Board of Foreign Missions Photographs
Now available in Pearl are images from the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Commission on Ecumenical Mission and Relations photograph collection (RG 223).
The Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Board of Foreign Missions (BFM) was organized in 1837 with a self-described purpose of spreading the Gospel through the “heathen and anti-Christian world.” In the 19th century, the BFM established missions in Africa, Brazil, China, Colombia, India, Japan, and Thailand. After the BFM absorbed the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions in 1870, they expanded their mission work in Iran, Iraq, Syria, Korea, Central and South America, and the Philippines.
In 1958 when the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. and the United Presbyterian Church of North America merged, the Board of Foreign Missions was replaced with the Commission on Ecumenical Mission and Relations (COEMAR).In accompaniment with the creation of COEMAR, the Church began to embrace more global and understanding attitudes towards the nations in which missionaries lived and worked, steering away from their more colonizing beginnings.
The newly digitized photographs—mainly from the 20th century during the BFM’s control—depict missionaries, mission stations, educational institutions, churches, medical facilities, projects, and certain prominent events in Asia and the Middle East.
China
Digitized images from Board of Foreign Missions’ work in China feature:
- Educational mission work and students learning in classrooms, playing on playgrounds, and eating snacks supplied by Church World Service
- Church of Christ in China
- Presbyterian Industrial Project
- Presbyterian Case Work Center in Kowloon
- Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Shantung Mission meetings and missionaries
India
Digitized images from Board of Foreign Missions’ work in India feature:
- Everyday scenes including bread making, baptismal services, preaching, and families gathering for meals
- Assam Union College
- Serampore College
- Medical mission work, including the Frances Newton Hospital, Ferozepur, India
Iran
Digitized images from Board of Foreign Missions’ work in Iran feature:
- Everyday scenes including gardening, drinking tea, and praying
- Colton Kirkwood Whipple Hospital in Tabriz
- Tabriz Evangelical Church
- Clinic of Hope in Tehran
- The Alborz Foundation, an educational and evangelistic project for students
Iraq
Digitized images from Board of Foreign Missions’ work in Iraq feature:
- Girl’s High School in Baghdad
- Portraits of people including a priest, Yezidis women, and a Syrian Orthodox Christian woman
Japan
Digitized images from Board of Foreign Missions’ work in Japan feature:
- The Christian Mass Communications Center in Tokyo
- Kinugasa Hospital buildings in Yokosuka
- Osaka Jogakuin University
- Oral School for the Deaf
- Meiji College
Lebanon
Digitized images from Board of Foreign Missions’ work in Lebanon feature:
- Beirut College for Women, including the Neighborhood House Project, and Frances Mecca Grey, Presbyterian missionary and principal
- American Mission Press
- Hamlin Memorial Hospital for Chest Diseases in Beirut
- Suk-el-Gharb Boys School
- Kennedy Memorial Hospital in Tripoli
- Rashidieh Refugee Camp supported by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees
Pakistan
Digitized images from Board of Foreign Missions’ work in Pakistan feature:
- Everyday scenes including children playing games of cricket
- Medical mission work, including Christian Hospital in Taxila and United Christian Hospital in Lahore
- Forman High School for Girls
Syria
Digitized images from Board of Foreign Missions’ work in Pakistan feature:
The newly digitized images can be found in our digital collection, Commission on Ecumenical Mission and Relations Photographs, which features previously digitized photographs of mission work in North and South Korea, and the Philippines.
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