The collection is open for research.
Onsite storage.
This collection contains materials compiled by the Missionary Research Library that document mission work in Latin America during the 20th century, including materials on Christianity, evangelism, education, Indians, organizations, conferences, geographic locations, imperialism and labor conditions.
Missionary Research Library collection on mission work in Latin America, 1911 -- 1974
This series contains materials compiled by the Missionary Research Library that document mission work in Latin America during the 20th century, including materials on Christianity, evangelism, education, Indians, organizations, conferences, geographic locations, imperialism and labor conditions.
Missionary Research Library Archives: MRL9, Latin America
This collection is organized in one unarranged series.
The 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: Missionary Research Library collection on mission work in Latin America, 1911-1974, 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
Folded materials were flattened. Staples, rubber bands, and metal clips were removed and replaced with plastic clips. All materials were placed in acid-free folders and boxes. In 2014, the collection was updated as part of the Henry Luce Foundation grant. During that time, materials were added from a group of unprocessed and unorganized material. The original selection of papers is now housed in box 1. Additional material is available in the subsequent boxes. In 2014, the collection was also renamed "Latin American General Records," originally called "Latin American Miscellaneous Papers." 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, including the title, by Leah Edelman in 2024.
2024-06-13 PDF converted to EAD and description updated by Leah Edelman.
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 to be a resource for missionaries and to document the missionary movement, and was initially funded by John D. Rockefeller. It was located at the Madison Avenue headquarters of the Foreign Missionary Conference of North America. By the 1920s, funding was becoming scarcer; 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 finally integrated as one with the Burke Library's collections in 1967. In 2004, the Burke Library was fully integrated with the Columbia University Library System.
The majority of Christians in Latin America identify as Catholic, as Catholicism arrived over five centuries ago. Protestant missions in Latin America began in the mid-1800s with missionaries arriving from North America and Europe. In 1910, the World Missionary Conference was held in Edinburgh, Scotland. Although the slogan for the 1910 meeting was, "the evangelization of the world is our generation," Latin America was not considered a mission field as the Catholics had already proclaimed the area Christian. Others did not agree with this standpoint, and organized the Committee of Cooperation in Latin America, which supported a group of Protestants to hold a conference in Panama in 1916. It was after this conference that Protestant mission work in Latin America became more important. The spreading of the gospels in Latin America is also credited with the rise in social justice and other considerations. The 160,000 Protestants in 1916 has grown to over 50 million. today.
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.
All links open new windows.
| Subject | ||
|---|---|---|
| Missions -- Latin America -- Archives | CLIO Catalog | ArchiveGRID |