| Level | Sub-fonds |
| Finding Number (Click this to view full catalogue structure) | CMS/Q |
| Title | Records of the CMS overseas missions |
| Extent | 32 boxes |
| Date | 1823-1968 |
| Description | Miscellaneous records of CMS Mission Secretaries. This small compilation of deposited papers comprises records of the type which, for the large part, were retained in the country of origin within the records of the churches overseas rather than being forwarded to the CMS Head Office in the United Kingdom.
Including records of:
CMS Mission Secretaries to Sierra Leone, 1823-1952;
Niger Mission, 1890-1892;
Eastern Equatorial Africa Mission, 1884-1921;
Ceylon Mission [Sri Lanka], [mid-20th century];
Chekiang (Mid-China) Mission, 1873-1950;
Western China Mission, 1929-1951;
Fukien Mission, 1948-c 1950;
China Missions (general), 1946-1951;
Western India Mission, 1897-1957;
Punjab and Sindh Mission, 1883-1948;
Japan Mission, c 1870-1947;
Mediterranean Mission, 1862-1874 and the Sudan Mission, 1905-1968. |
| Arrangement | The records are arranged by mission using the same mission references as are used for the other mission sequences in the CMS archive, for example, Sierra Leone Mission (A1). The files for each mission are further divided into groups according to how they were used using the classification below:
CMS/Q: Records of the CMS overseas missions
/A: Administration, with further subdivisions including:
/AA: Publicity and advertising
/AC: Correspondence
/AM: Missionaries
/AP: Policy
/AZ: Miscellaneous
/C: Committee work
/F: Finance, including a further subdivision:
/FL: Legal and property
/O Official papers
/Z Miscellaneous |
| Access Conditions | The CMS archives are subject to a 30 year closure period (opened by decade). Annual Letters and Link letters of missionaries (mission partners) are subject to a 50 year closure period (opened by decade). Where records relating to living individuals are of a sensitive nature, an additional closure period applies such that missionary application papers, for example, are closed for the lifespan of the individual concerned or 105 years. Mission personnel files are closed for at least 115 years since the person's birth; all personnel files have been retained by CMS. There are no closure periods for promotional material: this includes publications sent to members and supporters, and flyers sent to promote the Society's work. Closure periods edited December 2024 further to guidance from Maddy Peston, CMS archivist.
The Sudan papers from this sequence have been retained by the CMS are not currently held by Cadbury Research Library. |
| Copyright | Permission to make any published use of any material from the collection must be sought in advance in writing, from the Director of Special Collections as custodian of the archive (email: special-collections@contacts.bham.ac.uk) and from the Church Mission Society as owner of the archive (email: library@churchmissionsociety.org). Requests to publish should be accompanied by a copy of proposed text and images. Special Collections will assist where possible with identifying copyright owners, but responsibility for ensuring copyright clearance rests with the user of the material. |
| Language | English |
| English |
| Japanese |
| Finding Aids | A paper copy of this catalogue is available for consultation in Special Collections. |
| Access Status | Open, but subject to some access restrictions |