Primary Sources - Mission Records - Christian Missions in Africa

American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions

A mission of the United Church of Christ and earlier Congregationalist organizations.

Papers of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions : unit 2: ABC 15 : letters from missionaries to Africa, 1834-1919
75 reels. Research Publications, 1982.
Microfilm. OCLC 9712074: Request via ILL-Books.
Finding aid : Online, Gale Cengage web (Africa content starts at p.18).
Index by missionary name : Online, Gale Cengage website.
Detailed finding aid (for original collection:) Online, Houghton Library, Harvard University.
Contains:
• ABC 15.1 Western Africa, 1838-1960.
• ABC 15.2 Western Africa. Woman's Board, 1897-1920.
• ABC 15.4 Southern Africa, 1834-1960.
• ABC 15.5 Southern Africa. Woman's Board, 1903-1927.
• ABC 15.6 East Africa, 1930-1960.
• ABC 15.6.01 Rhodesia. Supplementary, 1886-1955.
• ABC 15.6.1 East Central Africa, 1890-1906.
• ABC 15.6.2 Zulu East Africa, 1891-1905.
• ABC 15.9 Africa. Miscellaneous documents, 1834-1873.

American Missionary Association

Primarily a mission for abolition and to education African Americans.

The American Missionary Association Archives, 1839-1882
Online. Gale Cengage.
In : Slavery and Anti-Slavery : A Transnational Archive.
Digitized from holdings of the Amistad Research Center, this duplicates the two microform sets below.
American Missionary Association manuscripts, mostly written 1839-1882.
228 reels. Amistad Research Center.
Microfilm. Van Pelt Microtext: Microfilm 4335.
Finding aid: Online, Gale Cengage website.
Author and added entry catalog of the American Missionary Archives. 3 vols. Greenwood, 1970. Van Pelt Microtext: Z7817 .A45
Includes:
• Foreign Papers: Barbados etc. Inc., Egypt (312 MSS), Gambia (5 MSS). various dates. 1 reel.
• Foreign Papers: Liberia etc. Inc.,Liberia (12 MSS). 1861-1869. 1 reel.
• Foreign Papers: Sierra Leone (6,205 MSS). 1836-1882. 11 reels.
Archives / American Missionary Association
[This is identical to: American Missionary Association manuscripts, mostly written 1839-1882. Includes some reels missing from that set.]
261 reels. Amistad Research Center, 1983.
Microfilm. Center for Research Libraries: Request via ILL-Books.
Finding aid: Online, Center for Research Libraries.
Includes:
• Reel 226. Egypt (312 MSS) , Gambia (5 MSS). various dates.
• Reel 233. Liberia. 1861-1869. (12 MSS)
• Reels 234-244. Sierra Leone. 1836-1882. Additional letters, mission accounts, etc. (6,205 MSS)

Church Missionary Society - CMS

Originally, Society for Missions to Africa and the East (1799-1812); now, Church Mission Society (1995- ).

