This collection is open for research.
Onsite storage.
This collection contains information on the planning of the CCLA, correspondence, conferences, and other information relevant to the organization, setting the preliminary stages for the Congress on Christian Work in Latin America, as well as showing the continued work of the organization after 1916. This collection also contains reports, correspondence, minutes, publications, and other related administrative records of the congress, with the majority of the material being the commissions' questionnaires along with the reports received from Protestant missionaries in Latin America and final reports of the Commissions.
Series 1: Committee on Cooperation in Latin America (CCLA), 1915 -- 1956
This series contains information on the planning of the CCLA, correspondence, conferences and other information relevant to the organization. It sets the preliminary stages for the Congress on Christian Work in Latin America, as well as shows the continued work of the organization after 1916.
Series 2: Congress on Christian Work in Latin America (CCWLA), circa 1914 -- 1916
This series contains reports, correspondence, publications, and other related administrative records of the congress, with the majority of the material being the commissions' questionnaires along with the reports received from Protestant missionaries in Latin America and final reports of the Commissions. This series also includes minutes from the congress, newspaper articles reflecting on the significance of the congress, along with some materials from the later sectional conferences. The themed commissions are: Commission I. Survey and Occupation: This entailed a survey of Latin America's physical, industrial, moral, social and religious conditions. It also gives a broad description of the occupation of Protestant missions in Latin America; Commission II. Message and Method: This examined problems facing missionaries in their presentation of the gospel in Latin America. It especially focuses on Protestant missionaries' potential contributions to Latin America's Roman Catholic and indigenous faith practicing populations; Commission III. Education: This evaluated the potential of mission schools as opposed to state and Roman Catholic institutions. Special focus is paid to religious education through Sunday schools, along with the potential for higher theological education: Commission IV. Literature: This analyzed the influence of evangelical literature in Latin America with the goal of expanding its circulation; Commission V. Women's Work: This tells of the position and influence of women in Latin America. It determines methods for helping Latin America in those social problems affecting the life and work of women; Commission VI. The Church in the Field: This analyzed the organization of Latin American mission churches. Attention is paid to membership, forms of financial support, the development of leaders, the spiritual life of these congregations, and the mission church's relationship to each country's respectivegovernments; Commission VII. The Home Base: This promoted interest and financial support for Latin America in the U.S. home base. Concerns about publicity, educational materials, and the promotion of mission work among U.S. Christian students are addressed; Commission VIII. Co-operation and Union: This studied the cooperation among Protestant denominations' missionaries in the areas of literature, education, and occupation of the territory. The problem of Christian union is addressed while hope is expressed for continuing cooperation as modeled by the congress.
Missionary Research Library Archives: MRL9, Latin America
This collection is arranged in two series: Series 1: Committee on Cooperation in Latin America; and Series 2: Congress on Christian Work in Latin America.
This collection is open for research.
Onsite storage.
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.
Item description, MRL 9: Committee on Cooperation in Latin America and Congress on Christian Work in Latin America Records, 1914-1956, series #, box #, folder #, The Burke Library at Union Theological Seminary, Columbia University in the City of New York.
MRL 12: World Missionary Conference Records, 1883-2010, series #, box #, folder #, The Burke Library at Union Theological Seminary, Columbia University in the City of New York.
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.
Columbia University Libraries, Burke Library at Union Theological Seminary
When the Burke Library acquired the Congress' papers, an attempt was made to maintain the original order imposed on the contents. Folded materials were flattened. Newspaper clippings were photocopied onto acid free paper. Staples, rubber bands, and metal clips were removed and replaced with plastic clips. All materials were placed in acid-free folders and boxes. The information relating to two former partial numbering sequences of folders is retained in this finding aid and these numbers, where available, are to be found at the end of each folder description, in the form [14 / A. 920] or [A. 942]. In 2014, the collection was updated as part of the Henry Luce Foundation grant. It was also during this time that additions from a group of unprocessed and unorganized material were integrated. The original materials are now included in series 2: Congress on Christian Work in Latin America, along with a few additions. Series 1: Committee on Cooperation in Latin America is newly available and integrated into the collection. The finding aid was created by Miguel Escobar in 2006; reviewed and updated by Brigette C. Kamsler in 2014 with the support of the Henry Luce Foundation, and edited by Leah Edelman in 2024.
2024-06-12 PDF converted to EAD and description updated by Leah Edelman.
The Committee on Cooperation in Latin America (CCLA) began in 1913, an unanticipated outcome of World Missionary Conference, Edinburgh, 1910. The CCLA represented the missionary agencies at work in the West Indies, Mexico, Central and South America. It later became a Division of the Foreign Missions of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States. The CCLA organized and held the Congress on Christian Work in Latin America (CCWLA) first in 1916. Bulletins from this collection indicate that the Congress was called in response to the Edinburgh Conference's lack of discussion on Latin American issues. From 1910-1916, Rev. W.F. Oldham was chairman of the committees whose purpose was to determine topics for discussion and create corresponding commissions. The CCWLA was intentionally modeled on the Edinburgh Conference of 1910 and was held in Panama City from February 10-20, 1916. In correspondence it is referred to as the "Panama Conference." The attendees included officers and members of mission boards, missionaries, Latin American church leaders, Christian laypersons from North American and Europe, along with businessmen from Latin America in sympathy with the missionary's efforts. Each of the eight commissions' reports were presented and discussed during the daily sessions, while the night and Sunday sessions consisted of inspirational speeches and devotional services. Each commission's final report reflects a weighty collection of information from missionaries in Latin America. The eight commissions created separate questionnaires and sent these to correspondent missionaries in Latin America. The missionaries' responses were reviewed and incorporated into the final report of each commission. In order to implement the resolutions of the CCWLA, sectional conferences were later held in Peru, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Cuba, and Mexico from March to April of 1916. These conferences were to serve two purposes. First, they allowed for a local discussion of the issues raised by the commissions' final reports. Secondly, they served to bring the resolutions of the conference into the mission churches operating at the local level.
The subject headings listed below are found in this collection. Links below allow searches for other collections at Columbia University, through CLIO, the catalog for Columbia University Libraries, and through ArchiveGRID, a catalog that allows users to search the holdings of multiple research libraries and archives.
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| Congress on Christian Work in Latin America (1916 : Panama, Panama) -- : Archives | CLIO Catalog | ArchiveGRID |