Scope and Contents

75 x 62 mm. Showing European officials walking along a roadway decorated with flags and an archway bearing the legend 'B.K.R. [Baro-Kano Railway] Welcome'. Bell's brief visit to Baro on this occasion is described in Bell (1911), August 26.

Scope and Contents

100 x 75 mm. A view from the Niger showing a crowd awaiting Bell's arrival. With the railway terminus in the background.

Scope and Contents

115 x 77 mm. A view from the Niger showing a crowd awaiting Bell's arrival. With the railway terminus in the background.

Scope and Contents

204 x 152 mm. A view from a hillside looking down on the railway workshops and terminus at Baro. Work was started on the Baro-Kano line in 1907 and the track, running NE for 350 miles, completed in 1911.

Scope and Contents

103 x 77 mm. Showing the steamer Sarota moored at Baro, with an arch of welcome bearing the legend 'B.K.R. [Baro-Kano Railway] The staff wish Your Excellency a healthy and pleasant leave'.

Scope and Contents

These letters document Bell’s early service as Governor of Northern Nigeria, describing his arrival at Zungeru and official duties, including the encouragement of railway development and tin mining, finance and the planning of new towns, as well as his colleagues, accommodation and social life. Bell embarked upon several tours of inspection, reporting upon local rulers, people, climate, terrain and wildlife (109 sheets).

Scope and Contents

These letters likely were written to Bell’s sister Eleanor or Ellen, who was managing his Dominican plantation Sylvania. Those which deal with Nigerian subjects are similar to letters addressed to Bell’s aunt in RCMS 36/4/4 (68 sheets).

Scope and Contents 135 x 85 mm. Showing the decorations, with an arch of welcome and a carpet leading down to the riverside: 'We left Lokoja on my old yacht the Corona on the 30th and arrived next day at Baro. The wharf there was beautifully decorated with a very large and elaborate Arch and Venetian masts. The Railway staff must have taken a great deal of trouble over it and it was all very gratifying. We dined with the Director of Railways on the top of the hill and left by train at midnight.' (Bell...