LibGuides: Primary Sources: Religion & Philosophy

Religion & Philosophy

19th and 20th Century Philosophy in Perspective This link opens in a new window Contains 54 books from Lady Victoria Welby-Gregory's collection (1837-1912), covering topics in philosophy, theology and philology. She is known for developing the philosophical theory of significs. Many of the books contain Welby-Gregory's own substantive annotations.
Acta Sanctorum This link opens in a new window The Acta Sanctorum Database looks at the lives of saints and contains the entire Acta Sanctorum, including all prefatory material, original texts, critical apparatus and indices. Bibliotheca Hagiographica Latina reference numbers, essential references for scholars, are also included. Latin language.
America in Records from Colonial Missionaries, 1635-1928 This link opens in a new window Records from the United Society Partners in Gospel missionary organisation, providing an insight into British missionary changing attitudes towards the American and Canadian Colonies over 300 years.
Australia in Records from Colonial Missionaries, 1808-1967 This link opens in a new window Contains records compiled by the United Society Partners in Gospel (USPG), a UK-based Anglican missionary organisation that operates around the world. The collection includes letters, journals and supplementary material composed by the Australian branches during the period 1808-1967. These documents contain reports on the progress of the mission, relations with the indigenous people, the passage to Australia, and insights into how monetary grants were spent.
Canada in Records from Colonial Missionaries, 1722-1952 This link opens in a new window Records, letters, charters and reports from the Canadian branch of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts (SPG), an Anglican missionary organisation.
Chinese Recorder and the Protestant Missionary Community in China , 1867-1941 This link opens in a new window Covering 1867-1941, this is the archive of the Chinese Recorder journal, intended for U.S. missionaries to China.
Church Missionary Society Archive This link opens in a new window This module is a rich repository of source materials on the work of this globally influential organisation, founded in 1799 as an Anglican evangelical movement and still active today. It includes records of both the CMS and the many other missionary societies which have become associated or amalgamated with it over its lifetime.
Church Missionary Society Periodicals This link opens in a new window This resource encompasses publications from the CMS, the Church of England Zenana Missionary Society and the latterly integrated South American Missionary Society. Documenting missionary work from the nineteenth to the twenty-first century.
Colonial Missionaries Papers from America and the West Indies, 1701-1870 This link opens in a new window Letters, proceedings, journals and reports from the Anglian missionary organisation United Society Partners in Gospel, formerly the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts (SPG) covering 18th to early 20th century. The collection provides insight into the relationship between colonisers and the colonised.
Colonial Women Missionaries of the Committee for Women's Work, 1861-1967 This link opens in a new window The committee underwent several changes of name, but originally it was a semi-autonomous body linked with the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. The collection includes minutes of main and sub-committees, candidates' books, in and out letters, and reports. Comprises approximately two thirds of the vast records relating to the Committee on Women's Work stored at Rhodes House Library, Oxford.
Evangelism and the Syria-Lebanon Mission: Correspondence of the Board of Foreign Missions, 1869-1910 This link opens in a new window Correspondence to and from the Board of Foreign Missions (BFM) of the American Presbyterian church in Syria-Lebanon, documenting the BFM's evangelistic, educational and medical work. The collection provides a view into the turbulent political forces that dominated Syria and Lebanon's history during the 19th century, and illustrates the difficulty of conducting mission work under the conditions of religious warfare.
Evangelism in Africa: Correspondence of the Board of Foreign Missions, 1835-1910 This link opens in a new window Records from the Board of Foreign Missions (BFM) of the American Presbyterian church, in Africa, documenting the BFM's evangelistic, educational and medical work. Mainly correspondence, with some diary accounts, sermon manuscripts, receipts of sale and accounts from missionaries in the field.
Evangelism in China: Correspondence of the Board of Foreign Mission, 1837-1911 This link opens in a new window Correspondence to and from the Board of Foreign Missions (BFM) of the American Presbyterian church in China, documenting the BFM's evangelistic, educational and medical work.
