| Dates: | 1931-1990 |
| Size: | 2 linear feet |
| Repository: | Chicago Public Library, Woodson Regional Library, Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection of Afro-American History and Literature, 9525 S. Halsted Street, Chicago, Illinois 60628 |
|
Collection Number: |
1992/02 |
| Provenance: | Donated by Beverly Coleman (Turner’s niece) in May 1992 |
| Access: | No restrictions |
| Citation: |
When quoting material from this collection the preferred citation is: Laurence Turner Papers, [Box #, Folder #], Chicago Public Library, Woodson Regional Library, Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection of Afro-American History and Literature |
| Processed by: | Elizabeth Loch, Archival Specialist, May 2021 |
Biographical Note
Laurence Edward Turner was born September 5, 1914 in Neward, Ohio. He then lived in Chicago and graduated from DuSable High School before moving to Los Angeles, California to work at Crown Upholstering Company. Turner was inducted into the U.S. Army in 1943. During World War II he served at Aberdeen Proving Grounds, the experimental munitions site in Maryland.
After his honorable discharge in 1946, Turner moved to Norwalk, Connecticut where he owned his own business as a furniture upholsterer and designer. Turner was a long-time Black nationalist who believed that the future of African Americans lay in Africa, not the United States. After several visits to East Africa in the 1960s and 1970s, he permanently moved to Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania in 1983. In 1988 Turner registered his business, the Star Fire Manufacturing Company. Turner was an inventor with several inventions to his credit. In Dar Es Salaam, he developed a water vehicle propulsion unit. Turner died in Tanzania in March 1990.
Scope and Content
Laurence Turner, an African American supporter of independent African nations, moved to Tanzania in 1983. There he established his own businesses [farming, inventing and furniture making] and trained local entrepreneurs. His papers document his service in the U.S. Army in the 1940s and his life in Tanzania in the 1980s. Materials include correspondence, government forms, patent materials, blueprints, sketches, handwritten notes, patents, photographs, and military medals. Documents are mostly in English, but some are in Swahili.
Arrangement
The collection is arranged into three series: Series 1: Manuscripts, 1931-1990, undated; Series 2: Photographs, circa 1944-1990; and Series 3: Memorabilia, circa 1944, undated. Materials within each series are listed alphabetically by title.
Related Materials
Related materials at other institutions include:
- Tanzania Social and Political Developments Collection, 1973-2001 at the International Institute of Social History (IISG)
Container List
Series 1: Manuscripts, 1931-1990, undated
| Box 1 | Folder 1 | Application for import license, 1989 |
| Box 1 | Folder 2 | Army Service Forces Training Center ordinances, 1945 August 2 |
| Box 1 | Folder 3 | Beverly Coleman’s correspondence on the death of Laurence Turner, 1990 |
| Box 1 | Folder 4 | Blossom Health Lodge No. 348 membership cards, 1967, 1968 |
| Box 1 | Folder 5 | Blueprints for Turner’s office and sheds, 1988, undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 6 | Building plans [sketches, blueprints, cost estimates, correspondence] for Turner’s Tanzania business site, 1982-1988, undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 7 | Business cards collected by Turner, undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 8 | Business name registration for Starfire Manufacturing Company, 1986-1988 |
| Box 1 | Folder 9 | City council [Dar Es Salaam] receipts [in Swahili], 1988 |
| Box 1 | Folder 10 | Conditions of license form, 1990 August 16 |
| Box 1 | Folder 11 | Construction research and handwritten notes, 1945-1981, undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 12 | Customs warehouse notice of goods deposited, 1989 |
| Box 1 | Folder 13 | Daily journal [finances] of Shamba Kilima Kedogo farm, 1989 |
| Box 1 | Folder 14 | Declaration of arrival and departure form, 1986 |
| Box 1 | Folder 15 | Department of Veteran Affairs naming Turner a field officer, 1958 |
| Box 1 | Folder 16 | Driver’s test form, 1988 |
| Box 1 | Folder 17 | Expenditure summary, undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 18 | Foreign currency declaration form, circa 1988 |
| Box 1 | Folder 19 | Fuel ration card, 1986 |
| Box 1 | Folder 20 | Furniture building planning materials [sketches, notes, reference materials], undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 21 | Handwritten notes on the water vehicle propulsion unit, undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 22 | Honorable discharge papers from U.S. Army, 1946 |
| Box 1 | Folder 23 | Import duty entry form, 1989 |
| Box 1 | Folder 24 | Income tax reference letter, 1987 June 2 |
| Box 1 | Folder 25 | Invitation from The American Community in Tanzania, 1988 June 16 |
| Box 1 | Folder 26 | Kibaha Kilima Kidogo file [includes Turner’s collection of residency and farming paperwork], 1989 |
