Missionary Records
Online Resources -- American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions -- Microfilm -- Context and Background -- Research Guides and Bibliographies -- Biography
The correspondence and reports of missionaries contain much social and cultural information on the countries visited.
Archives Unbound: Global Missions and Theology includes personal narratives, organizational records and biographies of leaders, missionaries and churches. Includes materials on American domestic and foreign missionary activities, 1800-1899. More information.
Asia and the West: Diplomacy and Cultural Exchange (In: Nineteenth Century Collections Online). To browse the Collections within Asia and the West, open menu in search box on upper left. Click on image under Asia and the West. You can search within a Collection, or in Advanced search you can limit to Collection. Largely UK and US diplomatic and consular records with some missionary correspondence and publications.
- Missionary Files: Methodist Episcopal Church Missionary Correspondence, 1846-1912 (China, Japan, Korea)
- Missionary Files: Methodist Episcopal Church Missionary Correspondence, 1912-1949 (China, Japan, Korea)
- Missionary and Socio-Economic Journals
Basel Mission Archives (1815 until the mid-20th century) contain digitized visual and cartographic material as well as catalog data relating to the Basel Mission’s work in Africa, Asia, the Americas, Europe, especially Ghana (from 1828), India (from 1834), China (from 1847), Cameroon (from1886) and Kalimantan (from 1922).
British Records of the Atlantic World, 1700-1900 includes:
Part 2: American material in the archives of the United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, 1635-1812
Part 7: Journal, annual sermons and reports of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, 1701-1870
Part 8: South American Missionary Society records, 1844-1919 [founded as the Patagonian Mission]
Part 10: Early colonial and missionary records from West Africa [includes early Gold Coast records from the archives of the USPG; the papers of Thomas Perronet Thompson, the first Governor of the Colony of Sierra Leone; An Account of Two Missionary Voyages by Rev. Thomas Thompson; and the letters of Rev. Philip Quaque]
Part 11: West Indies material in the archives of the USPG, 1710-1950
Part 12: The archives of the Associates of Dr Bray to 1900 [correspondence files, minute books and financial reports; including material on the Associates' activities in North America the Bahamas, in the establishment and running of Negro Schools and in grants of library books.
China: Trade, Politics and Culture contains materials from the British Library, the School of Oriental and African Studies, and other institutions, including:
•Papers of missionaries.
•Chinese Recorder, 1867-1941
Church Missionary Society Periodicals (1804-2009)
Digital Indipetae Database: Jesuit Petitions for Missions
Evangelism in Africa : correspondence of the Board of Foreign Missions, 1835-1910 (Presbyterian)
Evangelism in India : correspondence of the Board of Foreign Mission, 1833-1910 (Presbyterian)
Evangelism and the Syria-Lebanon mission : correspondence of the Board of Foreign Missions, 1869-1910 (Presbyterian)
Internet Mission Photography Archive offers images from Protestant and Catholic missionary collections in Britain, Norway, Germany, and the United States.
Missionary Archives from Lesotho, 1832 - 2006
Yale Divinity Library Digital Collections. Other online resources (Yale guide)
Annual reports of missionary organizations. (Yale)
United Methodist Church Archives & History Reading Room
American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions
--About the ABCFM
The Houghton Library here at Harvard holds the archives of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. An online guide for the paper records in Houghton is available, but researchers are asked to use the microfilm which contains over half of the records (in Government Documents/Microtext, Level B, Lamont Library) where possible. An online guide to the microfilm is available together with an index of missionaries, and collection information (in Collection List under Papers of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. There is a book in the Houghton Library Reading Room which lists the original paper records and is annotated to indicate which of these are available on the microfilm. The main collection of ABCFM papers consists of documents, minutes and letters sent by the missionaries to the Board, arranged geographically by location of mission, then chronologically, then alphabetically by name of the missionary.
There are substantial archival and pamphlet collections relating to the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions at the Congregational Library in Boston
John J. Burns Library Rare Books and Special Collections at Boston College has a large Jesuitana collection
The Jesuit collection in the John J. Burns Library of Boston College. Chestnut Hill, MA: Boston College Libraries, 1986.
LOCATION: Andover-Harv. Theol: Ref. Z7840.J5 J63 1986
LOCATION: Widener: WID-LC BX3702.2.Z99 J64 x 1986
--The collection has more than doubled since 1986; check the online catalog. Lists of post-1986 acquisitions are available in the John J. Burns Library.
