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CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY ARCHIVE
Section I: East Asia Missions

Part 21: Periodicals for South, Central and West China, 1899-1970, and Japan, 1905-1941, including Papers of Fukien Conferences, 1906-1937

Nature and Scope of the Microfilm Project of the Church Missionary Society Archive from CMS Headquarters, London and the University of Birmingham

Adam Matthew Publications is proud to publish the Archive of the Church Missionary Society bringing together in this microfilm publication papers held at the CMS Headquarters in London and the University of Birmingham Library.

The microfilm publication of the CMS Archive is a major and extensive project. We have therefore divided the archive into manageable sections which largely reflect its original organisation.

Section I - East Asia Missions - This consists of the Loochoo Naval Mission (1843-1861), the papers for Japan (1869-1949), for China (1834-1949) and the Archive of the Church of England Zenana Missionary Society (CEZMS) (1880-1957).

Section II - Missions to Women consists of the Archive of the Society for Promoting Female Education in China, India and the East (or Female Educational Society) (FES) 1834-1899. Also included are the following periodicals- India's Women and China's Daughters 1880-1939 retitled Looking East at India's Women and China's Daughters 1940-1957, Homes of the East 1910-1948, Daybreak 1889, 1893-94 and 1906-09 (these three periodicals were published by the CEZMS) and The Indian Female Evangelist 1872-1880 (published by the Indian Female Normal School and Instruction Society) retitled The Zenana; or Woman’s Work in India, 1893-1935 retitled The Zenana; Women’s Work in India and Pakistan, 1936-1956 published by the Zenana Medical and Bible Mission. It also contains the Annual Reports of the Indian Female Normal School and Instruction Society for 1863-1879 and the Minutes of the Zenana Medical and Bible Mission 1865-1937.

Section III - Central Records consists of the Register of CMS Missionaries, 1804-1918, The History of the CMS and Catalogues to the Overseas Archive and Loochoo, CEZMS and FES Archives. It also includes the CMS Gleaner 1841-1921, retitled CMS Outlook 1922-1972; the Gleaner Pictorial Album and CMS Missionary Atlas. Also included are the Annual Letters 1887-1912, the medical periodicals Mercy and Truth 1897-1921, retitled The Mission Hospital 1922-1939, retitled The Way of Healing 1940; The Medical Mission Quarterly 1892-1896; and Preaching and Healing 1900-1906. Also included are the following periodicals from the Church Mission Library, London: The Missionary Papers, 1816-1884; CMS Monthly Paper, 1828-1829; A Quarterly Token for Juvenile Subscribers, 1856-1878 and 1888-1917; The Home Gazette, 1905-1906; The CMS Gazette, 1907-1934; General Review of Missions, 1919, continued as Annual Reports, 1922-1944; CMS Historical Record, 1944-1986; The CMS Juvenile Instructor, 1842-1890, Children’s World 1891-1900; The Round World, 1901-1958; The Church Missionary Society Record, 1830-1875; CMS AwakE ! - A Missionary Magazine for General Readers, 1891-1921, continued as Eastward Ho!, 1922-1940.

Section III also covers the Committee Minutes and Indexes 1799-1949 and Circular Books and Letters 1799-1921 and Lives of Missionaries from the Church Mission Society Library.

Section IV - Africa Missions contains the papers of the West Africa (Sierra Leone) Mission 1803-1949, the Nigeria-Yoruba Mission papers, 1844-1934, Nigeria-Niger 1857-1934, Nigeria-Northern Nigeria, 1900-1934 and Nigeria Missions, 1935-1949. The other papers included are the Sudan Mission, 1905-1949, Egypt, 1889-1949, South Africa, 1836-1843, Kenya, 1841-1949, Nyanza, 1876-1886, Tanganyika, 1900-1949, Rwanda, 1933-1949, Uganda 1898-1949 and Mauritius, Madagascar and the Seychelles, 1856-1929.

Section V - Missions to the Americas covers the papers of the West Indies Mission,1819-1861, the North-West Canada Mission, 1821-1930 and British Columbia, 1856-1925.

Section VI - South Asia Missions comprises the papers of the following missions: North India, 1811-1949, South India, 1811-1949, Western India, 1820-1949, India General, 1811-1815 and Ceylon (Sri Lanka), 1815-1949.

