Gary Schulze presents original uncoloured engraved map of Bunce Island to MRC

The discoverer of the original photo of Bai Bureh, Gary Schulze has presented an original uncolored engraved map of Bunce Island to the Cultural heritage governing institution in Sierra Leone, the Monuments and Relics Commission.

The framed photo by Jacques-Nicolas Bellin was presented to the Commission on behalf of Gary Schulze by US based Sierra Leonean, Melbourne Garber. Beneath the map is an engraved view of the island. The engraving was first printed in Antoine Francois Prevost’s L’Histoire Generale des Voyages in Paris in the 1750s.

Receiving the donation, Chairperson, Monuments and Relics Commission, Madam Isatu Smith thanked Mr Schulze for the goodwill whilst appreciating the fact that he has always been a pioneer in the field of cultural heritage development in Sierra Leone.

Gary Schulze has had a 52-year relationship with Sierra Leone. He arrived in Freetown on January 1, 1962 as a young 24-year-old member of the first contingent of Peace Corps Volunteers to be sent to our country shortly after Independence. He was assigned to Albert Academy where he taught History, Civics, and Art and introduced Sierra Leone History into the school’s curriculum for the first time.

At the Government’s request, Gary was assigned to assist the late Dr. M.C. F. Easmon in establishing the Sierra Leone Museum. He served as Secretary to the Museum Committee and the Monuments & Relics Commission and, as Acting Museum Curator, he built up the museum’s collection of artifacts, masks and carvings and helped make the institution a regular educational attraction for school children and tourists. At the same time, he continued to teach history at Albert Academy.

In 1963 he commissioned a local artist to create the statue of Bai Bureh for the museum. Pictures of this statue, which is still on exhibit in the building and was often carried to agricultural shows in the provinces, have appeared in history books and school textbooks over the years. The face of the statue was put on the Le 1,000 banknote by the Government in 1995 and reissued again in 2011.

Education and Outreach Department

Monuments and Relics Commission

23 Pultney Street

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