The Friends Foreign Mission Archives is a subdivision of the Friends Archives. These materials--records, AV materials, and artifacts--pertain directly to the missionary work of members of the Evangelical Friends Church--Eastern Region.
Due to different access and storage requirements, the records, AV materials, and artifacts have been split up into separate collections. The Foreign Mission collections in general are divided by region, and these divisions match up across the different media. Check the links in the center column of this page to browse the finding aids for each collection.
The collections hold over 19 cubic feet of artifacts from Friends missionaries, including 31 shoes from China, India, and Kenya!
Malone University may be the official repository for the EFC-ER, but other institutions have helpful collections as well. Here are a few digital collections based out of other parts of Ohio:
Active interest in a foreign missionary organization for the Ohio Yearly Meeting (now Evangelical Friends Church-Eastern Region) was first demonstrated in 1870, when Sarah Jenkins, familiar with the Women's Missionary Union of North America and their activities, organized a missionary auxiliary with Judith Johnson in Mount Pleasant, Ohio. Interest was high, and in 1883, at the gathering for the OYM, a Committee was formed to organize the different auxiliary movements under a single board. In 1884, the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society was organized, and in 1886, the Committee on Foreign Missions, organized in 1880 and run by men, was discontinued and the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society became the OYM's active source of missionary activity. Then, in 1890, they were formally incorporated under state laws under the name "Friends Foreign Missionary Society of Ohio Yearly Meeting." Work had already begun overseas, with Esther Butler having traveled to China as a missionary in 1887. Later, after the OYM changed its name, the organization was referred to as the "Friends Foreign Missionary Society of the Evangelical Friends Church: Eastern Region." They are currently one branch of the Evangelical Friends Mission, the missionary program of the Evangelical Friends Church International.
The following Friends Foreign Mission document collections are held in the archives:
The following Friends Foreign Mission audiovisual collections are held in the archives:
The following Friends Foreign Mission artifact collections are held in the archives:
Plan Ahead!
Some materials require special equipment to use, such as slide viewers or film projectors. Many require a dedicated space that will need to be secured in advance. Walk-in visits to the archives are welcome, but to maximize your time, contact the archivist in advance with a description of your interests so that facilities, equipment and materials can be ready for you.
If you need more materials than what are in the regional collections--for instance, you would like to see some artifacts from India--check in the missionary collections. Papers, AV, and artifacts donated by a particular missionary will remain in that missionary's collection, as opposed to being divided up among other collections.