WOMEN'S MISSIONARY ARCHIVES
Sources from the Centre for the Study of Christianity in the Non-Western World, Edinburgh

Founded to advance scholarship, through research, teaching and publication, in Christianity outside the western hemisphere, the Centre for the Study of Christianity in the Non-Western World (CSCNWW) possesses a wide range of source materials relating to the activity of women missionaries.

This is an area of continuing fascination for scholars for a variety of reasons.  For historians of gender, missionary activity was an early area of empowerment for women, as the call of religion gave women the right to travel to the furthest reaches of the known world – often unchaperoned.  Their gender also provided them with access to some areas of foreign societies (for instance, the harem and the zenana), which were difficult for men to access.  In many cases, they were also more observant about matters such as social and family activity.  As such, the records tell us much about women’s travel, their lives and expectations and the lives of women and families in the cultures that they visited.

The material featured in this project is:

The Female Missionary Intelligencer, 1862-1877 – this was the publication of the Society for Promoting Female Education in the East and describes the activities of women missionaries in countries as diverse as Egypt, Turkey, Sudan, China, India, Japan, Sri Lanka, Singapore and Tibet.  There are many picaresque articles on topics such ‘Cairo During and After Ramadan’, a ‘Scene in the Hong Kong Diocesan Female School’, and a description of ‘A Chinese Wedding.’  There are also more probing pieces on ‘ Human Sacrifice among the Khunds’, ‘The Small Feet of Chinese Ladies’, ‘Motherhood in Japan’ and ‘The Degradation of Women in the East’, which will continue to arouse strong reactions in readers.  However, education was the chief concern of the SPFE and the Intelligencer provides graphic descriptions of schools as varied as the Christian school in Beirut, the Chinese Girls School in Singapore, the Jewish Girls School in Calcutta, Ragged Schools in China and the Osaka Girl’s School in Japan. 

Ladies Society Reports, 1847-1901; Ladies Society Quarterly Papers, 1845-1897 –  The Ladies Society for Promoting the Christian Education of the Females of India and South Africa was an offshoot of the Free Church of Scotland and we have already featured their manuscript letterbooks, 1878-1904, in Part 2 of our Women Missionaries series. These Annual Reports and Quarterly Papers provide further documentary evidence of their work. They were active in Bengal, Madras, Bombay, Jalna, Puna and Nagpore in India; and in Lovedale, Burnshill and Pirie in South Africa. Articles on topics such as ‘Women’s Influence in India’ can be read alongside accounts of the development of schools for girls and women and on the encouragement of native teachers.

News of the Female Mission of the Church of Scotland, 1862-1922 – Running parallel to the Ladies Society of the Free Church of Scotland, the Female Mission of the Church of Scotland was also active in India and Africa and was notable for supplementing educational work with the establishment of medical centres.  The News is full of interesting features, such as ‘A peep into Zenana life’, ‘Jewish Intelligence’, ‘A Holiday on Mount Zamba’, and ‘The Mission Buildings Bazaar’.

The Women’s Missionary Magazine of the United Free Church of Scotland, 1901-1919: The United Free Church of Scotland was founded in 1900 by the coming together of two of the largest Presbyterian bodies that had broken away from the Church of Scotland in 1843 – namely, the United Presbyterian Church and the Free Church of Scotland.  As such, the Women’s Missionary Magazine continues on from the publications of the Ladies Society above.  The material ranges widely across China, India, South Africa, Zambia, Palestine and other articles, with articles such as ‘An African Sunday Class’, ‘Witness Bearing in Manchuria’, ‘Hindu Festivals’, ‘Plague at Puna’, ‘Opium in China’, ‘A Zulu Girl at Lovedale’, ‘Jewish Mission’, ‘Village Life in Palestine’, ‘The Future of Jewish Missions’, and ‘A Famous Daughter of the United Free Church’.

Other titles featured are The Quarterly Zenana Record, 1887-1900; Sabbath School missionary leaflets, 1880-1900; The Children’s Monthly Missionary Newspaper 1843 – 1847; and the Juvenile Missionary Magazine, 1844-1850 – these provide further insights into the lives of women and children in India and Africa and the special efforts that missionary organisations made to reach them.