Section VII - General Secretary’s Papers

Section VIII - Middle East Missions This consists of the following missions: Persia (Iran), 1875-1949, Turkish Arabia (Iraq), 1898-1949 and the Mediterranean and Palestine, 1811-1949.

Section IX - Home Papers contains a wide variety of papers including deputation work, the field staff, candidates’ papers, the Society’s publications and publicity and work amongst children and youth.

Section X - Australasia Missions contains the papers of the New Zealand Mission, 1809-1914. These papers include those of the short-lived Australia Mission covering the period 1830-1841.

In addition to a General Guide to the Archive we also provide individual guides to the different sections of the project. The guides comprise an introduction written by Rosemary Keen (ex-archivist of the CMS) covering the history of the CMS and describing the organisation of the archive, a publisher’s note and a contents of reels listing.

The Church Missionary Society (CMS), born out of the Evangelical Revival and founded in 1799 as an independent voluntary society within the Church of England, was to grow into one of the largest and most influential missionary societies in the world. At the turn of the century it had a staff of 1,300 missionaries, 375 local clergy, 1,000 local agents and teachers and an annual income of the equivalent of £20 million. It produced millions of publications each year.

Initially named the Society for Missions to Africa and the East (renamed the Church Missionary Society in 1812 and now called the Church Mission Society) it followed simple missionary principles; to follow God in the same way as the missionaries of the early Church, to begin humbly and on a small scale, to put money after prayer and study and to depend on the Holy Spirit.

The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge and the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts were well established in their missionary work in the East Indies and North America. The CMS widened the horizons of missionary activity declaring:

"The whole continent of Africa, and that of Asia also, with the exception of a few places, were still open to the Missionary labours of the Church of England. To these quarters of the globe, therefore, the promoters of the present design turned their chief attention...."

The CMS at first could not decide which mission field was the most suitable and it was very difficult to find English missionaries. It was finally decided to begin in West Africa. At Freetown there had been a colony for freed slaves established in 1786, under the charge of the Sierra Leone Company (of which some CMS founders were directors). Many candidates were interviewed for the posts of missionaries but it was not until 1804 that two German Lutheran clergy Melchior Renner and Peter Hartwig, trained at a seminary in Berlin, left for Freetown to work among the Susu tribe.

After the abolition of the slave trade in 1807 many opportunities were opened up for missionary work in Sierra Leone. However the death toll among missionaries was very heavy owing to the tropical diseases they contracted and it was decided to set up a training institute for Africans at Fourah Bay. This was to become the University of Fourah Bay where the CMS Bishop Samuel Crowther was trained.

CMS work expanded quickly in Africa over the next few decades and mission stations were set up in Nigeria and Kenya in 1844, Uganda in 1876 and Tanganyika in 1878.

CMS missionaries spread the Gospel not only through evangelistic work but also through education and medical care, by providing schools for children, colleges for adults, training in industry for men, and in crafts and household skills for women and medical training for those who worked in the hospitals and dispensaries.

Missionary work had begun in New Zealand in 1809. Many converts were made among the Maoris and by 1837 there were about 30,000 Maoris attending Christian worship. There were also some CMS missionaries working in Australia among the aborigines around 1830. They were withdrawn within a few years but more were sent in 1892 to New South Wales and Victoria.

Work in the West Indies began in 1813 among the slaves on the plantations and increased to such an extent that by 1838 the Society had 13 missionaries, 23 lay agents and seventy schools, with a congregation numbering about 8,000.

When CMS began work in India the British East India Company would not allow missionaries in the areas which it administered. However the passing of the Charter Bill in 1813 provided for the establishment of bishoprics in India and work in North India in particular developed rapidly. It was controlled by a Committee in Calcutta and could decide on the location of the missionaries and lay agents. Work also continued in South India, the first two missionaries being German Lutheran clergymen, J C Schnarre and C J Rhenius. The mission in West India, centred around Bombay, was the smallest in India but still provided schools, an orphanage, teacher-training classes and training in agriculture.

Missionaries arrived in Ceylon in 1818 and although work was at first slow, by 1876 trained catechists were working among the Tamil coolies in the coffee and tea plantations.

Other missions begun in these decades were Canada (1822) where much work was done among the Indians in the Hudson Bay area, Egypt (1826), Palestine and the Middle East (1851), Persia (1875) and Mauritius (1856).

Although the papers for China begin in 1834 the area was only fully opened up to the CMS at the end of the Opium Wars in 1844. By 1847 they had established missions at Ningpo and Shanghai. Although work was beset initially by many difficulties more missions were gradually opened and by 1897 the missions had been divided into three separate areas.

