Links to Catalog Records

Moravian Mission Records among the North American Indians, 1735–1900
The Moravian Mission Records document the activities and observations of the workers in the Moravian Mission and among the Delaware Indians, in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Canada, Indiana, and Kansas; and among the Mohicans in New York and Connecticut; and the Cherokees in Georgia and Oklahoma. The records include diaries, church registers, catalogs of missionary records, and correspondence held in the archives of the Moravian Church in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Most of the records are in German script, although a substantial amount of English also appears.
On 40 reels of microfilm produced by Research Publications. OCLC # 25340694.

The Archives of the Council for World Missions, 1775–1940
The records of the London Missionary Society and the Commonwealth Missionary Society (which later merged to become the Congregational Council for World Missions) are among the earliest archives on missionary work, with correspondence files dating back to the 18th century.  The original archives are held by the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. The records are arranged by geographic area, as described in the extensive Inventory of the archives online guide.
On 23,398 microfiche produced by IDC Publishers. OCLC #13949021a.

International Missionary Council and the Conference of British Missionary Societies Archives: Africa and India, 1910–1945
These are records of the International Missionary Council and the Conference of British Missionary Societies. An inventory of manuscripts is included in the set.
On 2,336 microfiche produced by IDC Publishers. OCLC # 24149489.

Methodist Missionary Society Archives, 1791–1948
This set includes minutes, reports, and correspondence in manuscript and typescript of the Primitive Methodist Missionary Society, which merged with the United Methodist Missionary Society in 1932 to form the Methodist Missionary Society. CRL holds the sections of the archives relating to Africa, China, South Asia, and the West Indies.

On 24,281 microfiche produced by IDC Publishers. OCLC # 20671919.

American Missionary Association Archives
This microfilm collection of approximately 350,000 manuscript items relates to the missionary work of the American Missionary Association. The AMA was established in 1846 to end slavery in the American South, educate African Americans, promote racial equality, and “send the Gospel to those portions of our own and other countries which are destitute of it, or which present open and urgent fields of effort.” In the late 1800s and early 1900s the interdenominational, evangelical organization sought to enable African Americans to enjoy the rights of citizenship and established elementary schools and eventually normal schools and colleges. Most of the papers in the collection date from 1839 through 1882, and are arranged by place of origin—by state or foreign country.
On 261 microfilm reels produced for the Amistad Research Center, Tulane University, New Orleans. OCLC # 9560746.

Missionary Periodicals from the China Mainland

CRL holds in microfilm a number of journals published by Protestant missionary groups, mostly in the first half of the 20th century, such as the National Christian Council, Christian Society for China, and China Central Conference of the Methodist Church. Titles from this collection held by CRL include a number of journals published in Shanghai:

• The China Christian Advocate (1914–1941)
• The China Christian Year Book (1926–1939)
• The China Mission Year Book(1910–1925)
• The China Medical Journal(1907–1931)
• The China Medical Missionary Journal (1887–1907).

Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, 1833–1911
This microfilm set features correspondence and reports of the Presbyterian Church in the US. A Board of Foreign Missions documents the educational, evangelical, and medical work of the Presbyterian missionaries in Latin America, Africa, Middle East, South Asia, Southeast Asia, China, Japan, Korea, and the Philippines. CRL currently has the records for the Iran, Syria-Lebanon, and India missions.

On 292 microfilm reels produced by Scholarly Resources Inc. OCLC # 38086289.

China Inland Mission, 1865–1951, Parts 1–2
The China Inland Mission was an interdenominational Protestant missionary society founded in 1865. Its archives include the papers of founder James Hudson Taylor (1832–1905) as well as the journals and letters of others who traveled and served as missionaries in China from the opening of China in the wake of the Opium Wars to the expulsion of missionaries in 1951. They describe the peoples and their languages, culture, religions, politics, and governments. The collections afford researchers accounts of such important events as the Boxer Rebellion and the riots in Shanghai that occurred in the late 19th century.

The original papers reside at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London.The complete collection is available on microfilm from Adam Matthew Publications. OCLC # 84993403.

Church Missionary Society Archive
In addition to the missionary records from Africa, CRL holds portions of the Church Missionary Society Archives microfilmed by Adam Matthew Publications for other parts of the world.  Portions of the collection currently held by CRL include:

• Section I. East Asia Missions: records of missions to Japan and China, from the 1830s through 1949.
• Section II. Missions to Women: including papers of the Society for Promoting Female Education (FES) in China, India and the East, 1834–1899; journals including Homes of the East, 1910–1948; (including Torchbearer from 1914); Daybreak, 1889, 1893–1894, and 1906–1909; The Indian Female Evangelist, 1872–1880; The Indian Female Evangelist and successors, 1881–1956, (including The Zenana: or, Woman’s Work in India, 1893–1935; The Zenana: Women’s Work in India and Pakistan, 1936–1956); Minutes of the Zenana, Medical and Bible Mission, 1865–1937; and the Annual Reports of the Indian Female Normal School and Instruction Society, 1863–1879.
• Section III. Central records: including the annotated register of CMS missionaries; various publications and CMS Minutes, 1799–1876.
• Section V. Americas: covering the West Indies, 1819–1861; North West Canada, 1821–1930.
• Section VI. India: including India General, 1811–1815 and North India Mission, 1815–1886; North India Mission, 1844–1886; South India Mission, 1815–1884; and South India Mission, 1834–1880.

Microfilm of the complete collection is available from Adam Matthew Publications. See also publisher’s introduction and section guides.