Committee on Christian Literature For Women and Children in Mission Fields, Inc. Records

Traveling in the Far East in the early years of the twentieth century, three women were impressed by the need for Christian outreach to women and children. Upon their return to the United States, Miss Clementina Butler, Mrs. Henry W. Peabody and Mrs. Helen Barrett Montgomery worked together toward the formation in 1912 of the Committee on Christian Literature for Women and Children in Missions Fields. The CCLWCMF was formed under the sponsorship of the Federation of Women's Boards of Foreign Missions and members of the Committee were appointed by Mission boards. The initial goal of the CCLWCMF was to print books but it was soon decided that periodicals were a more expedient method of assisting women and children in the mission fields. The Committee's first project, in 1913, was support of The Woman's Messenger, a magazine in China. Three other magazines were supported during the first decade of the Committee's existence: Happy Childhood (China), Light of Love (Japan) and Women's Magazine (Latin America).

During the next decades, numerous magazines received CCLWCMF support. In most cases the magazines were published by missionaries or national groups and received primarily financial support from the Committee. The Committee received financial support from the World Day of Prayer, beginning in the early 1920s, as well as from individual donors.

The magazines sponsored by the Committee were not entirely religious in nature. The Treasure Chest, for example, published in India in both English and local languages, contained articles on science and health, games, puzzles and fiction, as well as Christian teachings. El Taliba was published in Egypt in Arabic and distributed jointly by the Egyptian Y.W.C.A. and the United Presbyterian Mission. It was not labeled as a Christian publication, so as to be acceptable in Islamic homes. The magazine Listen in Africa was another of the Committee's major projects, financed by CCLWCMF funds and sponsored by the International Committee on Christian Literature for Africa. It contained articles on health, school subjects, art, world history as well as religious stories, and placed special emphasis on encouraging Africans in art and in writing. From its early days, the CCLWCMF sought to support indigenous Christian artists and spared no expense in securing colorful covers for the magazines it sponsored. In later years, it also sponsored the publication of picture books for children and illustrated booklets.

In the first fifty years of its existence the CCLWCMF supported twenty-seven magazines; nine of these were started by the Committee. Beginning in the 1940s, the Committee began to make grants for literacy projects in addition to the continued support of periodical publications. The CCLWCMF had an increasingly cooperative relationship with the Committee on World Literacy and Christian Literature ("Lit-Lit"), formed in 1942 by the Foreign Missions Conference of North America. In 1955 a survey of the world program of Christian literature was jointly proposed by the CCLWCMF and "Lit-Lit". This survey and a full-time executive director of the CCLWCMF were made possible by a generous bequest from Marguerite Doane in 1956.

A formal "Basis of Cooperation" was signed between the CCLWCMF and "Lit-Lit" in 1958, and again between the CCLWCMF and the Intermedia Committee, into which "Lit-Lit" had merged in 1970. During the two decades after the appointment of full time Executive Director Marion Van Horne, workshop programs to train writers were emphasized and cooperation with other groups and agencies stressed. The Children's Book Fund, launched in 1964, and the "80 Miles of Children's Books" project brought about the production of hundreds indigenous children's books. In 1970 a new program of developmental literature for women was begun to undergird programs of public health, nutrition, community development, vocational training and economic justice. Scholarships were granted to indigenous writers and artists to enable them to obtain further training.

Marion Van Horne retired from full-time service in 1981 and David Bridwell of Intermedia served as Acting Director of the CCLWCMF on a part-time basis. In 1989 the CCLWCMF ceased to exist as a separate entity and became a Standing Committee for Women and Children within the Intermedia Committee.