Nature and Scope

Church Missionary Society Periodicals features publications from the Church Mission Society (CMS), the South American Missionary Society and the Church of England Zenana Missionary Society (CEZMS) between 1804 and 2009. With periodicals ranging in period, style and focus, this project has been designed to offer a global view of missionary activity across three centuries.

Forming a prominent feature of British religious philanthropy from the late eighteenth century onwards, missionary societies served as employer and community to missionaries far from home. Service came with considerable sacrifice and sometimes high risk, so society publications became crucial for keeping those at home in touch with the activities of the society and its individuals, as well as promoting and funding its work.

For further information on the material selected for inclusion in Church Missionary Society Periodicals, please read the Selection Criteria and Guide to the Periodical Titles.

To find out more about discovering documents relevant to your research, please read the Searching Guide.

The Church Mission Society (renamed from the Church Missionary Society in 1995 and incorporating what were formerly the South American Missionary Society, the Mid-Africa Ministry and the CEZMS), was founded in 1799 with aims including social reform in England and world evangelisation. The first overseas mission was in Sierra Leone in 1804, but soon the societies were working in other African countries, the Mediterranean, the Middle East, Asia, Oceania and the Americas. CMS has been one of the most influential Protestant mission agencies and its work has led to the establishment of Anglican churches across the world.

Cadbury Research Library, University of Birmingham
Crowther Mission Studies Library, at the Church Mission Society, Oxford

Due to the nature of these sources, graphic images and written accounts featuring violence, injury, death, enslavement and racism can be found in this resource.

Please also note that, due to the period in which the primary sources in this resource were produced, some do contain language and terminology that is outdated, derogatory and offensive by modern standards. Learn more about our approach to terminology in this resource in the Language Statement.

Church Missionary Society Periodicals primarily features publications from the Church Mission Society (CMS), the South American Missionary Society, the Church of England Zenana Missionary Society (CEZMS) and the Mid-Africa Ministry.

In 1838 a small paper called the Church Missionary Gleaner was started by Charles Hodgson, who was a CMS Association Secretary in Yorkshire. In 1841 CMS adopted it as a twopenny magazine with rich woodcut illustrations to record and inform the public of its activities. Gleaner would eventually become Yes Magazine, which is available up to 2009 (for more information on the evolution of the publication titles please see Guide to the Periodical Titles).

Contemporary to the first Gleaners is the Church Missionary Intelligencer, aimed at a more scholarly audience with in-depth articles produced in a journal style. Other organisations are represented in The South American Missionary Magazine and its successors (available from 1867-2006), and Ruanda Notes and its subsequent titles (1921-2002) from the Mid-Africa Ministry. These region-specific periodicals continue into the twenty-first century, allowing an up-to-date view of the Society’s activities across a broad geographic range.

Other key documents include the Register of Missionaries, unique annotated volumes listing the men and women of the CMS from 1804-1928, while The Church Missionary Atlas and The Gleaner Pictorial Albums present compendiums of content, ideal for teaching and exploring the visual culture of reporting the missionary encounter. For further guidance on researching published illustrations and photographs, read Paul Cantrell's essay 'An Illustrated Look Back Over the First Ninety Years of the Church Missionary Society'.

The longest-running series from the CEZMS is India’s Women (and subsequent titles), through which the work of the CEZMS amongst women and children in China, India and the Middle East, from 1880 to 1957, can be studied.

Long runs of The Church Missionary Society Record, CMS Historical Record and CMS Annual Reports can be explored. These cover the period from 1830-1986 and offer an overview of CMS work in different spheres around the world.

CMS medical journals encompass the work of medical missionaries and mission hospitals in all fields, including Africa, the Middle East, India and China. The principal series is Mercy and Truth, which was published from 1897-1940 (with two title changes) and provided information on the setting up of hospitals, training of local people, epidemics and their treatment, as well as sending out calls for financial support.

The efforts made to engage English children in supporting foreign missions can be studied in the Quarterly Token for Juvenile Subscribers. These short but beautifully illustrated ‘home’ magazines tell stories of dangerous expeditions and encounters with local people, tempered with moral tales of redemption and fundraising suggestions.

Many region-specific periodicals were edited and printed in the field, and the selection of newsletters from Native Churches and student missions in China and Japan provides scope for research into the periodicals' different target audiences and physical production, as well as the written contents. Articles, often in the form of letters authored by missionaries abroad, are enhanced by detailed illustrations and photographs of their surroundings, the mission community and the people among whom they worked.

Learn about the Society's role in vaccination programmes in Africa, campaigns against foot-binding in China and against child-marriage in India, and the effects of natural disasters, revolution, war and changing political regimes on Christian communities and Europeans far from home.

Key Periodicals