| Description | The original papers [incoming: 01-21] were copied into the mission books, so that a legible copy was available for the use of the committee. The papers were entered in the order in which they arrived at headquarters. From November 1861 they are numbered, the numbers on the books corresponding with those, usually in red ink, on the letters. From 1868 to 1880 the papers are entered in strict numerical order.
The 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.
Letters are copied in full, while a note of receipt is made for the printed papers, finance papers, some finance letters and from 1858 journals Annual letters from those for 1870 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. |