African missions: papers of the mission of the United Presbyterian Church from the National Library of Scotland.
HOLLIS record
Online guide
Microforms (Lamont) | Film A 1443
China inland mission, 1865-1951: from the School of Oriental and African Studies, London. 2 pts. on 39 microfilm reels
Microforms (Lamont) | Film A 1357
Online guide Scroll down
China missionaries oral history collection. Claremont Graduate School. 39 microfiches; fiche 1-3, biographical data and indexes
Microforms (Lamont) | Microfiche W 1372
Brief Description
China through western eyes: manuscript records of traders, travellers, missionaries and diplomats, 1792-1942. 151 microfilm reels + guides (3 v.)
Brief Description
Microforms (Lamont) | Film A 923
Microforms (Lamont) | INDEX Film A 923 = guide
Online guide Scroll down
Church Missionary Society archive. 7 sections on 1477 microfilm reels + reel guides.
Brief description
Harvard-Yenching | FW 1783
Microforms (Lamont) | Film A 958
Microforms (Lamont) | INDEX Film A 958 = guides
Online guide Scroll down
Korean Mission records: papers of the Korean Mission, 1889-1987, from Birmingham University Library.
HOLLIS record
Online guide
Microforms (Lamont) | Film A 1461
Livingstonia Mission archives, 1874-1934: the Rev Dr Robert Laws and missionary activity in Malawi, Tanzania and Zambia from the Scottish Foreign Missions Archive at the National Library of Scotland.
HOLLIS record
Online guide
Microforms (Lamont) | Film A 1433
Missionary files: Methodist Episcopal Church missionary correspondence, 1846-1912. [East Asia and Latin America]
Microforms (Lamont) | Film A 1354
Missionary files: Methodist Church, 1912-1949. 149 microfilm reels + guide (56 p.) [East Asia]
Fuller record
Microforms (Lamont) Film A 1355
More information
Missionary pamphlets: Alexander Duff Pamphlet Collection from the Centre for the Study of Christianity in the Non-Western World.
HOLLIS record
Online guide
Missions -- India -- History -- 19th century -- Sources.
Microforms (Lamont) | Film A 1439
Presbyterian Church of England Foreign Missions Committee (1847-1950)
Fuller record
Microforms (Lamont) Microfiche W 5921
Scottish missionary archives from the Centre for the Study of Christianity in the Non-Western World. 4 pts. on 39 microfilm reels.
Brief description.
Microforms (Lamont) | Film A 1438
Online guide Scroll down
Women missionaries. 2 pts. on 14 microfilm reels. Fuller record
Microforms (Lamont) Film A 1282
Online guide Scroll down
Women's missionary archives from the Centre for the Study of Christianity in the Non-Western World. 34 microfilm reels.
Fuller description
Microforms (Lamont) | Film A 1437
Online guide Scroll down
Center for Research Libraries, Chicago holds the following collections which can be obtained via Interlibrary Loan:
--The Archives of the Council for World Missions, 1775–1940
--Methodist Missionary Society Archives, 1791–1948
Additional information on mission-related material is available on their website.
The missionary gazetteer: comprising a view of the inhabitants, and a geographical description of the countries and places, where Protestant missionaries have labored; alphabetically arranged, and so constructed as to give a particular and general history of missions throughout the world: with an appendix containing an alphabetical list of missionaries, their stations, the time of entering, removal, or decease, by Walter Chapin. Woodstock, VT: Printed by D. Watson, 1825. 420 p.
Andover-Harv. Theol | Harvard Depository Special Collection | 815 C467mi 1825 Houghton | C 10010.9*
--In Google Books
--Other editions available; consult HOLLIS
Atlas of global Christianity 1910-2010, ed. by Todd M. Johnson, Kenneth R. Ross, Sandra S.K. Lee. Edinburgh : Edinburgh University Press, 2009, 361 p. + 1 computer optical disc.
HOLLIS Record
Biographical dictionary of Christian missions, ed. by Gerald H. Anderson. NY: Macmillan Reference USA, 1998, 845 p.
HOLLIS Record
The encyclopaedia of missions : descriptive, historical, biographical, statistical, ed. by Edwin Munsell Bliss. London: Ganesha Pub.; Tokyo: Edition Synapse, 2002. 2 v.
