Record

LevelSeries
Finding Number (Click this to view full catalogue structure)CMS/B/OMS/C I2 M
TitleMission books [incoming]
Extent34 vols.
Date1820-1880
ArrangementThe mission books from January 1868 consist of gatherings bound into volumes. The copying clerks wrote gathering by gathering, so that the handwriting and the individual items may be split between gatherings.

The letters and journals from 1820 to November 1836 are copied out in full, while a note of receipt is often made for the financial papers [returns, accounts etc], as distinct from the finance letters. Journals are not copied after November 1836, nor reports after 1838. From 1838 to 1841 the volumes include lists of items not copied in full and from 1843 only letters are fully copied Annual letters from those for 1875 onwards, are copied out in [or, if printed, pasted or sewn into] the backs of the volumes. These letters are a yearly account by missionaries of their activities and cover a period from August to July.
Access StatusOpen
Physical DescriptionThere is no mission book for the period 9 December 1862-31 December 1867. The original papers [incoming; O1-170] were copied into the mission books, so that a legible copy was available for the use of the committee. From May 1820 to April 1843 the papers are numbered in the order in which they arrived at headquarters, each year numbering from May to April [being the committee year]. The numbers in the books correspond with the numbers, usually in red ink, on the letters. Not all the papers are entered nor are they all entered in numerical order. The numbering begins again in November 1861 and continues until 1880. From 1868 to 1880 the papers are entered in strict numerical order.