| Level | Series |
| Finding Number (Click this to view full catalogue structure) | CMS/B/OMS/C I1 O |
| Title | Original papers [incoming] |
| Extent | 368 files |
| Date | 1820-1879 |
| Description | The original papers comprise all incoming papers sent to headquarters by the mission secretary (or occasionally 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 are marked on arrival with the date of receipt and/or date on which the committee dealt with them. From 1820 to 1838 and again from the autumn of 1861 to 1880 the papers were also numbered in red ink, in the order in which they arrived at headquarters. Some of them were initialled by the Secretary who read or dealt with them. The majority of the papers were then copied in full in the mission books.
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. |
| Access Status | Open |