| Level | Series |
| Finding Number (Click this to view full catalogue structure) | CMS/B/OMS/C CE O |
| Title | Original papers [incoming] |
| Extent | 147 files |
| Date | 1818-1880 |
| Description | The original papers comprise all incoming papers sent to headquarters through the officers of the local committees and the annual meetings, the mission secretary or directly from the missionaries and others. They consist mainly of letters, journals and reports, but include minutes and papers of local CMS committees. |
| Arrangement | The papers were marked on arrival with the date of receipt and/or date on which the committee dealt with them. Some of them were initialled by the Secretary who read or dealt with them. The majority of the papers were then copied in full into the mission books [q.v.].
The papers appear to have been kept in wooden boxes, about ten years or so for each box. For the period before 1869 there were bundles of papers of various kinds such as correspondence with bishops, minutes of the Corresponding Committee, indents and medical certificates, as well as letters and papers from individuals. From 1869 until 1880 the papers appear to have been kept in roughly chronological order. Except for a few of the original bundles the papers for the entire period before 1880 have been sorted according to the various individuals who were writing to headquarters, and are arranged alphabetically.
N.B. Circulars pre-1850 have been placed with papers of those missionaries who sent them out. The papers of the secretaries and chairmen of the committees and annual meetings, which include letters relating to financial affairs, will be found with their individual papers. |
| Access Status | Open |