In 1951 Gerald Elwin Currens began working in Liberia as a Lutheran missionary with his wife Virginia. After working as a missionary for many years, he was granted a one-year study leave. He was accepted into the University of Oregon's school of anthropology in 1968 . After his first year he was awarded with a fellowship from the National Institute of Health, thus beginning his PhD work. His research proposal was to study upland rice cultivation and other features of the subsistence based economy that was prevalent within rural Liberia .
Currens and his wife settled in the town of Lawalazu . The area was largely chosen because the people spoke the Loma language, which he spoke relatively fluently, and he had no associations there from his prior work as a missionary. Currens began his study in December 1971 and remained there until the December of the following year. While there, he studied the market activity, local custom, and the farming style of slash and burn upland rice cultivation.
Currens was also heavily involved with the "The Loma Weekly" and literacy readers while in Liberia . For "The Loma Weekly," Currens authored many articles. He often wrote what was a "reflection" based upon a Biblical story or theme which was then interpreted through the Loma context. For the literacy readers or primers, Currens worked with the Loma Literacy Program run by the Lutheran church which was heavily involved with teaching adults to read the Loma script. Children were taught in English. Several of the readers in the collection have been written or adapted by Currens in Loma or English or both.
From the guide to the The Gerald Currens Collection, 1918-2002, (Liberian Collections http://www.onliberia.org)