Evangelism in India: Correspondence of the Board of Foreign Missions, 1833-1910 This link opens in a new window Records from the Board of Foreign Missions (BFM) of the American Presbyterian church, in India, documenting the BFM's evangelistic, educational and medical work. Documented in the collection are reactions to foreigners generally and Protestant missionaries specifically, discontent with British rule and the development of the Independence movement, and racial and religious warfare between Hindu and Muslim populations.
Evangelism in Iran: Correspondence of the Board of Foreign Mission, 1847-1911 This link opens in a new window Correspondence to and from the Board of Foreign Missions (BFM) of the American Presbyterian church in Persia (renamed Iran in 1935), documenting the BFM's evangelistic, educational and medical work.
Evangelism in Japan: Correspondence of the Board of Foreign Mission, 1859-1911 This link opens in a new window Correspondence to and from the Board of Foreign Missions (BFM) of the American Presbyterian church in Japan, documenting the BFM's evangelistic, educational and medical work.
Evangelism in Korea: Correspondence of the Board of Foreign Mission, 1884-1911 This link opens in a new window Correspondence to and from the Board of Foreign Missions (BFM) of the American Presbyterian church in Korea, documenting the BFM's evangelistic, educational and medical work.
Evangelism in Latin America: Correspondence of the Board of Foreign Mission, 1854-1911 This link opens in a new window Correspondence to and from the Board of Foreign Missions (BFM) of the American Presbyterian church in Latin America, documenting the BFM's evangelistic, educational and medical work.
Evangelism in Philippines: Correspondence of the Board of Foreign Mission, 1898-1910 This link opens in a new window Correspondence to and from the Board of Foreign Missions (BFM) of the American Presbyterian church in the Philippines, documenting the BFM's evangelistic, educational and medical work.
Evangelism in Thailand: Correspondence of the Board of Foreign Mission, 1840-1910 This link opens in a new window Correspondence to and from the Board of Foreign Missions (BFM) of the American Presbyterian church in Thailand, documenting the BFM's evangelistic, educational and medical work.
FBI File: Waco/Branch Davidian Compound This link opens in a new window FBI file relating to the siege between FBI agents and members of the Branch Davidian religious group in Waco, Texas, in 1993. The archive serves as a case study of twentieth-century alternative religious movements and their relationships to the U.S. federal government.
Ghana in Records from colonial missionaries, 1886-1951 This link opens in a new window A collection of six volumes of records highlighting the role and influence of colonial missionaries in Ghanaian society between 1886-1951. Records include letters sent and received, missionary reports and additional correspondence.
Global Missions and Theology This link opens in a new window Records of United States missionary practices and thought, and their activities across the globe during the 19th century. The collection includes personal narratives, organizational records, and biographies of the missionaries, and their churches.
Indian and Sri Lankan records from colonial missionaries, 1770-1931 This link opens in a new window Includes letters and supplementary material compiled by the Indian and Sri Lankan branches of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts (now the United Society Partners in Gospel ) during the period 1770-1952.
Indigenous Cultures and Christian Conversion in Ghana and Sierra Leone, 1700-1850 This link opens in a new window This resource comprises selected documents from a number of different microfilm collections, including: early Gold Coast records from the archives of the USPG; the papers of Thomas Perronet Thompson, the first Governor of the Colony of Sierra Leone
Marxist History and Historians in the 20th Century This link opens in a new window Contains the Dona Torr Papers: Dona Ruth Anne Torr (1883-1957) was a Marxist historian, translator and activist. Despite being born into an aristocratic family, Torr became a founding member of the Communist Party of Great Britain. This collection contains Torr’s personal papers, including research notes and other materials relating to her biography of noted labour activist Thomas Mann.
Methodist Episcopal Church Archives: Missionary Activities This link opens in a new window This collection comprises annual reports, correspondence and other materials relating to Methodist Episcopal Missionary activities in Italy from 1819-1952.
Methodist Publications, 1855-1919 This link opens in a new window Contains copies of periodicals that chart the debates between and within the Wesleyan Methodists, Primitive Methodists, and United Methodists: the Primitive Methodist Quarterly Review & Christian Ambassador (1887-1909), Holborn Review (1910-1919), and The London Quarterly Review and Christian Ambassador (1855-1919).
