UNION NEWS Summer 1998 Missionary Research Collection From Idea to Special Library to Special Collection

t the 1910 World Conference on ans Charles H. Fahs and Hollis W. Her- AMissions Edinburgh Conference, ing. Upon reading Hering’s 1931 trea- missionary societies gathered to devel- tise on “The and the op a common missionary strategy. Part Research ,” one gains consid- of that strategy, initiated by Dr. John R. erable understanding of her passion Mott, was to develop a library which and devotion to the field. On a librari- would help to prepare and support an’s need for vision she writes: “No missionaries as well as to document one else is in such a strategic position The Missionary Research Library Col- the missionary movement. As Mott to sense possibilities in outreach…and lection (MLR) within the Burke Library described his vision for the library to for no one else is it so imperative to be of Union Theological Seminary houses Charles Fahs, who would soon become eternally alert to emerging a unique wealth of materials. Dating the Director of the MRL: “We are now demands…”1 It is thanks to Hering, from the MLR Collection’s founding in ready to go ahead full steam on the her colleagues, and their successors 1914 until the late 1960s, these materi- plan to secure the most complete and that the MRL continues to serve als chronicle early 20th century mis- serviceable missionary library and researchers today. sionary history. Preservation microfilm- in the world. I desire it to be ing projects on missiology invariably thoroughly interdenominational, ecu- In its heyday the MRL was a place of depend on materials that can be found menical and international. It should be great activity. It provided, “in addition in the MLR. made preeminently rich in source to regular library services, information material.” service, counsel to missionary agencies The following article is adapted from a and students, and a research program The library opened in 1914 at the For- presentation by Cynthia Frame in 1997 on behalf of the foreign mission eign Missionary Conference of North at the Yale-Edinburgh Group on the boards.”2 In 1934, an average of 15 vis- America (FMC) headquartered on History of the Missionary Movement itors per day used the collection.3 Her- Madison Avenue. Seed money for the and Non-Western Christianity. Ms. ing writes, “From the very start the MRL was provided by John D. Rocke- Frame was at that time Archivist and essential genius of the library has lain feller, Jr., who trusted that missionary Preservation Librarian for the Burke in providing aid for research, which boards and individuals would provide Library. Her presentation described the has been interpreted as providing not funding necessary for the MRL to MRL as it evolved from “Idea” to “Spe- only necessary materials but also con- thrive. But that expectation was not cial Library” to “Special Collection.” sultation and guidance.”4 R. Pierce fulfilled. The FMC removed it from Beaver, who was director of the library their budget in 1927 and was not able from 1948 to 1955, explains that “the to locate any other large donors. While library served the personnel of the mis- missionary boards, denominations, sion boards and Union faculty and stu- and organizations generously donated dents, as well as Columbia University, publications, monetary gifts were not Teachers College and other institutions so forthcoming. in the area. Numerous overseas stu- In 1929, the library relocated to Union dents who were writing dissertations Theological Seminary and was housed on subjects relating to their homelands in the recently completed Brown found here the source material essen- Tower, which had been funded by tial to their research.”5 John D. Rockefeller, Jr. and Arthur C. Finanical difficulties grew after the James. The MRL contained more than retirement of Charles Fahs in 1948. The 70,000 books and pamphlets at that following directors, R. Pierce Beaver time, and Union housed with it the (1948-1955), Frank Wilson Price (1956- 12,000 volumes from the Charles 1961) and Herbert C. Jackson (1961- Cuthbert Hall Memorial Library of 1966) managed to raise funds for the Christian Missions. collection and see that it was main- Every history of the MRL emphasizes tained, but it was not to flourish as it the diligence, enthusiasm, and profes- once had. Union’s president from 1945 sionalism of its staff, especially librari- to 1963, Henry Pitney Van Dusen, was UNION NEWS Summer 1998

