Missionary Research Library collection of Missionary Personnel records, 1929 -- 1964

Creator:
Missionary Research Library (New York, N.Y.)
Abstract:
This collection contains materials for missionary personnel compiled by the Missionary Research Library, including studies on preparation, recruitment, psychological testing and turnover of missionary personnel, as well as handbooks and instruction manuals for missionaries.
Extent:
1 linear feet 1 linear foot; 2 boxes
Language:
English .
Scope and content:

This collection contains studies conducted by various committees, including the Committee on Research in Foreign Missions; the Committee of Lay Training; and the Committee on Missionary Personnel of the Division of Foreign Missions on missionary preparation and training, involving readying the missionary before they leave as well as during their first post and their first furlough, including language training. This collection also contains booklets compiled for use by missionaries throughout the world, with detailed information on outfit lists which the missionary needed to bring with them. The outfit lists could include not only clothes but personal effects, clothing, and furnishings. Other information provided for the missionary was household items required, differences for singles versus married couples; food needed; recreation allowed, and other such information in order to familiarize the missionary with each custom before arriving. The manuals were used as a guide. The manuals were compiled in 1953 but have information from previous years. These booklets were compiled and bound by the Missionary Research Library. Correspondence is included to show who sent the materials.

Biographical / historical:

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.

Access and use

Restrictions:

This collection is open for research.

Onsite storage.

Terms of access:

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.

Preferred citation:

Item description, MRL12: Missionary Research Library collection of Missionary Personnel records, series #, box #, folder #, The Burke Library at Union Theological Seminary, Columbia University in the City of New York.

Location of this collection:
Burke Home Page
Before you visit:
Researchers must book an appointment at least 5 business days in advance to view special collections material in the reading room. To make the most of your visit, be sure to request your desired materials before booking your appointment, as researchers are limited to one item per hour of appointment time.
Contact:
burke@library.columbia.edu