| Box 1 | Folder 27 | Laurence Turner’s business cards, undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 28 | Laurence Turner’s immigration and business paperwork for Tanzania, 1985-1987, undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 29 | Letter alerting Turner to a burglary, 1987 |
| Box 1 | Folder 30 | Letter from Turner to university professors referencing African religions, undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 31 | Letter to Mrs. Madina Ngororo, Director of Tourism, 1988 July 14 |
| Box 1 | Folder 32 | Letter to Turner from J.Z. Chiligati referencing African unity, 1988 May 7 |
| Box 1 | Folder 33 | Materials regarding Turner’s application for an industrial plot, 1986-1988, undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 34 | Ministry of Home Affairs [Tanzania] correspondence regarding Turner’s residency, 1986-1988 |
| Box 1 | Folder 35 | National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)’s Fight for Freedom award to Turner, 1956 |
| Box 1 | Folder 36 | National Insurance Corporation of Tanzania Limited documents, 1986-1989 |
| Box 1 | Folder 37 | Personal affairs inquiry form of the U.S. Army, 1946 April 16 |
| Box 1 | Folder 38 | Photocopied page from Turner’s passport, 1985 |
| Box 1 | Folder 39 | Post N.C.O. Club No. 2 [Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland] membership card and pass, 1941, undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 40 | Private Charles E. Sheekles letter to Corporal Turner, 1944 |
| Box 1 | Folder 41 | Promissory note to repay Turner, 1986 June 10 |
| Box 1 | Folder 42 | Public carrier’s license, 1988 |
| Box 1 | Folder 43 | Requests for a groundwater survey, 1989 |
| Box 2 | Folder 1 | Sales tax entry form, 1989 |
| Box 2 | Folder 2 | Separation qualification record, U.S. Army, circa 1946 |
| Box 2 | Folder 3 | Soldier’s pass record, 1946 |
| Box 2 | Folder 4 | Star Fire Manufacturing Company certificate of registration, 1988 May 12 |
| Box 2 | Folder 5 | Statement of confidentiality and non-use, undated |
| Box 2 | Folder 6 | State of Connecticut manufacturers license, 1970 August |
| Box 2 | Folder 7 | State of Connecticut sterilization permits, 1971, 1972 |
| Box 2 | Folder 8 | Tanzania Automotive Technology Centre brochure, 1988 July |
| Box 2 | Folder 9 | Tanzania Motor Services Company Limited receipts, 1986-1987 |
| Box 2 | Folder 10 | Turner’s certificate of competence from the Tanzania police, 1988 |
| Box 2 | Folder 11 | Turner’s compensation for home compound form/”schedule,” 1987 |
| Box 2 | Folder 12 | Turner’s correspondence to his niece, Beverly Coleman, 1985-1988 |
| Box 2 | Folder 13 | Turner’s correspondence with Henderson and Sturm [patent lawyers], 1985-1989, undated |
| Box 2 | Folder 14 | Turner’s firearms dealer license, 1986 |
| Box 2 | Folder 15 | Turner’s foreign currency declaration form, 1986 |
| Box 2 | Folder 16 | Turner’s letter applying for a mechanical engineer position, 1988 June 15 |
| Box 2 | Folder 17 | Turner’s letter about his illness and announcing Mr. Kapufi as his advocate, 1986 |
| Box 2 | Folder 18 | Turner’s New York City Police Department certificate of good conduct for the Consul of the Congo, 1961 November 7 |
| Box 2 | Folder 19 | Turner’s record of invention for his Star Fire water vehicle propulsion system, 1987, undated |
| Box 2 | Folder 20 | Turner’s savings bank passbook, 1988 |
| Box 2 | Folder 21 | Turner’s thank you letter from President Harry Truman, undated |
| Box 2 | Folder 22 | Turner’s U.S. Armed Forces service record, circa 1946 |
| Box 2 | Folder 23 | Turner’s vaccination information, 1964, undated |
| Box 2 | Folder 24 | U.S. patents for propulsion devices, 1931-1978 |
| Box 2 | Folder 25 | Vehicle inspection report, Connecticut, 1983 May 15 |
| Box 2 | Folder 26 | Vehicle inspection report D, 1988 |
| Box 2 | Folder 27 | Vehicle recovery services order, 1988 |
| Box 2 | Folder 28 | Vehicle registration forms [in Swahili], 1984, 1986 |
| Box 2 | Folder 29 | Vehicle sales receipt and inspection report, 1989, undated |
| Box 2 | Folder 30 | Veterans Administration correspondence, undated |
| Box 2 | Folder 31 | Water vehicle propulsion unit sketches, circa 1985 |
| Box 2 | Folder 32 | Water vehicle propulsion written descriptions, circa 1985 |
Series 2: Photographs, circa 1944-1990
| Box 3 | 001 | Corporal Laurence Turner, circa 1944 |
| Box 3 | 002 | Laurence Turner, circa 1974 |
| Box 3 | 003 | Turner’s burial service, 1990 |
| Box 3 | 004 | Turner’s burial service, back of his grave marker, 1990 |
| Box 3 | 005 | Turner’s burial service, front of his grave marker, 1990 |
| Box 3 | 006 | Turner’s burial service, his grave marker, 1990 |
| Box 3 | 007 | Turner’s burial service, photo of cemetery, 1990 |
| Box 3 | 008 | Turner’s friends at his burial service, 1990 |
Series 3: Memorabilia, circa 1944, undated
| Box 3 | 009 | Honorable discharge service record holder containing Turner’s Army medals and patches, undated |
| Box 3 | 010 | Laurence E. Turner’s Army dog tags, circa 1944 |
