| Level | Series |
| Finding Number (Click this to view full catalogue structure) | CMS/B/OMS/C I1 I |
| Title | Individual letter-books [outgoing] |
| Extent | 3 vols. |
| Date | 1852-1886 |
| Description | From 1826 onwards one of the Secretaries at headquarters had the primary task of writing personal letters to individual missionaries [as distinct from the official letters to the mission secretary]. A series of volumes for these private and confidential letters was used by many of the Secretaries from 1852 to about 1880. Most of the volumes are marked as 'Individual Letter-books' and contain not only personal letters, such as those of condolence or censure, but (for some Secretaries) topics that the individual Secretary had a special interest in.
Christopher Fenn was the last Secretary to be appointed specifically to write these personal letters and he continued the practice until his retirement in 1894. In his letters from the 1860s there is much about the development of the local church into a body independent of European support. |
| Access Status | Open |
| Related Material | Private letters from Henry Venn and William Gray are to found in the main letter-book series [/L] |