The church missionary atlas. New ed. (8th). Church Missionary Society, 1896.
Online via Adam Matthew Digital.
1859 ed. Online via HathiTrust.
7th ed (1887-1895)
Earlier editions (from 1857) treated the CMS only. Starting with the 7th ed. (1887), the atlas covered missions and missionary stations of other societies.
Church Missionary Society Periodicals
Online. Adam Matthew.
Searchable page-image fulltext for the magazines, newsletters, and journals of the Church Missionary Society, 1804-2009.
• Reference works: Register of Missionaries (1804-1928). Church Missionary Atlas (8th ed., 1896). Gleaner Pictorial Album (1887-1888).
• Major periodicals: Church Missionary Gleaner (now Yes). Church Missionary Intelligencer. CMS Annual Report. CMS Historical Record.
• Specialist periodicals: Regional magazines, e.g., Ruanda Notes. CMS medical journals. Periodicals from the CMS's Asian missions.
NB. The CMS medical journals are also held in microfilm: Church Missionary Society archive. Section 3, Central manuscript records. Part 5, CMS medical journals, 1892-1940. Van Pelt Microtext: Microfilm 4468, Reels 46-62. Finding aid: Online, Adam Matthew website
Church Missionary Society archive
Online. Adam Matthew.
Digitized microfilm of the records of the CMS, 1799-1959, held at the Cadbury Research Library, University of Birmingham. Covers Africa, Americas, East Asia, India, Middle East Missions as well as Central Records, Home Papers, and General Secretary's Papers. The last three will have Africa-related content, including biographical registers of missionaries, minute books of Corresponding Committee meetings, and correspondence.
Africa Missions module include incoming and outgoing correspondence, letter books, mission books, and original papers (including missionaries' papers) for :
• West Africa (Sierra Leone), 1803-1880, 1881-1934.
• Nigeria : Yoruba, 1844-1880, 1880-1934.
• Nigeria : Niger, 1852-1882, 1880-1934.
• Nigeria : Northern Nigeria, 1900-1934.
• West Africa (Sierra Leone) Mission and Nigeria (General, Yoruba, Niger, Northern Nigeria) Missions, 1935-1949.
• Egypt Mission, 1889-1949.
• Sudan Mission (Egypt and Sudanese Missions, including Upper Nile), 1905-1949.
• South Africa Mission, 1836-1843.
• Kenya Mission, 1841-1888, 1880-1934, 1935-1949.
• Nyanza Mission, 1876-1882, 1880-1886.
• Tanganyika Mission, 1990-1934.
• Rwanda Mission, 1933-1934.
• Uganda Mission, 1898-1934.
• Uganda, Tanganyika, and Rwanda Missions, 1935-1949.
• Mauritius, Madagascar, and the Seychelles Missions, 1856-1929.
• Africa General, 1935-1949.
Finding aids - called Catalogues - for these series are included in the digitized archive.
Church Missionary Society archive. Section IV, Africa missions. Pt. 14, Egypt mission, 1889-1934 and Pt. 15, Egypt mission, 1889-1949.
Microform. Van Pelt Microtext: Microfilm 4499
Finding aid: Online. Adam Matthew website
Reels 284-314 of this very large collection.
Church Missionary Society records, 1803?-1914
A complete run of CMS archival records for African missions, to 1914, commissioned by CAMP for CRL.
Finding aid: Online, CRL website
Church Missionary Society archive. Section IV, Africa Missions. Parts 14-23.
Continuation of CMS archival records for Africa missions up through 1949, at CRL. Microfilmed by Adam Matthew.
Finding aid: Online, CRL website
Congo Mission archives : The Papers of Bishop Ridsdale (1916-2000), Missionary to the Eastern Congo, from the Cambridge Centre for Christianity Worldwide
Digitized microfilm. Bishop Philip Ridsdale was active in Congo, 1949-2000. In addition to Anglican records in Congo, this collection includes information on CMS activities in the region during the second half of the 20th century.

Church of Scotland

Women missionaries : from the National Library of Scotland
Digitized microfilm, includes Papers of the Women’s Association for Foreign Missions, Church of Scotland. Contains letterbooks for missions in Africa (1888-1926) and Nyasaland (Malawi) (1927-1929).
Scottish Missionary Archives
Includes meeting minutes and related documents from the Church of Scotland Foreign Missions Committee, 1900-1964, with reports on missionary activity in Africa.

Church of the United Brethren in Christ (New constitution)

aka Board of Missions, Sierra Leone.

Board of Missions, Sierra Leone, 1911-1948
Microfilm. Van Pelt Microtext Center: Microfilm 4376.
Contents:
Reel 1. Indemnity dealing with massacre, 1898-1910. Correspondence to U.S. consulate. Minutes 1911-1912.
Reel 2. Minutes 1912-1918.
Reel 3. Minutes 1918-1924.
Reel 4. Minutes 1924-1928.
Reel 5. Minutes 1929. Reports and correspondence 1929-1936. Women's Missionary Association reports.
Reel 6. Women's Missionary Association reports. Notes on proceedings.
Reel 7. Notes on proceedings, Diaries. Scrapbooks.
Sierra Leone Outlook
1910-1970. 7 reels.
Periodical on microfilm. Van Pelt Microtext Center: Microfilm cont 724.
The official periodical of the United Brethren of Christ in Sierra Leone.
The Early Dawn
1885-1892. 1 reel.
Microfilm. Center for Research Libraries: Request via ILL-Books.
Semimonthly newspaper of the UBC Mission in Bonthe, Sherbro, Sierra Leone.