Although there were missionaries of the Loochoo Naval Mission working in the Loochoo islands from 1843 to 1861 (when the Mission's funds were given to the CMS for future work in Japan) the first CMS missionaries did not commence work in Japan until 1869 when the mission in Nagasaki was opened. From 1873 onwards missions were opened in other areas of the country, the Japan bishopric was established in 1883 and in 1884 a theological school set up in Osaka.

Women had worked in the missions from the very early years but usually alongside their husbands. In 1887 a call was put out by the CMS for unmarried ladies to become missionaries and this had an overwhelming response. A new training school was set up for women and there were 326 unmarried women working abroad by 1901.

Two Missionary Societies were amalgamated into the CMS over the years: the Church of England Zenana Missionary Society (CEZMS) in 1957 and the Society for Promoting Female Education in China, India and the East (usually known as the Female Education Society (FES)) in 1899. The CEZMS specialised in sending missionaries to India, China, Japan and Ceylon to work among the women in the Zenanas (harems). The FES established schools for women in China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, India, South Africa, Palestine, Syria, Lebanon and Mauritius.

The CMS Archive is held partly at CMS Headquarters in London and partly at the University of Birmingham Library. Initially only the material relating up to 1949 was held in Birmingham, However in 1999 the material covering 1950-1959 was opened up for research and is now also held in there. The material for later years, which is held in London, will follow in stages as the material becomes available for research.

In addition to the Overseas Archive, Birmingham holds the General Secretary’s Papers which include the main committee minutes of the Society concerned with its policy and overseas missions and the papers of the Candidates, Finance and Medical Departments and the Home Division. It also holds the Accessions series (collections of papers relating to the Society and its missionaries, which have largely been donated to CMS and do not form part of its official headquarters archives).

Birmingham also holds the Female Educational Society (FES) and the Church of England Zenana Missionary Society (CEZMS) Archives which were amalgamated with CMS. The CMS Gleaner is held in London. Copies of the Gleaner’s Pictorial Album and Missionary Atlas, Annual Letters, The History of the Church Missionary Society and the Register of CMS Missionaries can be found both in Birmingham and London. However there is only one annotated copy of the Register and this is held in London.

The CMS is administered by a series of committees, the Secretaries of each of the main committees being the heads of department at headquarters. The Work has two main divisions, Home and Overseas. Up to 1880 the Overseas work of the CMS was administered by the Committee of Correspondence but from 1881 to 1934 the mission areas were divided into three regions each with their own mission secretary and series of correspondence. The areas were: East Asia (Group 1), West Asia (Group 2) and Africa (Group 3). East Asia covers Canada, China and Japan; West Asia covers Ceylon, India, Mauritius and Madagascar, and Persia and Turkish Arabia. Africa covers West Africa (Sierra Leone), Nigeria, South and East Africa, East Africa, Egypt and Sudan, Mediterranean Mission, West Indies and New Zealand.

The papers for each of the missions under the Committee of Correspondence up to 1880 consist of Letter Books - copies of outgoing correspondence from the Secretary to the mission secretary and missionaries; Original Papers - all incoming papers sent to headquarters by the mission secretary; Mission Books - all the Original Papers were copied into books so that a legible copy would be available for the use of the Committee. It should be noted however that for the Japan mission there is no separate series of Mission Books as the incoming papers were copied into the China Mission Books which from 1875 contain separate sections for Japan.

From 1881 to 1934 the papers consist of Letter Books - as described above; Individual Letter Books - personal and confidential letters to the missionaries from the Secretary; Original Papers - as described above and Précis Books - a printed précis of the incoming papers was prepared for the meetings of the Group Committee. It gave the date, writer, date received, summary of contents, proposals for committee action and/or the Secretary's remarks. A file copy of the précis was pasted in the book on the left-hand side and on the right-hand side the committee clerk entered the relevant Committee and Secretarial action.

The Overseas Archive from 1935 onwards is divided into two groups, one relating to specific mission areas and one for files covering the whole or part of Africa or Asia (with the Middle East). The files for a specific mission area are arranged in the following order: Correspondence with the mission secretary, Dioceses, Education, General and Medical. The files dealing with the whole or a part of Africa or Asia are divided into General, East and West Africa or Asia and are then further subdivided into various sections such as Administration, Finance, Medical etc.

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