October 2025 – Pat in the World
3 posts published by patintheworld during October 2025| Pat in the World
3 posts published by patintheworld during October 2025| Pat in the World
Reading this week: Back when we visited Shetland Wool Week, one of the things we really wanted to do was go to a natural dyeing class. I have a whole degree in chemistry so that sort of thing of course interests me. Unfortunately we were thwarted by the overwhelming popularity of Wool Week and so … Continue reading Natural Dyeing→| Pat in the World
As a fun diversion, the below is a school assignment my mom sent me recently and which I apparently wrote when I was 11. What the exact assignment was is likely lost to time. The story itself reflects at best a medium understanding of fish biology, but I think that is compensated by an excellent … Continue reading Fish Adventures with Mr. Fishy Dude→| Pat in the World
I think this could be the grave of John May. I have said it before but I wish I had taken better pictures. I am basing this on making out what I think are “Ma” and “BA,” as …| Pat in the World
At risk of copyright infringement, I wanted to highlight for my loyal readers a super cool book of photographs that I saw pop up on eBay, leading me to the wonderful-looking shop Globus Rare Books …| Pat in the World
Reading this week: Vanishing Fleece by Clara Parkes As has been discussed many times on this blog before I am a sucker for steamships on Lake Tanganyika. Also discussed is the fact that there are p…| Pat in the World
For Christmas, Lily came up to visit my site in the Mbala area. While she was up here, we went to go visit Kalambo Falls. We stayed at the Kalambo Falls Lodge, which is right next to the falls. Get…| Pat in the World
5 posts published by patintheworld during March 2025| Pat in the World
After tumbling out of the V&A the next 24 hours or so of our trip was very me-centric, though we approached it gradually. We swung by Buckingham Palace to see if Chuck was home but we decided n…| Pat in the World
To make up for a whole bunch of blog posts, I am publishing in post format the biographies I compiled for my world-famous “The Chronicle of the London Missionary Society for all articles…| Pat in the World
To make up for a whole bunch of blog posts, I am publishing in post format the biographies I compiled for my world-famous “The Chronicle of the London Missionary Society for all articles…| Pat in the World
To make up for a whole bunch of blog posts, I am publishing in post format the biographies I compiled for my world-famous “The Chronicle of the London Missionary Society for all articles…| Pat in the World
This is the final post in my little series of posting letters from the SOAS archives that pertain to the London Missionary Society extending their Central African Mission to the Bemba (I have more letters on other topics, don’t worry). The LMS had made some exploratory forays into the area and earlier in 1900 had … Continue reading LMS in Bembaland VI→| Pat in the World
Alright people, don’t worry, we’re getting to the end of the list of things I took photos of in the SOAS archives and now want to put online. The letter in the last post was an unofficial letter fr…| Pat in the World
Welcome to Kigoma Reading this week: Ujiji: The History of a Lakeside Town by Beverly Bolser Brown The Western Ocean by Alan Villiers (not his best work) Stuff Every Coffee Lover Should Know by Can…| Pat in the World
The Blue Gate of the medina. Reading this week: Living’s the Strange Thing by Carmen Martín Gaite, translated by Anne McLean The Heart of the Matter by Graham Greene Having rested well in the…| Pat in the World
Peak tourist. Reading this week: An Object of Beauty by Steve MartinAn Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith (this one took a bit; it gets a little dry in the mi…| Pat in the World
2 posts published by patintheworld during September 2025| Pat in the World
Reading this week: I said it before but as you can see from the titles the framing device for this series of posts is the efforts of the London Missionary Society to extend their Central African Mission into Bemba territory. Despite that being the framing device, I am going to wind up doing a very … Continue reading LMS in Bembaland IV→| Pat in the World
“Niamkolo House” from the same source as these photos. Reading this week: Craftland by James Fox Although the overall framing device for this series of posts (meant mostly to show you t…| Pat in the World
5 posts published by patintheworld during August 2025| Pat in the World
