Livingstone diaries uncovered

The once thought lost diaries of one of the most famous explorers of the 19th century has finally been transcribed after a Transatlantic team together with the National Library of Scotland used spectral imaging to unveil hidden words.

Dr Livingstone’s Nyangewe Field Diary was written in 1871 on his last mission to find the source of the Nile before he died in 1874. Although he failed in his original mission, Dr Livingstone is today more famously known for his contribution to the abolition of slavery through the accounts of a massacre in what is now The Republic of Congo, which helped force the British Government to end the East African slave trade.

According to the journals published by Henry Morton Stanley after his death, Dr Livingstone witnessed a massacre of 300-400 innocent slaves by their white oppressors. Noting the incident down on a booklet made from broadsheets of the London Newspaper The Standard and ink he made from a local plant, Livingstone described his horror.

However, due to the nature of the ink and unfavourable weather conditions, the writing quickly faded. With the use of a technology called spectral imaging, a team of researchers were recently able to illuminate the manuscript with different wavelengths of light to reveal his original account.

Dr Adrian Wisnicki, assistant professor at Indiana University, Pennsylvania and director of the project told The Journal: "Dr Livingstone’s life is interesting in that his diaries reveal a moment of crisis in his life when he felt particularly vulnerable.

“We get to see the way he responds to the situation. In particular we can see that through his transcribed diary, readers might believe that his men were in some way responsible for the massacre. So we made an attempt to revive historical records to eliminate this implication.

“The diary is remarkable because it makes his achievements all the more remarkable because he achieved what he did despite various human flaws."  

Dr Livingstone’s diaries were converted into journals by Henry Morton Stanley who returned Livingstone’s body to Britain after his death, however, due to heavy editing, they omitted particular facts relating to Dr Livingstone’s feelings.

Justin Livingstone, a PhD student and teaching assistant within the University of Edinburgh's English Literature department was invited to join the project by Dr Wisnicki. He told The Journal: “My PhD looks at how Livingstone was constructed for various political purposes in numerous biographies as well as the way in which he is reworked in postcolonial fiction.

“The most interesting part of the project is the fact that it enables some of Livingstone's original writings to be read, some of which have been illegible since shortly after they were written in the early 1870s. Spectral imaging can recover the faded text and filter through the newspaper print, in order to be able to read what he actually wrote."

Edinburgh Napier University’s School of Arts and Creative Industries were also part of the project. Kate Simpson, research assistant for the School said: “For the School of Arts and Creative Industries at Edinburgh Napier University to be involved in this project has been an excellent opportunity for one of our research students to learn invaluable research and computing skills that directly apply to her research field and future employment.

“Nineteenth century studies are obliged in the current economic climate to not only validate themselves as a valuable area to study but to show how they can work successfully in this digital age.

“This project has achieved both. The hand in glove working between the scientists and academics will provide a framework for future university projects, as will the ease with which the team has worked across countries and time zones, utilising many different kinds of technologies and communication methods.”

It is also thought that the diaries offer a new historical insight into the mind of Dr Livingstone and what his life was like as a doctor, missionary and explorer in 19th century Africa. Ms Simpson added: “The publication of his field diary will allow a more nuanced reading of David Livingstone as a person and will allow us to fully comprehend what he achieved as a feat in its own right.

“He travelled in terrible conditions and was very unwell, yet he still kept a journal logging everything he did and saw. It is a direct insight into the character of one of the most mythologised men of Victorian Britain.

“Reading Livingstone's reflection upon the massacre shows how awful slavery and the trade around it was. It is hard for a twenty-first century British person to understand how completely isolated and alone Livingstone was, and the massacre and his subsequent ruminating upon it show how distraught Livingstone was about his inability to do anything or the possibility that his men might have been involved.”

The study was published on Tuesday 1 November and is available to view through Livingstone Online, a project funded by The Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine.