Home and General

Scope and Content

The minutes of the (Wesleyan) Methodist Missionary Society including those of the General Committee, Secretaries' (later Officers') Meetings, Home Organisation Committee and Sectional Committees (principally Finance, General Purposes, Eastern and Western).

Home incoming correspondence is extant from 1802 to 1896. Most of this correspondence originated from societies in the Home districts. The outgoing correspondence (both Home and Overseas) is extant from 1816 to 1914 and is arranged partly by area then by date. Further Home correspondence - arranged by place, individual or subject file - exists from 1928 and includes both incoming and outgoing correspondence. A small amount of correspondence (1806-1905) with government departments (particularly Downing Street and the Colonial Office) is also available. Finally, a number of printed circulars originating from Mission House have survived, albeit sporadically, for between 1821 and 1904.

Visual material (1859-c1968) comprises images of missionaries and other mission staff as well as scripts for glass lantern slide lectures. Some of these scripts have b/w photographs attached.

A small amount of candidates' papers (including correspondence and notes) exist but only for the 1820s-1860s.

Access Information

The majority of the collection is only available for consultation on microfiche. Some of the minutes listed are only available by arrangement with the archivist. Only photographic material is currently available for beyond 1950.

Restrictions Apply

Other Finding Aids

Handlists to the visual material and some of the correspondence (notably Home incoming correspondence, 1803-1896) are available in SCRR.

Archivist's Note

Catalogued

Conditions Governing Use

For permission to publish, please contact Archives & Special Collections, SOAS Library in the first instance

Copyright held by Trustees for Methodist Church Purposes.