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The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM), organized in 1810, was the first successful North American agency dedicated to foreign missions. ABCFM existed until 1961 when it merged with the Board of International Missions to form the United Church Board for World Ministries. The collection concerns missions in South Africa in Rhodesia and Zulu; missions in Asia including Turkey, India, Japan, and China; missions in the Philippine Islands; and ABCFM organization in general.

Darley Downs was a missionary in Japan before World War II, and was interned at the Los Banos camp in the Philippines between 1942 and 1945. The collection contains a handwritten diary and a typed partial transcription of his internment experience, correspondence, and newspaper clippings.