Spanning from November 1900 to September 1929 – from the Victorian era to the year when the All India Congress demanded independence for India and America and Europe suffered from the great stock market crash.

Initial areas covered included:

• INDIA: Bengal, Calcutta, Madras, Nagpur, Rajputana, Santalia, Western India.
• CHINA: Manchuria, Yichang.
• AFRICA & THE ISLANDS: Gold Coast, Transkei, Lovedale, Kafraria, Natal, Old Calabar, Jamaica and South Santo.

The minutes are very full and rich in detail. In addition to items such as lists of Ministers and Elders, Budget estimates, Agents’ salaries, records of departures to foreign missions, resignations and deaths, there are also fascinating items such as:

• Accounts of famine relief in Rajputana.
• Extracts from letters of missionaries in the field.
• Records of Women’s Foreign Missionary work.
• An account of the educational scheme in Old Calabar (now South Nigeria).
• News of the medical mission in Mukden, Manchuria.
• An examination of the Native Question in Cape Colony.

By 1908 the number of regions being served had greatly expanded. For India there were now additional sections dealing with Bengal, Santalia, Nagpur, and Madras. And the Church of Scotland was now active in Trinidad and the New Hebrides. By 1920 coverage had further expanded to include the Gold Coast and South Arabia.

Methods of fund-raising can be explored and there are accounts of lantern slide lectures and special campaigns for Famine Relief and for the Duff Missionary Fund. There are records of congregational contributions and of visitations by missionaries.

A wide range of methods was adopted by missionaries to integrate with their communities and there are accounts of:

• Medical work: including missions to lepers, tuberculosis treatment and vaccination campaigns.
• Educational work: including girls’ schools, native colleges and training facilities.
• Industrial missions.

The cost of new buildings is given and the equipment required for the training is specified.

In 1916 missionaries were encouraged to describe ‘the place of women in the Church’s life and work’ – and the answers are revealing.

The changing mood in the colonies is also well recorded. There are details of mass movements in India and of a native uprising in Livingstonia.