Missionary Research Library—cont. supportive of the MRL and did what 1980, prior to a major renovation of Organizational and denominational was possible to keep it functioning. Union’s Library. MRL government reports, including mission board, home reports were deaccessioned to Colum- mission, and foreign field reports from In 1958, a development program for bia’s Lehman Library, along with the the early 1900’s to the 1960’s, make up the MRL was initiated for the renova- shelf list. Union’s Collection Develop- another heavily-used portion of the tion and expansion of the MRL space. ment Librarian Tony Byrnes sought MRL collection. A sample of these Almost half, actually $80,000, of the appropriate library collections for the items gives a picture of the range and expected $200,000 was raised, and a other volumes. depth of the report collection: second reading room with new card catalogs, shelves and lights wss added MRL serials are housed along with Algiers Mission Band. to the public space in the fourth and Union serials in the general and rare Woman’s Algerian Mission Band fifth floors of Union’s Library. book stacks. They often provide thor- Newsletters. 1910-1927. ough runs of pictorial and textual In 1960, the MRL provisionally incor- reports from overseas missionaries. All-India Women’s Conference. 1933. porated with Union. In 1967, incorpo- Many are brittle, but thanks to preser- Aborigines Protection Society. Annual ration was complete, and the MRL vation microfilming projects by Yale Reports. 1838-1908. became a functioning part of the Union Divinity and the Ameri- Berlin Missionary Society in China. library. The 17-volume printed book can Theological Library Association catalog of the MRL collection was pub- (ATLA), important serial runs have Report of Mission School. 1866-1904. lished by G.K. Hall in 1968.6 Records been preserved and are available. Bishop Gobat’s Fund for Missions in for acquisitions since 1967 in mission- Abyssinia, Egypt, Syria and Chaldea. related subjects are included in the cat- Report. 1863-1863. alogs of the Burke Library. Until 1967, the MLR used its own classification. “For 50 years we have held up Maori Mission Birthday League. 1926- 193 1. The MLR reading room, which had a before the people the Word of God, three-person staff, closed in 1976. In and the Holy Spirit did the rest. But, Mission to the Aristocracy in India. 1921- 22. the years since its closing, the area the Apostle Paul put it best of all: which once held MRL catalogers, ‘I planted, Apollos watered, Mission to Lepers. Hong Kong Auxiliary. acquisitions clerks, reference , Annual Report. 1956. but God gave the increase.’” and researchers have become a space Pekin Association for the Relief of Desti- to house the Burke Library Archives. tute Native Women. China. 1901-1911. The MRL archives and MRL pamphlet collection reside within the Library Presbyterian church in Ireland. Jungle The pamphlet collection—with over Tribes Mission. 1920-1924. Archives. 30,000 pamphlets from the Missionary era, late 1800’s to 1960’s—continues to John G. Kerr Hospital for the Insane. The collections were built along three 1898-1925. Canton, China. main areas: “1) the history, theology, be the most heavily used portion of the principles, methods, and problems of MRL collection. Scholars whose The MRL includes missionar- missions, 2) the culture, history, sociol- research leads them to the MRL pam- ies’ journals, diaries, correspondence ogy, ethnic religions, etc. of the lands of phlet collection are rewarded with as well as collections from conferences, the younger, and 3) international information of a perspective not avail- organizations, societies, and mission affairs and global trends.”7 As such, able elsewhere. As a result, this part of boards. Thanks to a New York State the MRL “is strong in its collection of the collection has seen heavy use and Archives project in 1988, these archive mission agency records, records which resulting deterioration. Union has collections were added to Research document issues facing the churches made two applications to the National Information Network’s (RLI) and mission fields, materials which Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) archives and manuscript file. Further describe the missionary enterprise for cooperatively through ATLA, to micro- descriptions of the archival holdings public reference, and of course, mis- film and catalog the pamphlets onto an can be found in Mission Handbook— sionary research material.” 8 on-line database. Neither grant appli- North American Protestant Ministries cation was successful, but because the Overseas. More descriptive information The majority of the MRL monograph need to preserve and make available on the collections is located in the collection was moved to the top levels this collection is still pressing, the “Index Guide to the UTS Archives and of the newly retrofitted James Chapel Burke Library continues to pursue Mss in the Burke Library,” compiled by Tower in the 1980’s. It was weeded for avenues to achieve this. Tony Byrnes in 1986 and used within duplicate and out-of-scope materials in UNION NEWS Summer 1998

Missionary Research Library—cont. the library only. Individual finding description and outreach. But even aids are available for some collections, without further activity, it remains a again for in-house use only. To give a significant and accessible research col- flavor of some of the collections of lection for mission-related materials, individuals, examples of commonly one which would make John R. Mott, used collections include: Charles Fahs and Hollis Hering proud. Emory Ross, a missionary of the Pioneer Notes Disciples of Christ in the Belgian Congo; 1 Robert Hamill Nassau, a Pioneer Presby- Hering, Hollis W. 193 1. “The Research terian missionary in Gabon, where he Library and the Research Librarian,” preceded Albert Schweitzer; Special Libraries 22:7-1 1. Lorenzo Warriner Pease, Presbyterian 2Union Theological Seminary Catalog, 1957- missionary in Cyprus; 58.

James Whitford Bashford, resident 3[Fahs, Charles H.?]. “The Missionary Methodist minister in China; Research Library.” April, 1934. Unpub- Matilda Calder Thurston, Protestant mis- lished typescript. sionary in China, who founded and was 4Hering, Hollis W. “The Missionary the first president of Ginling, the first Research Library, 1914-1039: An Christian Woman’s college in China; Accounting for Twenty-Five Years. Pre- Henry Gerhard Appenzeller, Methodist sented at the meeting of the Library missionary in Korea; Committee on June 3, 1939.” Unpub- lished typescript. John Raleigh Mott, Methodist layman and ecumenist who envisioned the MRL 5Beaver, R. Pierce. 1968. “The Missionary and collected Edinburgh Conference Research Library: A Sketch of Its Histo- papers, which are in this collection. ry.” Occasional Bulletin from the Mission- The MRL is now a fully integrated col- ary Research Library vol. 19, no. 2. lection within the Burke Library. There 6 Dictionary Catalog of the Missionary is no longer an MRL Advisory Board Research Library, New York. Boston: G.K. or dedicated funding. There is no Hall, 1968. longer one person in charge; the library staff takes responsibility for the collec- 7Union Theological Seminary Catalog, tion. Reference Librarians Seth Kasten 1957/58. and Andrew Kadel provide public ser- 8 Kadel, Andrew G. Collection Develop- vice for the collections. [During her ment Plan for the Burke Library of Union tenure at Union, Ms. Frame looked Theological Seminary in the City of New after its archival and physical mainte- York. May, 1996. nance.]

Material on World Christianity and Missions continues to be collected on a research level, including the mainte- nance of periodical subscriptions for mission societies, subscriptions to reports, proceedings of conferences, and purchase of major works on the history of missions. The library is accessible to qualified scholars, but being a special collection, access requires special application.

The collection could benefit from more preservation, cataloging, arrangement,