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and predecessor church bodies

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Archives Global Missions, Series 1
Microfilm, Gale Cengage.
Finding aid : Online, Gale Cengage website.
Africa content appears in :
• Part 2. American Lutheran Church, 1930-1960. 22 reels. Hannover Free Church Mission, South Africa; Ethiopia; Tanganyika.
• Part 6. United Lutheran Church in America, 1895-1965. Liberia, 1923-1965.
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Archives Global Missions, Series 2
Microfilm. Gale Cengage.
Finding aid : Online, Gale Cengage website.
Africa content appears in :
• Part 1. Augustana Evangelical Lutheran Church. Tanganyika, 1923-1965.

Evangelische Missionsgesellschaft in Basel (Basel Mission. Evangelical Missionary Society at Basel)

The Ghana Archive of the Basel Mission, 1828-1918.
153 reels. EP Microfilm Ltd, 1978.
Microfilm. Center for Research Libraries: Request via ILL-Books.
Finding aid: Online, CRL website.
Much of this material is in old German handwriting, but English and German transcriptions make the set friendly to modern readers.
Contains:
• Series D-1. Incoming Ghana correspondence, 1829-1914. Also includes selected German typescript transcriptions; English-language reports, ca.1880-1914.
• Series D-3. In and out correspondence, Ghana, 1914-1917.
• Series D-12. English transcriptions of documents in Series D-1., 1828-1898.
• German transcription of documents in Series D-1.
• Series D-6-3. Jahresrechnungen (Annual accounts), Ghana, 1842-1916.
• Series D-10. Remainder category, Ghana: Miscellaneous Mss in European languages (selection).
• Selected Africa materials in Basel Mission periodicals, 1827-1918 = German transcriptions of documents in Series D-1. Annual reports from missions and from missionaries (inc. Basel-trained missionaries serving in other missions),
The Ghana Archive of the Basel Mission, 1828-1918. (excerpts)
Digitized extracts from CRL's microfilm set (above).
Contains:
• Series D-1.11. Incoming Ghana correspondence, 1860, reel 11 (to Akropong 39).
• Series D-1.26. Incoming Ghana correspondence, 1874, reel 32 (up to Akropong 202).
Twi manuscripts, 1855-1907.
12 microfilm reels. Walter Rentsch, 1977.
Microfilm. Center for Research Libraries: Request via ILL-Books.
Materials from the Basel Mission archives. "A large part of this collection is the contents of [J.G.] Christaller's study of Ghanaian languages". Contains:
• Series D-20. Miscellaneous MSS in Ghana vernaculars.
Evangelische Missionsgesellschaft in Basel. BM Archives: Basel Mission / Mission 21.
Images, maps, sketches, plans from Basel Mission activities and programs, and archival descriptions of documents held by the BM Archives.

Free Church of Scotland

Livingstonia Mission archives, 1874-1934
28 microfilm reels. Adam Matthew, 2009.
Microfilm. Center for Research Libraries: Request via ILL-Books.
Finding aid: Online, Adam Matthew website.
The set is subtitled, "The Rev Dr Robert Laws and missionary activity in Malawi, Tanzania and Zambia from the Scottish Foreign Missions Archive at the National Library of Scotland."
Women Missionaries : from the National Library of Scotland
Includes papers of the Ladies' Society for Female Education in India and Africa, with letterbooks concerning missionary activity in South Africa (1878-1904) and Calabar (Nigeria) (1895-1904).

Also see,United Presbyterian Church (Scotland), which merged with Free Church of Scotland to form United Free Church of Scotland.

Scottish Missionary Archives
Digitized microfilm, includes official publications of the Free Church of Scotland.