Methodist Recorder, 1861-1919 This link opens in a new window Contains copies of the Methodist Recorder published during the period 1861-1919. Originally created as an independent weekly newspaper that scrutinised current affairs within the Methodist community, the Recorder has been published continuously for more than 150 years.
Missionary Studies This link opens in a new window These primary sources are a resource for the study of missionary work, educational work, medical work, evangelism, political conflict, and the emergence of indigenous churches.
New Zealand & Polynesian Records from Colonial Missionaries, 1838-1958 This link opens in a new window Includes letters, journals and supplementary material composed by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts' New Zealand and Polynesian branches during the period 1838-1958. These documents cover progress of the mission, relations with the indigenous Polynesians, the geography of the land, and insights into how monetary grants were spent.
Patriologia Orientalis Database This link opens in a new window Full text of the series covering the writings of the Eastern Church Fathers. Texts are in Arabic, Armenian, Coptic, Ethiopian, Greek, Georgian and Slavonic, besides Syriac, published with a Latin, English, Italian or mostly French translation.
Rastafari Ephemeral Publications from the Written Rastafari Archives Project This link opens in a new window This collection contains magazines, newsletters and ephemeral publications from the Written Rastafari Archives Project (WRAP). The period covered is the early 1970s to 2014 and covers a transitional period, where the movement has spread across the Afro-Atlantic world and has become more globalized.
Scopes Case This link opens in a new window Covers the Scopes Case in the U.S. from July 1925. Formally known as The State of Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes highlighted the ongoing debates on creationism vs. evolutionism and teaching in American schools. Contains the court record, minutes and transcript.
Sources Chrétiennes Online This link opens in a new window Full text, cross-searchable complete collection of the Sources Chrétiennes series. Contains editions-with-translations of Christian texts in Greek and Latin, but also in oriental languages, such as Syriac, Armenian and Georgian.
South Africa in records from colonial missionaries, 1819-1900 This link opens in a new window Includes letters and supplementary material compiled by the South African branch of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts (now the United Society Partners in Gospel) during the period 1820-1900.
South American Missionaries' Records, 1844-1919 This link opens in a new window Archives of the South American Missionary Society, originally called the Patagonian Mission. Includes minute books, reports from the mission field, articles and photographs on the geography, anthropology, natural history and economic development for the society's magazine, launched in 1867, as well as the journals of its Anglican founder, Captain Allen Gardiner, and two others of its missionaries, Edward Bernau and Adolfo Henriksen.
Sunday School Movement and Its Curriculum This link opens in a new window Covering the development of Sunday Schools in the USA from 1884-1920.
Tanzania and Malawi in records from colonial missionaries, 1857-1965 This link opens in a new window Tanzania and Malawi in records from colonial missionaries, 1857-1965 Containing 54,550 pages belonging to 121 documents housed in 5 volumes.
Thou Shalt Not Kill: Missionaries in Asia during the World Wars, 1914-1946 This link opens in a new window Contains first hand accounts by missionaries attached to The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (SPG) both during peacetime and during the World Wars. Centres mainly on SPG missionaries' experience of Japanese expansionism during the Second World War including punishments they endured. Includes accounts from Japan, Burma (Myanmar), China, Singapore, and Malaysia.
Wesleyan and Primitive Methodist Periodicals, 1744-1960 This link opens in a new window A collection of the main periodicals of the Wesleyan movement, beginning with the minutes of its earliest conference in 1744 and The Arminian magazine in 1778, and continuing through to the twentieth century. Methodist Conference papers and discussion papers are also included.
West Indies in Records from Colonial Missionaries, 1704-1950 This link opens in a new window Papers from the United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel: their missionary work contrasted with the same Society owning slaves in the West Indies. The collection covers both sides of the Society's legacy as it moved from owning slaves to educating the emancipated. Contains reports and correspondence from across the region.
Witchcraft in Europe and America This link opens in a new window Writings on the subject of witchcraft dating from the 15th to the early 20th century, sourced from the Cornell University Library. Rare and fragile manuscripts containing eyewitness accounts and court records of the trials of witches, including depositions obtained under torture.