America in records from colonial missionaries, 1635-1928
We are pleased to announce that Oxford researchers now have online access to 14 collections of the Anglican missionary archive, the United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (USPG), which have been digitized by British Online Archives. Previously only available in the Weston Library, the digitised material can now be accessed throughout the University and remotely with the Oxford SSO.
The USPG is a UK-based Anglican missionary organisation, founded in 1701, which sent missionaries to many parts of the world and was involved in educational, charitable and medical work as well as evangelization. The material also throws light on social conditions, travel and daily life abroad from the view point of British missionaries and their families.
The digitized material is relevant to British, Commonwealth and global history, covering the 17th to mid-20th centuries. It has been organised into 14 collections which can be found via SOLO or Databases A-Z:
- America in Records from Colonial Missionaries, 1635-1928
- ‘Bray Schools’ in Canada, America and the Bahamas, 1645-1900
- Indigenous Cultures and Christian Conversion in Ghana and Sierra Leone, 1700-1850
- Colonial missionaries’ papers from America and the West Indies, 1701-1870
- The West Indies in records from colonial missionaries, 1704-1950
- Canada in records from colonial missionaries, 1722-1952
- Indian and Sri Lankan records from colonial missionaries, 1770-1931
- Australia in records from colonial missionaries, 1808-1967
- South Africa in records from colonial missionaries, 1819-1900
- New Zealand & Polynesian records from colonial missionaries, 1838-1958
- Tanzania and Malawi in records from colonial missionaries, 1857-1965
- Colonial women missionaries of the Committee for Women’s Work, 1861-1967
- Ghana in Records from Colonial Missionaries, 1886-1951
- ‘Thou Shalt Not Kill’: Missionaries in Asia during the World Wars, 1914-1946
Early modern and modern source materials
The digitized material dates from 1635 to 1967 and includes letters, journals, reports, minute books, financial records, statistical returns, drawings, leaflets, questionnaires, school records, press cuttings, and printed books and magazines.
Letter of 3 June 1786 from Benjamin Franklin, while President of Pennsylvania, to Rev. Thomas Lyttleton concerning the lease of land for a school.
Shelfmark: USPG Bray/N.America/3/f.2/item 4
©2014 Microform Academic Publishers with permission of the United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel
Wide geographical reach
The geographical coverage is wide including the American colonies before independence, Canada, the Caribbean, Ghana, Tanzania, Malawi, South Africa, Mauritius, India, Sri Lanka, China, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand.
Report on a Biblewoman in India, 1912. Shelfmark: USPG CWW 311
©2014 Microform Academic Publishers with permission of the United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel
Topics covered include:
- the establishment of the Anglican Church in north America
- the American War of Independence
- slavery and its abolition
- the establishment of Christian schools
- indigenous communities
- women missionaries
- the impact of colonialism
- philanthropy
- the experience of wars including the two World Wars and the Sino-Japanese War
The digitized material represents a proportion of the whole USPG archive which is held on deposit in the Bodleian Library and is available for consultation in the Weston Library.
Lucy McCann, Senior Archivist, Special Collections, Bodleian Libraries
Other useful subscription resources:
- Africa and the New Imperialism
- Archives of the Church in North India (The) – Archival Collection
- British and Irish Women’s Letters and Diaries 1500-1950
- Church Missionary Society Archive
- Global Missions and Theology (Archives Unbound)
- North American Immigrant Letters, Diaries, and Oral Histories
- North American Women’s Letters and Diaries
- Oxford Dictionary of National Biography > List of biographies with Christian affiliation