International Missionary Council & Conference of British Missionary Societies (IMC/CBMS)

The Joint IMC/CBMS (International Missionary Council, Conference of British Missionary Societies) Archives [microform] : Africa & India, 1910-1945.
2,336 fiches. IDC, 1977.
Microfiche. Center for Research Libraries: Request via ILL-Books.
Finding aid: Online, Center for Research Libraries.
Contains:
• H-2000. Africa: General. (403 fiche)
• H-2001. East Africa. (426 fiche)
• H-2002. West Africa. (176 fiche)
• H-2003. French-speaking Africa. (197 fiche)
• H-2004. Portuguese Africa. (101 fiche)
• H-2005. Central and Southern Africa. (245 fiche)
• H-2006. Egypt. (57 fiche)
• H-2009. Congo Mission News. nos. 1 (1912)-190 (1960). (61 fiche)
Joint International Missionary Council and Conference of British Missionary Societies (IMC/CBMS) archives : Africa & India, 1910-1945 : manuscript inventory.
404 p. = 8 microfiche. IDC, 1977,
Microfiche. Van Pelt Microtext: Microfiche 1203.
This is the detailed inventory of materials included in the set above.
Conference of British Missionary Societies Archives 1912-1970.
6,272 microfiche. IDC.
Microfiche.
Finding aid: Online, Brill website.
CBMS Area Files contain correspondence with national Christian councils and with governments in regions with missionaries.
Includes:
• H-7065. Area Files: Africa, 1940-1960.
• H-7014. Christian Literature Overseas: Africa, 1950-1967.
• H-7020 to H-7023. Medical Advisory Board, 1928-1963.
International Missionary Council Archives, 1910-1961.
As a 20th-century coordinating assembly, the IMC archives contain large amounts of material on Industrial and Social Questions, War and Missions, Missions and Government, and Religious Liberty.
Includes:
• H-10,018. Country Files: Africa.
• H-10,022. IMC Assemblies, inc. Ghana 1957/58.

Jerusalem and East Mission

Jerusalem and East Mission Archive, 1842-1976.
2,574 microfiche. IDC.
Microfiche.
Includes:
• H-5023. Egypt and the Sudan: Correspondence, minutes and accounts re the Diocese ..., 1919-1968.
• H-5024. Egypt alone: Correspondence, 1911-1975.
• H-5025. Egypt alone: All Saints, Cairo: plans and correspondence, 1963-1975.
• H-5026. Egypt alone: Diocese of Egypt: general and administrative papers, 1937-1975.
• H-5027. Sudan alone: general correspondence, 1947-1974.
• H-5028. Sudan alone: Education, 1956-1965.
• H-5029. Sudan alone: Bishop Gwynne Appeal, Assistant Bishops, 1963-1974.
• H-5030. Sudan alone: Misc. correspondence, 1965-1975.
• H-5041. Correspondence relating to the Diocese of North Africa, 1935-1970.
• H-5042. Morocco, 1931-1975.
• H-5043. Algeria, 1909-1975.
• H-5044. Tunisia, 1930-1975.
• H-5045. Lybia, 1965-1975.

London Missionary Society

The London Missionary Society and Commonwealth Missionary Society merged in 1966 as Congregational Council for World Mission. Renamed in 1973 as Council for World Mission (Great Britain).

Archives of the Council for World Mission, 1775-1940.
2,260 fiche (from ca 9,700-fiche set). IDC, 1978.
Microfiche. Van Pelt Microtext Center: Microfiche 1025
Finding aid: Online, Brill website.
Holdings cover:
• H-2130, South Africa. Incoming letters, 1797-1927. Correspondence files (in/out), 1928-1939. Reports, 1866-1939. Journals, 1798-1892. 1600 fiche.
• H-2131, Central Africa. Incoming letters, 1876-1927. Correspondence files, 1928-1939/40. Reports, 1899-1930/40. Journals, 1877-1886. 606 fiche.
• H-2132, Matabeleland. Incoming letters, 1835-1899. 54 fiche.
Archives of the Council for World Mission, 1775-1940.
ca. 9,700 fiche. IDC, 1978.
Microfiche. Center for Research Libraries: Request via ILL-Books.
Finding aid: Online, Brill website.
Africa-relevant holdings include:
• H-2111, Home and General. Board Minutes, 1795-1942.
• H-2112, Home and General. Committee Minutes (various), 1843-1954.
• H-2113, Home and General. Candidates Papers, 1799-1940.
• H-2114, Home and General. Missionary Portraits, 1798-1844.
• H-2115, Home. Committee Minutes, 1841-1936.
• H-2127, Mauritius. Incoming letters, 1835-1899.
• H-2128, Madagascar. Committee Minutes Africa/Madagascar, 1826-1868, and Madagascar, 1853-1937. Outgoing letters Africa/Madagascar/Europe, 1822-1867, and Madagascar, 1866-1916. Incoming letters Madagascar, 1774-1927. Correspondence files (in/out), 1928-1939. Reports, 1868-1939. Journals Madagascar/Mauritius, Personal & Odds, 1816-1892.
• H-2129, Africa, General. Committee minutes Africa, 1868-1941/43. Outgoing letters Africa, 1868-1914. Personal & Odds (inc. Livingstone letters).
• H-2130, South Africa - see Penn Libraries holdings.
• H-2131, Central Africa - see Penn Libraries holdings.
• H-2132, Matabeleland - see Penn Libraries holdings.