Reading this week: Last week we covered a letter from James Hemans to the London Missionary Society Foreign Secretary Rev. R. Wardlaw Thompson urging him to authorize the Central African Mission to open up a new station in the heart of Bemba-land. We immediately part from that journey with a detour. There was a good … Continue reading LMS in Bembaland II→| Pat in the World
Reading this week: Our series on “things I found in the SOAS archives” continues. These will be some rather lengthy letters and reports, so I will split it up into a few posts. This series of letters (almost) all have to do with the missionaries “opening up” Bemba country, or as they called it Awemba … Continue reading LMS in Bembaland I→| Pat in the World
A mea culpa: just two posts ago I talked about how I didn’t really have an explanation for the above map (and an accompanying letter), which was illustrating land that the London Missionary S…| Pat in the World
4 posts published by patintheworld during November 2024| Pat in the World
As you all will recall I went to visit the London Missionary Society archives at SOAS back when we visited the UK. I am trying to put the stuff I dug up online. I already did some of this, putting …| Pat in the World
Reading this week: Status and Identity in West Africa edited by David C. Conrad and Barbara E. Frank It only occurred to me after posting the last one that this should really be Zanzibar III. But a…| Pat in the World
The door of the Writers’ Museum. Reading this week: Virunga, Archives and Collections of an Outstanding National Park edited by Patricia Van Schuylenbergh and Han de Koeijer Our final day in …| Pat in the World
Forodhani Gardens by day Reading this week: Back to the Future: the Ultimate Visual History by Michael Klastorin with Randal Atamaniuk A strange sensation, going back to a place. When I return to a…| Pat in the World
Reading this week: Sultan to Sultan by M. French-Sheldon Journey to the Source of the Nile by Christopher Ondaatje After our very adventurous day going all around Kigoma and Ujiji, our next day and…| Pat in the World
I oughta actually read Livingstone’s books. I have done a bit of following in his footsteps. He came through near where I was a Peace Corps volunteer, having visited Lake Chila and crossed the migh…| Pat in the World
Reading this week: Gastro Obscura by Cecily Wong and Dylan Thuras When Life was Rusted Through by Owen Letcher Alright. In the last post my super amazing wife and I had travelled from one end of Ta…| Pat in the World
While looking up the sorts of things I am wont to look up, I stumbled across the story of the Gordon-Gallien Expedition to map Kalambo Falls and since it is so neat I now share it with you. The inf…| Pat in the World
After having thoroughly enjoyed the southerly bits of England we set our sights on our real destination: the veritably sheep-filled country of Scotland. I realize the fact that there are more sheep…| Pat in the World
Reading this week: An Outline of Shetland Archaeology by John Stewart As my super amazing wife describes it there can be a divide between the wool-producing community and the wool-using community. …| Pat in the World
Reading this week: Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin The Africa House by Christina Lamb Our first taste of Wool Week under our belt, it was time to learn more about Shetland i…| Pat in the World
Reading this week: Ancient Africa by Christopher Ehret Now to the nitty-gritty of Wool Week. Shetland Wool Week as I understand it is a relatively young addition (only 16 years old) to the worldwid…| Pat in the World
Alright! From my last post you are aware that I was able to visit the London Missionary Society archives kept at SOAS in London and it was super cool. The box with the photos is a box of a few diff…| Pat in the World
Reading this week: Visions from the Forests, General Editors Jan-Lodewijk Grootaers and Alexander Bortolot Sacred River by Syl Cheney-Coker Afro Sport This fall I got to visit the London Missionary…| Pat in the World
Reading this week: Tales from the Dark Continent edited by Charles Allen Journey into Africa by James McCarthy Having stumbled out of the Royal Museum for Central Africa and into the daylight (well…| Pat in the World
The timeline of the official date of this post and of subsequent posts aren’t going to make a lick of sense but that is what happens when I am behind on writing and I feel bad about it. But a…| Pat in the World
Transcription of The Chronicle of the London Missionary Society Central African Mission 1876-1905Download At long last, I have finally completed my transcription of The Chronicle of the London Miss…| Pat in the World
