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SCOTTISH MISSIONARY ARCHIVES

Part 1: Church of Scotland Foreign Missions Committee Minutes, 1929-1964

Spanning from October 1929 to April 1964 – ushering in modernity and the postcolonial world – these minutes document the changes in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean that were witnessed by missionaries of the Church of Scotland.

The minutes are very full and rich in detail.  There are lists of Ministers and Elders, Budget estimates, Agents’ salaries, records of departures to foreign missions, resignations and deaths.

There are also regular accounts of activities in:

  • INDIA: Bengal, Calcutta, Nagpur, Rajputana, Western India.
  • CHINA: Manchuria, Ichang.
  • AFRICA: Transkei, The Gold Coast, Lovedale, Kafraria, Natal, Old Calabar, the Rhodesian Copper Belt, South Africa.
  • THE ISLANDS: Jamaica, Trinidad, Vanuatu, the New Hebrides.
  • OTHER: South Arabia, the Eastern Himalayas, Pakistan.

Methods of fund-raising can be explored and there are accounts of special campaigns for Famine Relief.  There are records of congregational contributions and of visitations by missionaries.

A wide range of methods was adopted by missionaries to integrate with their communities and there are accounts of:

  • Medical work: including missions to lepers, tuberculosis treatment and vaccination campaigns.
  • Educational work: including girls’ schools, native colleges and training facilities.
  • Industrial missions.

The cost of new buildings is given and the equipment required for the training is specified.

The changing mood in the colonies is also well recorded.  There are details of mass movements in India and of a native uprising in Livingstonia.

Another notable feature of the minutes is the extensive data added at the end in the form of appendices.  For instance, the December 1947 minutes contain a ‘Handbook for Women Candidates and Missionaries’ and a ‘Report of the Commission to Central and South Africa’.  Both are fascinating.

As the minutes move into the 1950s there is an increasing concentration on the devolution of missionary work and of the relationship between the old and new churches in India.



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