Methodist Episcopal Church. Missionary Society

Name of the Missionary Society was changed in 1904 to Board of Foreign Missions. In May 1939, the Methodist Episcopal Church, the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and the Methodist Protestant Church united to form the Methodist Church (U.S.).

Missionary atlas showing the foreign mission fields of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Board of Foreign Missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 1909.
Online via HathiTrust.
Annual report of the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Online: 1820-1906 via HathiTrust.
Print: LIBRA 241.22 M568 (1979-1898, incomplete)
Methodist Episcopal Church Missionary Correspondence, 1846-1912: Africa
Online. Nineteenth Century Collections Online (NCCO): Europe and Africa: "Commerce, Christianity, Civilization, and Conquest". Gale Cengage.
From: General Commission on Archives & History, United Methodist Church.
Methodist Episcopal Church. Women's Foreign Missionary Society periodicals
• The Heathen woman's friend. 1869-1896.
Online: v.1 (1869)-v.27 (1896) via Gale Cengage - offers article-level searching, viewing.
Online: v.6 (1874/75)-v.27 (1895/96) via HathiTrust.
• Woman's missionary friend. 1896-1940.
Online: v.28 (1896)-v.54 (1922) via HathiTrust.
Online: v.28 (1896)-v.36 (1904), via Gale Cengage - offers article-level searching, viewing.
• Annual report of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 1878-1918.
Online: no. 17 (1885/86)-no. 34 (1902/03), no. 42 (1911) via HathiTrust.
Prior to 1878, annual reports appeared in the July issue of The Heathen woman's friend.
• Year Book. 1919-1940.
Print, microfilm: OCLC 21927747, OCLC 47758473. Request via ILL-Books.
Regional MEC WFMS groups published their own periodicals: rusn for New York, Northwestern (i.e., Chicago), North Carolina are in HathiTrust.

Missionaries of the Sacred Heart (Missionnaires du Sacre-Coeur)

Archives Aequatoria
2,345 fiches. Centre Aequatoria, 1992-1994.
Microfiche. Center for Research Libraries: Request via ILL-Books.
Finding aid: Catalogue des archives historiques, linguistiques, imprimés en langues africaines, cartographiques / Bibliothèque Æquatoria (1994). Print, Center for Research Libraries: Request via ILL-Books.
A collection of documents from 1897-1991 on the history, ethnology, native languages and literatures, and flora and fauna of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, primarily the former Equateur and Haut-Zaïre provinces. Also includes the papers of MSC missionary-scholars. An overview of the archives is provided by the Centre Æquatoria website: "Themes" on this website will identify specific titles, e.g., local-language books and periodicals, and provide ID numbers.
Contains:
• 1. Ecoles (microfiches E/1-E/102).
• 2. Livrets langues africaine (microfiches LAL/1-LAL/256; ALA/1-ALA/290).
• 3. Fonds Boelaert (microfiches FB/1-FB/128).
• 4. Correspondance Hulstaert (microfiches CH/1-CH/163).
• 5. Fonds province orientale (microfiches PO/1-PO/34).
• 6. Fond Aequatoria (6.0. Généralités (microfiches 0/1-0/14).
• 6.1. Linguistique (microfiches 1/1-1/395).
• 6.2. Papiers Van Goetham, ethnologie (microfiches 2/1-2/28).
• 6.3. Sociologie (microfiches 3/1-3/122).
• 6.4.0. Faune et flore (microfiches 4/1-4/35).
• 6.4.1. Mouvement religieux (microfiches 41/1-41/11).
• 6.4.2. Traductions de la bible (microfiches 42/1-42/11).
• 6.5. Ethnologie (microfiches 5/1-5/121).
• 6.6.1. Economie (microfiches 61/1-61/14).
• 6.6.2. Santé (microfiches 62/1-62/13).
• 6.7. Arts (microfiches 7/1-7/18).
• 6.9. Historie (microfiches 9/1-9/232)).
• [7.] Cartes géographiques (microfiches CG/1-CG/27).
• 8. Périodiques locaux (microfiches P/1-P/182).
• 9. Livres et brochures (microfiches L/1-L/149).
Monats-hefte zu Ehren Unserer Lieben Frau vom hh. Herzen Jesu. 1883-1922.
OCLC 776965512, OCLC 224845057

Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Board of Foreign Missions

Evangelism in Africa: correspondence of the Board of Foreign Missions, 1835-1910.
Online. Gale Cengage, 2010.
Finding aid: Gale Cengage website.
• Incoming correspondence from West African missions, primarily in Liberia, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, and Cameroon.
• Outgoing correspondence from the Board of Foreign Missions, Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A, held at the Presbyterian Historical Society (Philadelphia, PA) .
Corresponds to microfilm set, Board of Foreign Missions Correspondence and Reports, 1833-1911 (Africa Missions subset) (Scholarly Resources), where each microfilm reel corresponds to a digital file.
William H. Sheppard Papers, 1875-1933 / Presbyterian Historical Society
Online. Presbyterian Historical Society.
Partially-digitized collection of materials mostly in English, including photographs, from William H Sheppard, an African American missionary active in the Belgian Congo, 1890-1910.
Adolphus Clemens Good papers
Online. Presbyterian Historical Society.
Papers include ethnographic accounts from Good's missionary work in Cameroon and Gabon, 1882-1896.

Regions Beyond Missionary Union

Regions Beyond Missionary Union Archive Papers of the RBMU concerning the Congo, India, Nepal and Peru from the Centre for the Study of World Christianity, New College, University of Edinburgh
• Congo Balolo Mission and Livingstrone Inland Mission records and related publications, c.1880-1980.

Société des Missions Évangéliques de Paris (SMEP. Paris Mission)

Paris Evangelical Missionary Society archives, 1822-1947 / Département évangélique français d'action apostolique, Paris.
ca. 3,650 fiche (from a 6,350-fiche set). IDC, 1987-1998.
Microfiche. Center for Research Libraries: Request via ILL-Books.
Finding aid: Online, Brill website.
Contains:
• H-2100. Correspondance des champs de mission:
Afrique australe, 1827-1872.
Lesotho, 1873-1935.
Senegal, 1862-1935.
Zambeze, 1880-1935.
Kabylie, 1885-1894.
Congo-Gabon, 1888-1935.
Madagascar, 1894-1935.
Cameroun, 1919-1935.
Togo, 1930-1935.
• H-2100. Archives champs de mission:
Cameroun, 1936-1947.
Gabon, 1936-1947.
Lesotho, 1936-1947.
Madagascar, 1936-1947.
Senegal, 1936-1947.
Togo, 1936-1947.
Zambeze, 1936-1947.
• H-2101. Copies des lettres du comité direction au réseau et autres correspondants, 1822-1923.
• H-2102. Registre des Procès-verbaux de la SMEP, 1822-1935.
• H-2103. Rapports de la SMEP, 1833-1971.
• H-2104. Rapports du Département évangélique français d'action apostolique, Paris (DEFAP), 1972-1986.
• H-2105. Comité des Dames. Compte-Rendus, 1825-1930; Lettres-circulaires, 1847-1926.
• H-2106. Comités auxiliaries SMEP, 1884-1928.
• H-2107. Conferences consultatives, 1900-1931.
Bibliotheque de défap
Défap holds the SMEP's archive. The Défap library website provides useful documentation on SMEP activities, including:
• A list of SMEP missionaries, with mission locations and active years.
Journal des missions évangéliques. 1826-1989.
The SMEP journal, digitized by Princeton Theological Seminary for the Internet Archive.

Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts (SPG) / Universities' Mission to Central Africa (UCMA) / United Society Partners in Gospel (USPG) (Great Britain)

Originally in 1858: Oxford and Cambridge Mission to Central Africa. Became in 1860: Oxford, Cambridge, Dublin and Durham Mission to Central Africa. Merged in 1965 with Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts to become: United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel.

Indigenous cultures and Christian conversion in Ghana and Sierra Leone, 1700-1850
Digitized microfilm. Records from Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts.
Early reports from SPG missions in Ghana and Sierra Leone, with the Sierra Leone papers of Thomas Perronet Thompson, early Sierra Leone colonial governor and radical abolitionist.
South Africa in records from colonial missionaries, 1819-1900
Digitized microfilm. Records of Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts.
Includes records for missions in Capetown, Grahamstown, Natal, St Johns and Kaffraria, and Zululand.
Ghana in records from colonial missionaries, 1886-1951
Digitized microfilm. Records of Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts.
Copies of letters received and outgoing, including correspondence of (Accra) Committee of Women's Work. Missionary reports, 1906-1933.
Universities' Mission to Central Africa (UMCA) Tanzania and Malawi in records from colonial missionaries, 1857-1965 : Universities' Mission to Central Africa
Digitized microfilm. Records and publications of Universities' Mission to Central Africa.
Includes mid/late 19th- and early 20th-century missionaries' correspondence from Malawi (Nyasaland) and Tanzania (Tanganyika and Zanzibar); mid 19th-century missionaries' journals, and miscellaneous press cuttings, books (including Swahili religious translations), and conference papers.
Documents relating to the Universities' Mission to Central Africa from the Archives of the United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel
39 reels. EP Microform, 1980.
Microfilm. Center for Research Libraries: Request via ILL-Books.
Finding aid: Online, Microfom Academic website.
Mostly correspondence, 1861-1929, with early focus on Lake Nyasa (Malawi) and River Shire, later covering much of present-day Tanzania and Zambia and parts of Mozambique; Zanzibar material focuses on the slave trade.

Southern Baptist Convention. Foreign Mission Board

SOLOMON databases / Southern Baptist Convention. Foreign Missions Board / Southern Baptist Convention. International Missions Board.
Online. IBM Archives web.
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Scanned page images with searchable fulltext interface from Foreign Mission Board periodicals, 1845-1970. Includes Southern Baptist Missionary Journal (1846-1851), The Commission (1849-1970), Home and Foreign Journal (1851-1874), Foreign Mission Journal (1874-1916), and Home and Foreign Fields (1916-1937). Other SOLOMON databases include FMB board meeting minutes (1845-1979), FMB annual reports (1846-1953), searchable transcripts of missionary accounts of Liberia and Sierra Leone (1846-1881), and Lottie Moon's correspondence from China.

Sudan United Mission - SUM

Beginning in 1904, SUM worked mainly in Greater Sudan, with missions in Nigeria's Middle Belt and Northern Nigeria and in Sudan. Related missions worked in Chad and Cameroon.

