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Survey of Canadian Protestant Missionary Archives Relating to Africa
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 13 May 2014
Extract
Although Canada has shared in the task of evangelization from the first decade of the nineteenth century and Canadian church missions have been laboring in Africa since the 1880s, they are, unlike their American and British counterparts, mostly unknown, Even scholarly studies on church missions like those of Groves, and Neil contain only occasional references to Canadian involvement in world missions, while many directories and almanacs on missions do not even list Canadian missionary societies separately from those of the United States.
Yet in 1975 about 3200 Canadian protestant missionaries and 4800 Canadian Roman Catholic missionaries were involved in missionary work outside Canada, high numbers the country's population. Of these, about 870 protestant missionaries and 1900 Catholic missionaries were working in Africa. An attempt will be made here to analyze the nature and extent of Canadian protestant missionary involvement in Africa and, more particularly, to make a few observations on the state of their archives.
Our survey revealed the existence of twenty-two protestant missionary societies in Canada which have been involved in Africa, either directly or indirectly, at one time or another. These may be divided into three categories: Canadian, American-Canadian, and international missionary societies. Missionary societies classified as Canadian are those which have roots in Canadian soil and history, have head offices in Canada, make their own decisions and policies, control their own finances and administration, and direct their overseas missions without reference to any authority outside Canada.
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- Copyright © African Studies Association 1980
References
NOTES
1. Groves, C.P., The Planting of Christianity in Africa, (3 vols.: London, 1948–58).Google ScholarNeill, Stephen, Christian Missions, (London, 1964).Google Scholar
2. Information received from Canadian Missionary Societies, at the Canadian Missions Project, Dalhousie University, Halifax, N.S. Canada, between 1973 and 1976. Also see, World Missions, Report of the Committee on World Missions, (United Church of Canada, 1968) p. 108Google Scholar; Missionnaires Catholiques Canadians, Statistiques (Départment des Missions, Conference Religieuse Canadienne), (Ottawa, 1974), 2.
3. The Survey was undertaken by Canadian Missions Project with the aid of a financial grant made by Canada Council to determine the magnitude of Canadian missionary involvement in Africa and to produce a handbook of source material for a history of this involvement. Though much data has been collected the study is yet to be concluded.
4. Only lately has some scholarly attention been given to Canadian missionary involvement overseas; for instance see Butcher, John “Canadian Missionaries in Angola,” (M.A. Thesis, Dalhousie University, 1975).Google Scholar
5. The aim is to give the reader a general idea about the state of archives of Canadian missionary societies listed in Table I. It is not intended to provide detailed comments on the holdings of various missionary societies since this cannot be done in the present state of our research. The observations here are based on the information obtained by the author during his visit to the various archives during 1975/76, as well as replies received from the relevant societies.
No comments are made separately on historical material of the Missionary Society of the Congregational Church of Canada which merged with the Methodists and a section of the Presbyterians in 1925 to become the United Church of Canada. Comments on the archives of the United Church of Canada also cover historical material of the former Missionary Society of the Congregational Church of Canada.
6. Letter from the Secretary, Overseas Mission Department, The Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada, 22 November 1974.