Church Missionary Society Photographic Collection

IDENTITY STATEMENT
Reference code(s): GB 0115 Church Missionary Society Photographic Collection
Held at: Royal Commonwealth Society Library
Domain: archival
Title: Church Missionary Society Photographic Collection
Date(s) of contents:
Level of description: Fonds
Extent and medium: 2093 photographic prints, 395 negatives (with 14 prints), 621 glass slides.

CONTEXT

Name of creator(s): Church Missionary Society

Administrative/Biographical history: In the late 18th century, the Church of England did not have a body to organise and effect its missionary activity and there became a growing realisation that there was scope for a society to evangelise indigenous people. In 1799, a group of Evangelical clergymen and laymen (all members of the Eclectic Society, an Anglican discussion society) met at the Castle and Falcon Inn in Aldersgate in the City of London and the Church Missionary Society for Africa and the East was formed. At that meeting, John Venn, rector of Clapham (and a member of the Clapham sect) laid down the guidelines which the CMS continues to follow. The basis was that the society should be loyal to the leadership of bishops and to the Anglican pattern of liturgy but that it was not to be dominated by clergy. It emphasised the role of laymen and laywomen and was and is primarily a membership society comprising its missionaries, its supporters and its staff at headquarters.

The Church Missionary Society (now renamed as the Church Mission Society) is administered by its committees and each Secretary to a main committee is in charge of a department at headquarters. The General Committee (now the General Council) is the most important and is responsible for overall policy and all CMS members are represented on the General Committee. The main departments at headquarters included the General Secretary's Department, the Finance Department (both in existence from the foundation of the Society), the Medical Department (set up in 1891), the Candidates Department (set up in 1897) and the Home Department (set up in 1871). Initially the Society had no designated offices but in 1813 it rented premises in Salisbury Square which had expanded by the end of the 19th century to house a large headquarters with a complex administration and numerous staff working under eleven Secretaries. The Society moved from the City of London in 1966 to its current premises in Waterloo Road.

The overseas mission work of the CMS began in Sierra Leone in 1804 but spread rapidly to India, Canada, New Zealand and the area around the Mediterranean. Its main areas of work in Africa have been in Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Sudan; in Asia, the CMS's involvement has principally been in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, China and Japan; and in the Middle East, it has worked in Palestine, Jordan, Iran and Egypt. It has also worked extensively in New Zealand (1809-1914) and Canada (1822-1930), with smaller missions in Abyssinia (1830-1842), Asia Minor (Smyrna) (1830-1877), Greece (1830-1875), Madagascar (1863-1874), Malta (1815-1843), Mauritius (1856-1929), Seychelles (1871-1894), South Africa (1840-1843), Turkey (1819-1821), Turkish Arabia (Baghdad, 1883-1919 and Mosul, 1900-1919), and the West Indies (1819-1861). All overseas mission work was administered by the Committee of Correspondence up to 1880. In 1880, the system of mission administration was revised and the mission field was divided into three geographical areas under three Group Sub-Committees and from 1935 the missions were administered by the Africa and Asia Committees.

Custodial history:

Immediate source of acquisition: The collection, from the Church Missionary Society's Photo Bureau, was presented to the Royal Commonwealth Society through Miss Rosemary Keen, Archivist of the Church Missionary Society, in 1988.

CONTENT AND STRUCTURE

Scope and content/abstract: The photographs depict countries in which the Church Missionary Society operated. They include: Sudan, Egypt, Jerusalem, Israel/Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan, Iran, India, Pakistan, Ceylon/Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore and Japan. The majority of the photographs and slides date from after the Second World War, but there are some earlier ones of considerable historical interest. Among these, of Asian interest, are 32 slides of China, apparently taken from 19th century drawings.

The collection includes numerous images of identified hospitals, schools, missionaries and clergy at work - including portraits and scenes from rural and urban life.

System of arrangement: The collection falls into three main categories: Prints (numbered I - XVII), Negatives (numbered XVIII - XXIII) and Slides (numbered XXIV - XXXV).

ACCESS AND USE

Language: English

Conditions governing access:

Conditions governing reproduction:

Finding aids: A two-volume, detailed, typescript catalogue is available for consultation in the Manuscripts Reading Room of Cambridge University Library.

ALLIED MATERIALS

DESCRIPTION NOTES

Archivist's note: Compiled using information from the University of Birmingham Information Services, Special Collections Department, and a description in Mapping Asia.

Administrative history compiled using:
Henry S. Cobb, 'The archives of the Church Missionary Society', Archives, vol 2, no 14 (1955).
Rosemary Keen, 'The Church Missionary Society Archives: or thirty years work in the basement', Catholic Archives, 1 (1981).
Church Missionary Society Archive, General guide and introduction to the archive: a guide to the microfilm collection (Adam Matthew Publications, 1998).

Date(s) of descriptions: Revised October 2002.

INDEX ENTRIES

Subjects

Agriculture

Anthropology

Audiovisual materials

Christians

Clergy

Drawings

Economic and social development

Educational missionaries

Educational missionary work

Films

Health services

Hospitals

Medical missionaries

Medical missionary work

Missionaries

Missionary societies

Missionary work

Photographic slides

Photographs

Religious activities

Religious groups

Religious organizations

Rural missionary work

Schools

Urban missionary work

Video recordings

Visual materials

Personal names

Corporate names

Church Missionary Society

Places

Africa

Asia

China

East Africa

East Asia

Egypt

India

Iran

Israel

Japan

Jordan

Lebanon

Malaysia

Middle East

North Africa

Pakistan

Palestinian-administered Territories

Singapore

South Asia

South East Asia

Sri Lanka

Sudan