Missionaries

Scope and Contents:

This collection contains daguerreotype images of missionaries who had been appointed for service by The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. The daguerreotype process for creating photographs was used during the 1840s and 1850s. Series III contains two color miniature portraits that date from 1839. This collection was originally held at the Franklin Trask Library of Andover Newton Theological School and was transferred to the Yale Divinity Library in 2017.

Abstract:

Letters, writings, and printed material document the personal side of the Ady's missionary work in China and Hong. These records complement documentation held in the archives of the Presbyterian Board of Missions. Merrill Steele and Lucile Meloy Ady were Presbyterian missionaries in China and Hong Kong from 1923 to 1960.

Abstract: The papers document Alter's lifelong involvement with the Christian church in India, his affiliation with Yale University, his activities in student Christian organizations, and his ongoing interest in issues of peace and social concern. James Payne Alter was born in India in 1919, son of Presbyterian missionaries. He attended Yale College and Yale Divinity School. He was appointed as a Presbyterian missionary to India in 1945. He taught at Ewing Christian College in Allahabad, served as...

Abstract:

The American Lutheran Church Women in World Mission Oral History Project, and its continuation, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Women in Global Mission Oral History document the work of women missionaries serving under these church bodies (or predecessor bodies) from 1921-1991. This collection contains oral history transcripts of Lutheran women missionaries.

Abstract:

Correspondence, writings, photographs, slides, and collected material document the life and work of Sidney and Olive Anderson, who were Methodist missionaries in China and Hong Kong from 1915 to 1963. They were instrumental in the development of the Moore Memorial Church in Shanghai and spent twelve years in Hong Kong after 1951 working with refugees from mainland China and at the North Point Methodist Church.

Abstract:

Substantive correspondence, photographs, and slides document the Ballous' life and work in China. Earle and Thelma Ballou were missionaries in Tianjin (Tientsin), North China, serving under the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) from 1916 to 1948.

Abstract: These papers document Bates' career as a missionary, academic, and author. They also include an extensive collection of information for his book on Christian effort in Chinese society from 1900 to 1950, which he was in the process of writing at the time of his death. There are over 3,000 pages of drafts for this book included in the collection. The papers include correspondence, notes, writings, and printed material related to Bates' work in Nanjing (Nanking), China, particularly his role in...

Abstract: The papers document various aspects of the lives of brothers David Nelson Beach and Harlan Page Beach, including their student days at Yale (1868-1878), Harlan's work in North China (1883-1890), and David's work as a clergyman and with the Anti-Saloon League while in Cambridge, Minneapolis and Denver. David Nelson Beach, 1848-1926, was a prominent Congregational clergyman in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Minneapolis, Minnesota and Denver, Colorado and was active in temperance reform. He was...

Abstract: This collection documents the life and work of Lutheran theologian and ecumenist Nils Arne Bendtz. Bendtz received his B.D. and Ph.D. from Yale. He served as a missionary in China under the Board of Swedish Missions, with prisoners of war during World War II under the YMCA World's Committee, in Sumatra under the Commission of Younger Churches and Orphaned Missions of the National Lutheran Council, as a professor at Augustana Theological Seminary, as a pastor at Salem Evangelical Lutheran...

Abstract:

The records consist of minutes, general files, a constitution, and membership lists documenting the operations of the Yale Berkeley Association.

Abstract: Missionary. Correspondence, diaries, sermons and miscellaneous papers of Isaac Bird and other members of the Bird family chiefly relating to missionary work in Palestine and other parts of the Near East (1822-1830). Bird's studies at Yale College (1812-1816) and at the Andover Theological Seminary are documented in correspondence and in notebooks of debates, sermons and lectures. His principal correspondents are Josiah Brewer, Pliny Fisk, William Goodell and Eli Smith. Family members whose...

Abstract:

Correspondence, writings and travel journals kept during Edwin Munsell Bliss's travels in the Near East while an agent for the American Bible Society in the Levant (1872-1888). His writings are devoted to his travels, and letters from family and friends also describe their experiences as missionaries living and traveling in the Near East. Also included is the will of Bliss's first wife, Marie Louise Henderson Bliss.

Abstract: Professional papers of Dan Beach Bradley and his son, Cornelius Beach Bradley, both missionaries to Thailand (then Siam) in the nineteenth century. The papers of Dan Beach Bradley consist of four manuscript volumes of a Siamo-English dictionary, articles and notes on the history and culture of Siam, including a list (copy) by the king of Siam of his 61 children in 1852, as well as copies of essays on the Siamese language in both English and Siamese by the king. A number of unidentified...

Abstract: The papers consist of correspondence, writings, speeches, scrapbooks, photographs, diaries, and other papers, primarily of David Josiah Brewer, lawyer and justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. The material includes Brewer's personal and family papers, although there are some papers relating to public matters, notably the Anglo-Venezuelan boundary dispute. Also included are papers of five generations of Brewer family members, including Josiah Brewer (1796-1872), the father of David Josiah...

Abstract: J. Homer and Minnie Bright, their son J. Calvin Bright, and his wife Harriet Bright, were American missionaries in China from 1911 to 1951, serving under the Church of the Brethren mission. The elder Brights served in Shao Yang and Ping Ting, Shansi province. J. Calvin and Harriet Bright served in Chengdu, Sichuan (Chengtu, Szechwan) province. This record group also contains material related to Daniel and Jane Dye, who taught at the West China Union University in Chengdu (Chengtu). J. Calvin...

Abstract: The bulk of the papers relate to Brown's activities in the Presbyterian Church, the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, and with the ecumenical and world missionary movements. Of special interest are Brown's travel diaries of tours of China and the Far East, 1901-1902 and 1909. Arthur Judson Brown was a Presbyterian clergyman, author and pioneer in the ecumenical and world missionary movements of the 20th century. The positions he held included administrative secretary of the...

Abstract:

Substantive letters and detailed diary entries document Buell's daily work as a missionary, her relationships with colleagues, and her views on events in China. Constance Buell was an educational missionary in north China from 1919 to 1951, serving under the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM). She taught at Kobe College in Japan from 1952 to 1958.

Abstract:

This collection consists of personal letters, a diary, oral history transcript, printed material, photographs, and memorabilia dating primarly from 1921 to 1926 when Leonard Caldwell was teaching math and physics at the University of Nanking. Caldwell, a Yale graduate, worked as a civil engineer in the U.S. following his return from China. Marjorie Caldwell was a librarian, as well as missionary wife and mother.

Abstract: The papers document two generations of Baptist missionary effort in South China. Extensive biographical and autobiographical material gives insight into the personal lives of the Campbells. Conditions in China during World War II are reflected in the letters of Louise and Dorothy Campbell. The Campbells were a family of missionaries in China. George Campbell and his wife, Jennie Wortman Campbell served in South China (1887-1916). Four of their eight children continued missionary efforts....

Abstract: The China Records Project Miscellaneous Personal Papers Collection is an open collection. It currently contains material from more than 325 individuals, primarily Protestant missionaries to China. The time period covered is approximately from 1834 to 1998. The China Records Project was initiated by the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A in 1968. The aim of the project was to insure the preservation of the personal records of former missionaries to China and to provide a...