
Summary of Box Contents:
Box 1: Journals, 1933-1936 (notepads numbered 8-15, 22-23)
Box 2: Journals, undated (notepads numbered 24-26 and 3 with no covers); a diary; and a memoir
Box 3: Sermons and correspondence, 1926-1965; publications, 1913-1956; and audio tapes, 1950 and undated
Box 4: Copy print and copy negative of group portrait of Congo missionaries [RG 454-190], undated; oversize glass negatives of Congo villagers, undated
Box 5: Glass negatives of Congo missionaries and villagers, circa 1905-1912 and undated
Box 6: Original prints of Congo missionaries, villagers, and mission radio equipment, circa 1905-1940 and undated
Alternative Formats
To browse this collection's digitized content visit Pearl.
Materials marked "Digital" in the Collection Inventory may not have been digitized in their entirety.
Administrative Information
Received from Mrs. Virginia Stegall Boyle between 1996 and 2000 and from Mrs. F.W. “Joe” Sutterlin, Jr. in 1999.
This collection is minimally processed: materials may not have been ordered beyond their original condition. A preliminary inventory is provided in this guide. Guide revised in 2009 by Jennifer Barr, Archives Intern and in 2010 by Nancy Taylor, Records Archivist.
In 2009, Presbyterian Historical Society staff appraised the large number of negatives and selected a representative group to digitize based on condition and content. A total of 197 negatives were digitized, 192 by PHS staff and six oversize negatives by the Athenaeum of Philadelphia. After digitization, all intact glass negatives and original prints were retained in the collection in boxes 4, 5, and 6. All nitrate negatives were destroyed. Digitized images of the discarded nitrate negatives are available to view in the society's digital repository, Pearl.
Preferred Citation
Carroll R. Stegall Papers, RG 454, Presbyterian Historical Society, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Catalog Headings
Collection Inventory
| Box | Folder | Description | Alternative Formats |
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1 | 1 | Journal, 1935-1936 | |
1 | 2 | Journal (notepad 8), undated | |
1 | 3 | Journal (notepad 9), 1935 Aug. | |
1 | 4 | Journal (notepad 10), 1933 July | |
1 | 5 | Journal (notepad 11), 1934 July-Aug. | |
1 | 6 | Journal (notepad 12), undated | |
1 | 7 | Journal (notepad 13), undated | |
1 | 8 | Journal (notepad 14), undated | |
1 | 9 | Journal (notepad 15), 1935 Feb. | |
1 | 10 | Journal (notepad 22), undated | |
1 | 11 | Journal (notepad 23), undated | |
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2 | 1 | Journal (notepad 24), undated | |
2 | 2 | Journal (notepad 25), undated | |
2 | 3 | Journal (notepad 26), undated | |
2 | 4 | Journal (notepad), undated | |
2 | 5 | Journal (notepad), undated | |
2 | 6 | Journal (notepad), undated | |
2 | 7 | Diary, circa 1961 | |
2 | 8 | Typescript, fables concerning race, author unknown, undated | |
2 | 9 | Typescript, “Forty Years in the Congo,” Carroll R. Stegall, Chapters 3, 4, and 5 | |
2 | 10 | Typescript, “Forty Years in the Congo,” Chapters 6, 7, and 8 | |
2 | 11 | Typescript, “Forty Years in the Congo,” Chapters 9, 10, and 11 | |
2 | 12 | Annotated typescript, “Forty Years in the Congo,” Chapter 1 | |
2 | 13 | Annotated typescript, “Forty Years in the Congo,” Chapter 2 | |
2 | 14 | Annotated typescript, “Forty Years in the Congo,” Chapter 3 | |
2 | 15 | Annotated typescript, “Forty Years in the Congo,” Chapter 4 | |
2 | 16 | Annotated typescript, “Forty Years in the Congo,” Chapter 5 | Digital |
2 | 17 | Annotated typescript, “Forty Years in the Congo,” Chapter 6 | |
2 | 18 | Annotated typescript, “Forty Years in the Congo,” Chapter 7 | |
2 | 19 | Annotated typescript, “Forty Years in the Congo,” Chapter 8 | |
2 | 20 | Annotated typescript, “Forty Years in the Congo,” Chapter 9 | |
2 | 21 | Annotated typescript, “Forty Years in the Congo,” Chapter 10 | |
2 | 22 | Annotated typescript, “Forty Years in the Congo,” Epilogue | |
2 | 23 | Typescript, “Conflicts with Romanism,” Carroll R. Stegall, undated | |
2 | 24 | Typescript, “Solved: The Mystery of the Disappearance of Congo’s Patrice Lumumba,” Carroll R. Stegall, undated | |
2 | 25 | Typescript, “The White Man’s Relation to Professional Prostitution in Central Africa,” Dick Carroll, undated | |
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3 | 1 | Carroll R. Stegall sermons (notepad), undated | |
3 | 2 | Carroll R. Stegall, Tshiluba sermon notes, undated | |
3 | 3 | Carroll R. Stegall correspondence, 1926-1965, bulk 1954-1957 | |
3 | 4 | Audiotape, Tshiluba message given at Montreat, N.C. by Pastor Kanyinda Isaac with Carroll R. Stegall interpreting, circa 1950 | Digital |
3 | 4 | Audiotape marked “Dr. Okenga,” undated | |
3 | 5 | Typescript, “Translation of Tshiluba message given by Pastor Kanyinda Isaac, recorded at Montreat, N.C.,” Carroll R. Stegall, circa 1950 | |
3 | 6 | Newsletters of the American Presbyterian Congo Mission: Lumu Lua Nzambi and Lumu Lua Bena Kasai, 1913, 1941-1942, and 1956 | |
3 | 7 | Publication of Congo Protestant Council: “Congo,” edited by Trevor R. Shaw, circa 1958 | |
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4 |
| Copy print and copy negative of group portrait of Congo missionaries [RG 454-190], with identification sheet, undated; Oversize glass negatives of Congo villagers, undated |
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| Glass negatives of Luebo missionaries and villagers, circa 1905-1912 and undated | Digital |
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6 |
| Original prints of Congo missionaries, villagers, and mission radio equipment, circa 1905-1940 and undated | |
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| Digitized images of nitrate negatives (originals destroyed) | Digital |
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