--The bulk of entries in this work concern the history, development and activities of all missionary societies in their country of origin as well as abroad.
--Originally published: New York : Funk & Wagnalls, 1891.
--Includes "A bibliography of foreign missions ... down to the close of 1890, v. 1, p. 575-661.
HOLLIS Record
2nd ed. 1904
HOLLIS Record
Encyclopedia of mission and missionaries, ed. by Jonathan J. Bonk. NY: Routledge, 2007, 473 p.
HOLLIS Record
Encyclopedia of women and religion in North America, ed. by R. S. Keller and R. R. Ruether. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2006. 3 v.
Andover-Harv. Theol | Ref. | BL458 .E52 2006
Schlesinger | Ref. | 200.82 K29e
Widener | RR 4810.25
China
Reference guide to Christian missionary societies in China : from the sixteenth to the twentieth century, by R.G. Tiedemann. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 2009, 338 p.
Andover-Harv. Theol | Ref. | BV2010 .T54 2009
Harvard-Yenching | (W) | BV2010 .T54 2009
Christianity in China : a scholars' guide to resources in the libraries and archives of the United States, ed. by Xiaoxin Wu. 2nd ed. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 2009, 797 p.
Andover-Harv. Theol | Ref. | BR1285 .C574 2009
Harvard-Yenching | Ref (W) | BR1285 .C57 2009x
Research Guides and Bibliographies
Bibliotheca missionum. Münster i.W., Aachen, 1916- .
Location : Andover-Harv. Theol Harvard Depository Z7838.M6 S9
Location : Tozzer REF BL637.Z99 S8
Location : Widener C 10000.7
Summary of Contents in HOLLIS record
--This bibliography covers Catholic missions worldwide
About this rich but complex resource
"Bibliotheca missionum: a case of benign neglect", by David Henige. History in Africa 5 (1978): 337-344.
International mission bibliography, 1960-2000, ed. by Norman E. Thomas. Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press, 2003.
Location : Andover-Harv. Theol Ref. BV2061.3 .I58 2003
Location : Widener Harvard Depository BV2061.Z99
A one-volume work updating Bibliotheca missionum. Annotated listings of books in topical chapters
Documentary Sources in the United States for Foreign Missions Research: A Select Bibliography and Checklist, by Robert Shuster. International bulletin of mission research, 1985, Vol.9 (1), p.19-29
Missionary Research Library Collection (Union Theological Seminary) contains collections of missionaries' papers and institutional records.
Missions and World Christianity Guide (Yale)
MUNDUS: Gateway to Missionary Collections in the UK
North American Library Resources for Mission Research, by Stephen L. Peterson. International Bulletin of Missionary Research, vol. 15, iss. 4, (Oct 1, 1991): 155-164
Sources for Missionary and Church Archives (SOAS)
Africa
Sources for African History: Missionary Records in Microform
CRL Resources on 19th-Century Christian Missionary Work in Africa
Catholic missionary journals relating to Africa: a provisional checklist and union list for North America, by David Henige. Los Angeles, Calif.: Crossroads Press, 1980, 71 p.
HOLLIS Record
China
American China Missions: An Introductory Bibliography
Biographical dictionary of Christian missions, edited by Gerald H. Anderson. New York : Macmillan Reference USA, 1998, 845 p.
--Biographies...by time period -- of women -- of martyrs -- by region of service -- by agencies, orders, and religious traditions -- of non-western persons -- by type of work.
HOLLIS Record
Internet Archive Full Text
Searchable Index of Necrologies for Missionaries and Congregational Clergy, (Congregational Library, Boston)
"The Chinese Recorder" index: a guide to Christian missions in Asia, 1867-1941, by Kathleen L. Lodwick. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 1986. 2 v.
Widener | Ch2.3.13.7
The missionary periodical The Chinese Recorderis a major source for biographical information on Christian missionaries in China. Vol. 1 is an index by name. Vol. 2 includes indexes of persons by affiliation and by location, together with lists of women, medical doctors, and women medical doctors. Vol. 2 also includes indexes of non-biographical material by subject and by missions and other organizations. There is a list of missions and other organizations by location.The Chinese Recorder, 1867-1941 is available as searchable full text in China: Trade, Politics and Culture.
The Chinese biographical dictionary Jin dai lai Hua wai guo ren ming ci dian serves to connect names of missionaries in Chinese characters to the Western form of the name, whence it can be looked up in The Chinese Recorder index.