Solf (1862-1936) became president of the municipality of Apia, Western Samoa, in 1899, after serving as a district judge in German East Africa. In 1900 he became governor of Western Samoa when that country became a German colony. He remained in that post until 1911 when he became Secretary for the colonies in the German government. After World War I, he served as German ambassador in Japan. The Solf papers have been filmed on reels PMB 581 - 589.
The papers comprise:
letters to family (3 volumes), 1885-1935
personal honours, 1927-34
congratulations on 70th birthday, 1932
publications, speeches, etc. 1886-1932 (Continued on PMB 582)
Official and political papers and correspondence re presidency of the municipality of Apia, 1899
Miscellaneous papers and press clippings, re presidency of the municipality of Apia, 1899
-9. Official and political papers and press clippings re governorship of Samoa, 1900-1906 (7 vols). These include an unpublished paper by Dr Erich Schultze on 'The development of the political situation in Samoa'. Dr Schultze was Solf's successor as governor.
Documents relating to his ambassadorship in Japan, 1928, and papers written in retirement, 1929-32. The latter include 'Refutation' of Count Bulow's memoirs, a proposal to appoint Solf German Foreign Minister, Solf's mission re minorities in Hungary and German committee on Palestine. (Bulow was Foreign Minister of Germany in 1899 when the acquisition of Western Samoa was negotiated as a German colony).
documents concerning Hanna Solf-Dotti, Solf's widow;
a biography of Solf by Maximilien von Hagen, 1937-39;
correspondence re the publication Solf/Wolff-Metternich correspondence, 1946-49;
a manuscript book entitled 'Elf Jahre in Samoa und andere Aufzeichnungen' (Eleven years in Samoa and other notes), written in 1895 by one von Wolffersdorff, known as Tulafale Falepoumaa.
Heinrich Neffgen was Government Interpreter in Samoa in 1916. At that time, Samoa was under New Zealand military occupation.
The papers comprise two documents:
An English translation of a report on Samoa by Dr W.H. Solf, the first Governor of German Samoa. The report contains general notes, notes on the Protestant and Roman Catholic missions, and notes on the advisability of not attempting to colonise Samoa with small people from Germany. The report was written for the Imperial Colonial Office in Berlin, but, according to a note by Neffgen, it was not forwarded, as a result of an order dated November 21, 1907
Six Samoan sketches by Neffgen entitled: 1. The Samoan race; 2. Fa'asamoa; 3. The Prescriptive Law of the Samoans; 4. On invectives - Upu Palauvale; 5. Samoan High Titles and the Distribution of Fine Mats; 6. On Aitus.
Alden was an officer in the sloop-of-war 'Vincennes', the flagship of the United States Exploring Expedition which spent four years in the Pacific under the command of Commodore Charles Wilkes.
The journal gives an account - but not a day-by-day account - of the Vincennes voyage which took in the Tuamotu Archipelago, Tahiti, Samoa, Fiji, Australia, New Zealand, the Antarctic, Hawaii, the Gilbert (Kiribati), Ellice (Tuvalu) and Marshall Islands. See also PMB MS 124-146 and the Bureau's newsletter, Pambu, Dec. 1971:25, pp. 4-7.
Harry J. Moors (1854-1926) was born in Detroit and died in Apia, Western Samoa. As an agent for the Hawaiian Board of Immigration, he made several voyages to the Gilbert Islands [Kiribati] and Marshall Islands around 1880 to recruit labourers for Hawaii's sugar plantations. In 1883, he settled in Apia, Western Samoa, and became a successful trader and planter. Moors was closely associated with Robert Louis Stevenson during the novelist's five years (1889-1894) in Samoa and in 1910 he published a book of reminiscences entitled 'With Stevenson in Samoa'. Moors stated in that book that Stevenson had once urged him to write down some of the 'wonderful stories' he had related to Stevenson about his early career. Moors acted on this encouragement, and after Stevenson died, he wrote two novels, of which 'Tapu: A Tale of Adventure in the South Seas' is one. Neither of the novels was published. See also the Bureau's newsletter 'Pambu', September 1968:4
The novel is based on Moors' experiences in the Gilbert and Marshall Islands as a labour recruiter for the Hawaiian Board of Immigration. The title page states that it is from the diary of John T. Bradley. Preface by Arthur Mahaffy.
