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.
The following boxes are located offsite: Box 1-6. Please note that requests for use of boxes held in offsite storage must be made three business days in advance.
This collection was assembled from records in the Missionary Research Library before its 1976 closure. 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: MRL12, Ecumenical/World Missions
Item description, MRL12: Missionary Research Library collection of scrapbooks, 1892-1962, box #, The Burke Library at Union Theological Seminary, Columbia University in the City of New York.
Some scrapbooks were stored in acid-free boxes. The finding aid was created by Virginia Pastor in 2013, reviewed and updated by Brigette Kamsler in 2015 with the support of the Henry Luce Foundation, and edited by Leah Edelman in 2022.
This collection contains newspaper articles compiled in 32 scrapbooks by the Missionary Research Library on a variety of topics, including missionary work in China and India and mission ideology. Other material include a bibliography comprised of clippings from The International Review of Missions and arranged by topic (1952-1956), Reverend Frank D. Gamewell's scrapbook compiled during his time as a missionary in China (1911), and a series of annotated drawings and illustrations of Africa.
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 unarranged.
Bibliography clipped from The International Review of Missions, 1952-1956 (arranged by topic); "Lecture V, No. 9", Asia: Scrapbook, 1900-1901 (includes Christmas Sermon from American Bible Society, 1962 in front); "Lecture V, No. 8" Newspaper clippings of Missions, 1899-1901(International); China: 1901-1904 (plus OS map that was a supplement to the North-China Daily News); "China, No. 9" 1902-1907; Rev. Frank D. Gamewell Scrapbook: China, ca. 1911 (includes Gamewell bio at front – binding is broken and pages are loose).
Drawings and Illustrations from Africa (with annotations); "Pacific Islands No. 2" Newspaper clippings of Missions, 1894-1898; "South America, Central America, Mexico and West Indies, No. 3", 1896-1900; Newspaper Clippings of Missionary Work in India, 1894-1896; Book 6: Newspaper Clippings "Indirect Results of Mission, No. 1" 1892-1903; "Missions in General, No. 1" 1892-1893; "Untitled" Scrapbook, focus on China and Missionary Work, 1900-1902; "Lecture V, No. 7" newspaper clippings related to India Missions, 1898-1900
Drawings and Illustrations from Africa (with annotations); "Pacific Islands No. 2" Newspaper clippings of Missions, 1894-1898; "South America, Central America, Mexico and West Indies, No. 3", 1896-1900; Newspaper Clippings of Missionary Work in India, 1894-1896; Book 6: Newspaper Clippings "Indirect Results of Mission, No. 1" 1892-1903; "Missions in General, No. 1" 1892-1893; "Untitled" Scrapbook, focus on China and Missionary Work, 1900-1902; "Lecture V, No. 7" newspaper clippings related to India Missions, 1898-1900
"South America, Central America, West Indies, and Mexico, No. 4" 1900-1904; "Lecture V, No. 12" 1903-1904; "Lecture V, No. 5" 1897-1898; "Mohammedanism, No. 1" 1892-1912 (plus an envelope inside that includes more clippings from ca. 1911); "Missions in General, No. 2" 1893-1894; "Lecture 2, No. 4", related to superstitions, witchcraft, immoral behavior, 1894- 1905; "Missions in General, No. 4", 1895-1896; "Untitled" Japan and Korea,1895-1896; "Lecture V, No.?" 1896-1904.
"Untitled" 1896-1897 Missions in India; "Special Material on the Progress of the World, No. 3"[?] 1894-1900; "Missionary Problems, No. 1" 1892-1893; "China, No. 5" 1896-1897; "Theological and Religious, No. 1" 1893-1894 [covers completely separated from pages]; "Work of Missions?" 1894-1897; "India, No. 2" 1892-1894.
"Biographical, No. 1" [index is filled out] 1894-1896; India, 1906-1913.