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Religion: primary sources

Asia

Collectanea Commissionis Synodalis = Dossiers de la Commission synodale = Digest of the Synodal Commission
This collection reproduces a periodical for Catholic priest and missionaries in China, published by the Synodal Commission of the Catholic Church in Peking. The material is written in Latin, French and English. The originals are held in the Maryknoll Library.
Available at Princeton Theological Seminary.

The Chinese Recorder and the Protestant Missionary Community in China, 1867-1941 
"In 1867, in an effort to keep their colleagues informed about their activities, the Protestant missionaries began the Missionary Recorder at the Methodist Press in Foochow. It would be issued continually for the next sixty-seven years. During its long run, somewhat remarkable for any publication begun in the nineteenth century-not to mention one published in English in China-the Chinese Recorder covered such diverse topics as the beginnings of mission schools; the Boxer Rebellion; the crusade against opium; the ecumenical missionary conferences of 1877, 1890, and 1907; the 1911 Revolution; the growth of the Chinese church; and the rise of communism in China."

Latin America

FBI file on the American churchwomen killed in El Salvador, December 2, 1980
The file consists of information on the 1980 murder of four churchwomen in El Salvador and the subsequent investigations and meetings. There are meeting minutes, notes, newspaper clippings, memos and legal documents.

South American Missionary Society records, 1844-1919
"Includes most of the material held in the SAMS archives for the period up to 1919. When originally founded in 1844, this Church of England-affiliated organisation was called the Patagonian Mission. This collection reproduces the minute books, reports from the mission field, articles and photographs on the geography, anthropology, natural history and economic development for the society's magazine, launched in 1867, as well as the journals of its Anglican founder, Captain Allen Gardiner, and two others of its missionaries, Edward Bernau and Adolfo Henriksen."

Africa

Early colonial and missionary records from West Africa

"This resource comprises selected documents from a number of different microfilm collections, including: 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; the letters of Rev. Philip Quaque, etc."

Major organizations

Global Missions and Theology
"This collection documents the broad range of Nineteenth Century religious missionary activities, practices and thought in the United States by reproducing pivotal personal narratives, organizational records, and biographies of the essential leaders, simple missionaries, and churches. This collection includes materials on missionary activities among Native Americans and African Americans, both slaves and freedmen. In addition, it highlights activities in far-flung regions and countries, such as Africa, Fiji and Sandwich Islands, India, China, Southeast Asia, Japan, and Hawaii."

Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, 1833-1911 [microform]
This collection comprises correspondence, reports and miscellanea to and from the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S. A. Princeton University holds only selected reels from this collection, including the material on Africa, but Princeton Theological Seminary holds the entire collection. See http://gale.cengage.com/psm/guides.htm for an online guide.

Church Missionary Society archive
 

International Missionary Council and the Conference of British Missionary Societies archives: Africa and India, 1910-1945
Available through interlibrary loan from the Center for Research Libraries. The complete collection is also available at Princeton Theological Seminary.
"The International Missionary Council (IMC) emerged from the world missionary conference held at Edinburgh in 1910 and was officially established in 1921. It linked 14 interdenominational associations of missionary societies with some 16 field bodies."  2,336 fiche

Council for World Mission. Archives, 1775-1940
Available through interlibrary loan from the Center for Research Libraries. Also available at Princeton Theological Seminary.
"These are the records of the London Missionary Society and the Commonwealth Missionary Society (which later merged to become the Congregational Council for World Mission)." Arranged geographically; covers Southern and Central Africa, China, India, Madagascar and the Pacific. 23,398 fiche

Archives of the United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel [microform]
At Princeton Theological Seminary.
Set includes SPG and East Asia, SPG and Southeast Asia, SPG and the West Indies and Latin America, SPG and the Middle East and North Africa, and SPG and Australasia. See also:

 

South American Missionary Society records, 1844-1919

"Includes most of the material held in the SAMS archives for the period up to 1919. When originally founded in 1844, this Church of England-affiliated organisation was called the Patagonian Mission. This collection reproduces the minute books, reports from the mission field, articles and photographs on the geography, anthropology, natural history and economic development for the society's magazine, launched in 1867, as well as the journals of its Anglican founder, Captain Allen Gardiner, and two others of its missionaries, Edward Bernau and Adolfo Henriksen."