This finding aid is made available for public use following the Universal 1.0 Public Domain Dedication Creative Commons designation.
This collection is open for research.
Onsite storage.
Formerly part of the independent Missionary Research Library (MRL), these records were accessioned by the Burke Library at the time of the MRL's closure in 1976.
The Missionary Research Library was created by John R. Mott in 1914 after the World Missionary Conference, held in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1910. It was created in order to be both a resource for missionaries, and a means to document the missionary movement. With funding from John D. Rockefeller, Mott stated, "We are now ready to…secure the most complete and serviceable missionary library and archives in the world. I desire it to be thoroughly interdenominational, ecumenical and international. It should be made preeminently rich in source material." It was located at the Madison Avenue headquarters of the Foreign Missionary Conference of North America. By the 1920s, funding was becoming scarce; therefore it was moved to the Brown Tower of the Union Theological Seminary, New York City in 1929. The Library was an important center of information and research. Active missionaries would consult the material of the Missionary Research Library while on furlough. Much of the Library's success was due to the director and librarian, Charles H. Fahs. Upon his retirement in 1948, the MRL's financial difficulties continued until it was integrated with the Burke Library's collections in 1976. In 2004, the Burke Library was fully integrated with the Columbia University Library system.
Missionary Research Library Archives: MRL10, North America
Item description, MRL 10: Missionary Research Library collection on missions to Jews, 1889-1927, box #, folder #, The Burke Library at Union Theological Seminary, Columbia University in the City of New York.
Materials were placed in new acid-free folders and boxes. When possible, staples were removed from the documents. A note in the original box indicates that books 1-7 were missing. The finding aid was created by Fatoma Rad in 2013, edited by Brigette Kamsler in 2013 with the support of the Henry Luce Foundation, and edited by Leah Edelman in 2021.
This collection contains documents, articles, and other materials compiled and transcribed by the Missionary Research Library between 1949 and 1952 to help explain the historical relationship between Jews and Christians, and potentially serve as a reference work of and resources for missions to Jews. Gathered from many different sources, the material in this collection was perhaps a way to understand how the "Christian approach to the Jews" had been studied in recent times, specifically 1889-1927. The articles discuss the change in religion from Judaism to Christianity, evangelization, conversion, and difficulties that were faced by the Jewish people. The collection also contains English translations of anti-semitic articles and an in-depth bibliography.
Some material in this collection may be protected by copyright and other rights. Information concerning copyright, fair use, and reproduction requests can be consulted at Columbia's Copyright Advisory Office.
This collection is arranged numerically by book number.