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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.

Joseph Kingsbury Greene was an American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions Congregational missionary in Turkey for fifty-one years, stationed in Nicodemia, Bursa, and Manisa. He was fluent in Armenian and Turkish languages. The collection contains Greene's diaries from 1859 through 1917, Greene's correspondence with members of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions and others, and Greene's handwritten English and Armenian dictionaries.