This module of "Research source" 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. Scholars of missiology and global history will find this varied archive an invaluable research resource. It includes records of both the CMS and the many other missionary societies which have become associated or amalgamated with it over its lifetime. Highlights include: Central records of the CMS and papers of key individuals associated with it; Records of the the Loochoo Naval Mission (1843-1864), the first recorded Anglican and Protestant mission in Japan; Archive of the Society for Promoting Female Education in China, India and the East; Records of the Church of England Zenana Missionary Society. "Research source" provides digital access to over 8 million pages of primary source materials selected from the extensive microfilm back catalogue of Adam Matthew Publications

• Module 1: Global Missions and Contemporary Encounters: 1804-2009
• Module 2: Medical Journals, Asian Missions and the Historical Record: 1816-1986.

"From its roots as an Anglican evangelical movement driven by lay persons, this resource encompasses publications from the CMS and the latterly integrated South American Missionary Society. Documenting missionary work from the 19th to the 21st century, the periodicals include news, journals and reports offering a unique perspective on global history and cultural encounter."
This online portal makes available periodicals from the Church Missionary Society Archive, a collection relevant to missiology, world Christianity, and global history. Against the backdrop of colonialism and its decline, this resource covers themes from gender and families to medicine, education, the development of native churches, political conflict, social reform, linguistics, and exploration. Founded in 1799 as an Anglican evangelical movement, the Church Missionary Society (CMS) has been active across the globe, proving one of the key agents of evangelism in the non-Western world. The publications featured in Church Missionary Society Periodicals span more than 200 years of history. The periodicals were key in promoting the work of the society, fundraising, and reporting from a number of countries as well as communicating within mission communities. They offer an interesting perspective on world events through the eyes of an organization which shared a unique relationship with the countries and people with which it worked. Detailed woodcut illustrations and thousands of photographs offer a further angle on the societies' work as well as thought-provoking presentations of indigenous cultures. Church Mission Society (CMS) Periodicals database is comprised of two modules: I) Global Missions and Contemporary Encounters, 1804-2009 - made up of periodicals published by the CMS and the South American Missionary Society from 1804-2009; and II) Medical Journals, Asian Missions and the Historical Record, 1816-1986 - and includes periodicals and annual reports published by the CMS and its auxiliaries, and the Church of England Zenana Missionary Society, from 1816-1986. Module I's archival source is from the CMS collection at the Crowther Mission Studies Library, Oxford, UK, and Module II's materials originate from the CMS collection at the Cadbury Research Library, University of Birmingham, UK.

In South Africa, the United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel began its labours at the Cape in 1821, the western division being occupied in that year and the eastern division in 1830. The society's work made a limited impact until the arrival of Robert Gray (consecrated Bishop of Capetown in 1847), under whom, from 1847 to 1872, and subsequently, the work spread at an unprecedented rate. Natal was occupied in 1849, Kaffraria in 1855, and Zululand in 1859. During the period 1752-1906 the Society expended £1,092,009 and employed 668 ordained missionaries in Africa. This collection from the Archives of the United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, dates from their earliest connection with South Africa. Since January 1965 the USPG continues the work previously done by the SPG (incorporated 1701) and UMCA, the Universities' Mission to Central Africa, founded in 1857 in response to Livingstone's challenge at Cambridge. Both are Anglican societies. As the USPG is a church society, their records are arranged by dioceses, as this is the administrative and geographical unit with which they dealt. The original MSS are mainly in bound volumes and these fall into two series. Series D contains all of the letters written to the SPG, mainly by the bishop and some missionaries, but also by other persons such as administrators. Series E contains the Annual Reports, which each missionary was expected to send home about the area and his work there. After the earliest years one, or sometimes two, annual volumes are required to contain African records in each series. Series D begins in 1850, Series E in 1856, but earlier papers have been filmed, either from series E/Pre/J or from the various boxes of unbound letters that comprise C/AFS. The letter C distinguishes all unbound papers, and AFS denotes 'Africa South'. The numbering of the volumes was abandoned after vol. 95 of 1895 in D, and vol. 45 of 1890 in E. Thereafter reference is by year, e.g. D. 1896. Description derived from an Introduction by Isobel Pridmore of the USPG and 'The Churchman's Missionary Atlas' p.32;" see catalogue listing to view these items

As outlined in the short history entitled The beginning of Africanisation : the dawn of the missionary motive in Gold Coast education by F.L. Bartels, the SPG's mission was originally established at Cape Coast Castle in 1752 by Rev. Thomas Thompson, who was succeeded by Rev. Philip Quaque, the first African to be ordained a priest of the Church of England. The mid-nineteenth century saw the revival of Anglican activity with the arrival of missionaries sent by the Mission of the West Indian Church to West Africa, based in Barbados. The period from 1903 onwards is the most substantially documented in this collection, recording the amalgamation of the missions for the Gold Coast, Sierra Leone and Nigeria, the spread of English education, the introduction of education for women and the development of missionary work in an ever-widening area. Records relating to the first 150 years are reproduced in both the Early colonial and missionary records from West Africa and the West Indies material in the archives of the USPG, 1710-1950. From the archives of the United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, now held at Rhodes House Library, Oxford

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; An account of two missionary voyages by Rev. Thomas Thompson; the letters of Rev. Philip Quaque, etc.

• Monasticon: repertory of women's communities
• Cartularium: primary sources
• Commentaria: secondary sources --Vitae: brief biographies
• Figurae: digital images
• Bibliographia: bibliography
• Vocabularium: glossary of terms
• De matrice: goals, editorial board, collaborators, and how to contribute.

"Matrix is an ongoing collaborative effort by an international group of scholars of medieval history, religion, history of art, archaeology ... and other disciplines, as well as librarians and experts in computer technology ... to document the participation of Christian women in the religion and society of medieval Europe. In particular ... to collect and make available all existing data about all professional Christian women in Europe between 400 and 1600 C.E. ... the basis of Matrix is the Monasticon, a repertory of profiles of religious women's communities ... Matrix also includes a Vitae, which contains entries on individual men and women associated with the communities in the Monasticon; a Cartularium of primary source documents; a Bibliographia of published and unpublished bibliographies and names; a Vocabularium; an archive of articles, the Commentaria; and a visual library, the Figurae"--Matrix.