International Committee on Christian Literature for Africa (Christian Literature Bureau for Africa)
IDENTITY STATEMENT
Reference code(s): GB 0102 ICCLA
Held at: School of Oriental and African Studies Library
Domain: archival
Title: International Committee on Christian Literature for Africa (Christian Literature Bureau for Africa)
Date(s) of contents: 1920-1963
Level of description: Fonds
Extent and medium: 45 boxes of archival material some photographs and periodicals.
CONTEXT
Name of creator(s):
Christian Literature Bureau for Africa
International Missionary Council | International Committee on Christian Literature for Africa
Administrative/Biographical history: Missionary literature work in Africa was stimulated by the International Missionary Council conference on the Christian mission in Africa, held at Le Zoute in 1926. The Christian Literature Bureau for Africa was founded in 1929, with a full-time secretary and three sectional committees: British, Continental and American. It had close relations with both the International Missionary Council and the Conference of Missionary Societies of Great Britain and Ireland (CBMS). It had its office in Edinburgh House (no 2 Eaton Gate, London, near Sloane Square station), the premises of the CBMS. The Christian Literature Bureau became part of the International Missionary Council as the International Committee on Christian Literature for Africa in 1953. In 1957-1958 its operations were transferred to Africa, although activities which could not then be transferred passed to the CBMS, for instance the periodical Books for Africa (1931-1963), which listed and reviewed publications of potential usefulness in Africa.
Custodial history:
Immediate source of acquisition: Deposited in 1979.
CONTENT AND STRUCTURE
Scope and content/abstract: Records, 1920-1963, of the Christian Literature Bureau for Africa and its succession by the ICCLA (International Committee on Christian Literature for Africa, part of the International Missionary Council), comprising early papers, 1920-1929, including correspondence; minutes, 1929-1958; records of the American Section, 1924-1959; accounts and related papers, 1928-1958; finance papers, 1948-1959; policy papers, 1929-1959, including its winding-up; papers relating to personnel, 1947-1956; papers relating to Secretarial travel by Margaret Wrong and C de Mestral in Africa, Europe and north America, 1933-1959; photographs of West Africa, 1933, and Southern Africa [1936]; papers of Margaret Wrong (Secretary), 1935-1947, including notes for addresses, reviews, articles on subjects including colonial development, personal photographs, letters, and papers, 1949-1965, relating to her death (c1949) and memorial fund; reports, surveys, etc, 1923-1957; papers relating to Books for Africa series and to Listen, 1931-1963; papers relating to the publication Daystar, 1948-1957; lists of books received, especially vernacular, 1930-1957; African language publications, 1930-1951; papers relating to Christian literature for Muslims, 1932-1959; papers relating to school service book, 1938-1953; manuscripts received, 1933-1957; papers relating to hymns publication, 1957-1963; papers relating to literacy [1935]-1959; papers on territorial series, 1927-1959; complete set of Books for Africa series, 1931-1963; complete set of Listen, 1932-1957; series (some incomplete) of published works: Little Books for Africa, African Home Library (comprising texts on the Bible and Christian faith, biography, allegories and stories, family, health and land, government and industry, countries and customs, science and education), and the French edition Bibliotheque de la Famille Africaine, and African Features; specimen periodicals published in Africa, 1950s; card index to titles for Books for Africa books reviewed and card index to titles and authors in the ICCLA library.
System of arrangement:
ACCESS AND USE
Language: English.
Conditions governing access: Unrestricted.
Conditions governing reproduction: No publication without written permission. Apply to archivist in the first instance.
Finding aids: Unpublished handlist and database.
ALLIED MATERIALS
Related material: The School of Oriental and African Studies holds the joint archives of the International Missionary Council and Conference of British Missionary Societies: Africa; and a microfiche copy of the joint archives of the International Missionary Council and Conference of British Missionary Societies: India; the archive of the Conference of British Missionary Societies; and a microfiche copy of the archives of the International Missionary Council.
DESCRIPTION NOTES
Archivist's note: Compiled by Rachel Kemsley as part of the RSLP AIM25 project. Sources:
J T Hardyman and R K Orchard, Two minutes from Sloane Square: a brief history of the Conference of Missionary Societies in Great Britain and Ireland 1912-1977 (London: CBMS, 1977), pp 28-9.
Rosemary Seton, Guide to archives and manuscript collections (School of Oriental and African Studies, 1994), p 9.
Revised by Caroline Brick on behalf of the Mundus Project, November 2002.
Date(s) of descriptions: May 2002; revised November 2002.
- INDEX ENTRIES
- Subjects
-
- Accounting
- African languages
- Ancient religions
- Basic study subjects
- Books
- Catalogues
- Christianity
- Colonial countries
- Developing countries
- Economic relations
- Educational missionary work
- Educational publications
- European literature
- Fiction
- Finance
- Financial administration
- Indexes
- Interdependence
- International economic relations
- Languages
- Literacy
- Literary forms and genres
- Mission administration
- Mission policy
- Missionary societies
- Missionary work
- Moslems
- National literatures
- Nonfiction
- Periodicals
- Personnel management
- Photographs
- Political systems
- Prose
- Publishing
- Publishing industry
- Reading materials
- Religions
- Religious activities
- Religious doctrines
- Religious groups
- Religious institutions
- Religious movements
- Religious organizations
- Religious texts
- Secondary documents
- Theology
- Travel
- Travel abroad
- Vernacular languages
- Visual materials
- Accounting
- Personal names
-
- De Mestral | C | fl 1952-1959 | Secretary of the Christian Literature Bureau for Africa
- Mestral | C | De | fl 1952-1959 | Secretary of the Christian Literature Bureau for Africa
- Wrong | Margaret | d c1949 | Secretary of the Christian Literature Bureau for Africa
- De Mestral | C | fl 1952-1959 | Secretary of the Christian Literature Bureau for Africa
- Corporate names
-
- Daystar | publication of the Christian Literature Bureau for Africa
- Listen | publication of the Christian Literature Bureau for Africa
- Christian Literature Bureau for Africa
- International Committee on Christian Literature for Africa
- International Missionary Council | International Committee on Christian Literature for Africa
- Daystar | publication of the Christian Literature Bureau for Africa
- Places
-
- Africa
- Europe
- North America
- Southern Africa
- West Africa
- Africa