African missions, education and the road to independence : The SUM in Nigeria, The Cameroons, Chad, Sudan, and other African territories
Online. Missionary Studies (Research Source) / Adam Matthew Digital.
Finding aid : Online, Adam Matthew Digital : Parts 1-3 and Parts 4-5.
Contents :
• Part 1. Manuscript Papers, 1898-1960 from the Centre for the Study of World Christianity, New College, University of Edinburgh. Contains general correspondence with SUM field secretaries (inc. Nigeria, 1940-1969) and SUM branches worldwide (inc. South Africa Branch, 1950-1960), and reports on the work and behavior of missionaries. Much early manuscript material was destroyed during World War II bombing.
• Part 2. The Lightbearer (1905-1991). Complete run of the SUM periodical, especially useful for pre-World War II documentation.
• Part 3. Newsletters, 1940-1989; Publications and annual reports, 1908-1979. Includes annual and monthly reports from mission stations, schools and hospitals.
• Part 4. Lantern slides, slides, and photographs.
• Part 5. Publications in Hausa. Contains all the publications printed by the SUM in Hausa for use in the mission stations and churches in Northern Nigeria. They consist of books, pamphlets and beginners books all written in the Hausa language, notes on the Hausa language and literature and descriptions of the Hausa tribes. There are booklets in some other Nigerian languages.
African missions, education and the road to independence: the SUM in Nigeria, the Cameroons, Chad, Sudan and other African territories.
Microfilm. Van Pelt Microtext Center: Microfilm 4582.
Finding aid: Online, Adam Matthew website
Holdings are:
• Part 4. Lantern slides, slides and photography.
• Part 5. Publications in Hausa.

United Presbyterian Church (Scotland). Missions

African missions : Papers of the missions of the United Presbyterian Church from the National Library of Scotland
Digitized microfilm. See microfilm record below for details.
African missions: papers of the Mission of the United Presbyterian Church from the National Library of Scotland.
14 reels. Adam Matthew Publications, 2009.
MIcrofilm. Center for Research Libraries: Request via ILL-Books.
Finding aid: Online, Adam Matthew website.
Contains all incoming letters from missionaries in Africa to the UPC Foreign Mission Committee, 1874-1928. Missions cover:
• Nigeria and Gold Coast, 1919-1928.
• West Africa, 1919-1925.
• Kaffraria (South Africa), 1885-1908.
• North Kaffraria, 1883-1904.
• Natal, 1874-1909.
• South Africa, 1919-1928.
Reels 12-14 cover correspondence concerning the return of German missionaries to the stations in West and East Africa after World War I, 1917-1926.
Scottish missionary archives from the Centre for the Study of Christianity in the Non-Western World. Parts 1-2, 4.
34 reels. Adam Matthew, 2007.
Microfilm. Center for Research Libraries: Request via ILL-Books.
Finding aid: Online, Adam Matthew website.
Minutes of the Church of Scotland Foreign Missions Committee, 1900-1964, and the periodical Missionary record of the United Free Church of Scotland, 1901-1929.
The minutes include regular accounts of activities in South Africa (Transkei, The Gold Coast, Lovedale, Kafraria, Natal, Old Calabar, the Rhodesian Copper Belt), featuring medical missions, educational work, and industrial missions.

Also see, Free Church of Scotland, which merged with United Presbyterian Church of Scotland to form United Free Church of Scotland.

Scottish Missionary Archives
Digitized microfilm. Includes publications of the United Presbyterian Church.

Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society and related Methodist Missionary Societies

Methodist Missionary Society Archives, 1791-1948.
Covering minutes, correspondence, journals, diaries, and other materials, 1791-1948, from the Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society, the Women's Work Collection, and the Primitive Methodist Missionary Society.
reels. IDC, 1981-1991.
Microfilm. Center for Research Libraries: Request via ILL-Books.
Finding aid: Online, CRL website.
CRL's holdings are extensive; link above points to Africa-only content. CRL holdings include::
Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society. Synod minutes and correspondence for:
• West Africa, inc. Ghana, Gold Coast, Gambia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Fernando Po, French West Africa.
• South Africa, inc. South and North Rhodesia, Swaziland, Kenya.
Primitive Methodist Missionary Society. Minutes, foreign reports, quarterly reports, and correspondence for:
• Australasia. Fernando Po. Nigeria. South and Central Africa.

White Fathers (Société des missionnaires d’Afrique. Societas Missionum ad Afros)

Ressources électroniques et Inventaire des archives / SMA
Reproduces Missionnaires d'Afrique - Chroniques Trimestrielles et Rapports Annuels. Rome: Societe des Missionaires d'Afrique. Archives. Quarterly reports (1879-1909) gradually superseded by annual reports (1905-1960) from White Fathers missions worldwide.
Also provides links to fulltext minutes and summaries of periodic SMA general chapters and general councils.

Christian Missions in Africa: Primary Sources - Mission Records

Purpose of this guide