Collection search - United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel fonds [textual record (chiefly microform)]

Record information – Brief
1
United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel fonds [textual record (chiefly microform)]

Hierarchical level:

Fonds

Date:

1699-1951.

Reference:

R14130-0-5-E, MG17-B1

Type of material:

Textual material

Found in:

Archives / Collections and Fonds

Item ID number:

102391

Context of this record:

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United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel fonds
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Record information – Details
Fonds includes:

5 lower level description(s)
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Date(s):

1699-1951.

Place of creation:

England

Added country of publication:

Canada

Extent:

115 microfilm reels : negative and positive ; 35 mm.
3.4 m of textual records.

Language of material:

English

Scope and content:

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The fonds consists of selections relating to Canada made from the Fulham papers, journals, and correspondence series of the records of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. They document the efforts of the Society to nurture and spread the faith of the Church of England through the support of missionaries in local communities across Canada. The reports and correspondence from missionaries are a rich resource for the study of the religious and social life of eighteenth and nineteenth century English-speaking Canada. Microfilmed material is located on reels A-28 to A-29, A-152 to A-250, A-1904 to A-1917. Transcripts and photocopies are available on microfilm reels H-1994 to H-2007.

Provenance:

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United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel
Additional name(s):

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Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge

Fulham Papers

Lambeth Palace Library, Society for the Propagation of the Gospel
Biography/Administrative history:

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United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel : The United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel was formed in 1965 by a merger of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts (commonly known as the SPG or SPGFP) and the Universities Mission to Central Africa (est. 1837). Of its two constituent predecessors, only the SPG was active in Canada.

The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel was founded in London in 1701 at the instance of the Reverend Dr. Thomas Bray (1656-1730), rector of Sheldon. Bray had already, in 1699, been instrumental in founding the Church of England's Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (see MG17 B9), whose chief purpose was to foster Christian education and the production of Christian literature in Great Britain and its colonies. After visiting Maryland in 1699 as the Bishop of London's commissary, however, Bray was so impressed by the spiritual destitution in the British colonies that he urged the creation of a missionary society to provide clergy to minister to the settlers and to convert the heathen. The project was initiated at a meeting of the SPCK in May 1701 and the Royal Charter of the SPG was obtained on 16 June 1701.

Although the later work of the SPG extended to all parts of the British Empire, its first efforts were confined to the east coast of North America. Its work in Canada began in 1703 with the adoption of the Reverend John Jackson, a missionary to Newfoundland, who had already been sent to that island by private subscription. By 1728 it had extended its efforts to Nova Scotia and was operating in Quebec by 1759, New Brunswick by 1769, and Ontario by 1784.

The Church of England's missionary work in western and northern Canada was actually begun, in 1820, by the Church Missionary Society (see MG17 B2), but within a generation the SPG too was moving westward. In 1851 it sent the Reverend W. Henry Taylor to take charge of the Assiniboia district and thereafter the Society provided substantial assistance to all the western dioceses. It continued to send grants to various areas of Canada until 1940, when the Church of England in Canada resolved to become self-supporting. A longer and more detailed historical sketch of the SPG may be found at the beginning of the original version of the finding aid on microfilm reel C-4497.

Finding aid:

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Textual records (Paper) The present version of Finding Aid No. 285 lists the transcripts, photostats and microfilm selections of the records of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel held by the National Archives of Canada. It follows the original SPG reference and volume numbers which are listed in the column on the left hand side of the table. The middle columns provide the contents and inclusive dates of the documents. The columns on the right hand side list the corresponding microfilm reel numbers where the documents and, occasionally, calendars can be found. Where possible, page numbers are provided from the SPG originals or the NA transcripts to further assist in finding material. The new finding aid includes the microfilms acquired since 1956 which were not in the original finding aid: reels A-1904 to A-1917 purchased in 1989 and reels H-1994 to H-2007 made in 1991 from the transcripts. It has not been checked against the microfilms themselves. MSS0285 (90: Open)

Textual records (Electronic) Finding aid. MSS0285 (90: Open)
http://data2.archives.ca/pdf/pdf001/p000000752.pdf

Textual records (Microform) The SPG's preliminary inventory of its records, produced in 1954 and consequently valid for the Archives' pre-1956 copies, appears at the beginning of reel A-152. The National Archives also microfilmed the SPG's calendars and indexes, produced between 1934 and 1946, for correspondence series A (reels A-163 and A-164), series B (reels A-164 to A-166), and series C (reels A-166 to A-169). In most cases, the volumes copied contain their own internal indexes or tables of contents. In addition, the National Archives microfilmed the original version of Finding Aid No. 285 on reel C-4497. It provides a more detailed historical sketch of the SPG than in this version; an inventory of the material copied up to 1955; and two indexes to that inventory, one for personal names and one for place names. (90: Open)

(Electronic) All or some of the documents described have been digitized and are available at the following address: (90: Open)
http://heritage.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.lac_mikan_102391

(Electronic) Les documents décrits ont été complètement ou en partie numérisés et sont disponibles à l'adresse suivante : (90: Open)
http://heritage.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.lac_mikan_102391?usrlang=fr

(Electronic) (90: Open)

Additional information:

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Custodial history:

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In 1913, the National Archives of Canada (now Library and Archives Canada) began its copying of those records of the SPG that relate to Canada with the transcription of one small excerpt from the first volume of Series B correspondence. Systematic copying in the Society's archives in London only began in 1923, however, when further transcription from the B Series was undertaken. Copying from the D Series followed and continued on a regular basis until 1940. After the Second World War, D.78 was transcribed in 1948 and Box 1/1 of the C Series in 1950. These transcripts were sometimes supplemented by photostats (usually negatives) of printed and graphic items and of one native language manuscript., Library and Archives Canada selected the SPG records to be among the first that it microfilmed, with D.39 on reels A-28 and A-29 being completed in 1952. Since the SPG was in the process of rearranging its records, however, filming was temporarily halted at that time. Reels A-152 to A-250 were received in 1955. Except in the case of C. Box 1/1, the microfilm does not include the material that had previously been transcribed. In 1989, some later missionary reports from the E Series (1901-1951) were purchased from Microform Limited of Yorkshire, England, and added to the fonds as reels A-1904 to A-1917. In 1991, all of the material that had been transcribed and photocopied between 1913 and 1950, together with the original finding aid, was microfilmed on reels H-1994 to H-2007., The SPG Archives made a number of further changes to the arrangement of its records after the National Archives' original microfilming was completed in 1955, so that the present arrangement of the records in Britain (and on microfilms produced commercially since 1955) does not necessarily agree with that in the transcripts and microfilms created before 1956 by the National Archives of Canada. The USPG transferred the custody of its records in 1986 to Rhodes House Library, Oxford, England.

Location of originals note:

The originals are held by Rhodes House Library, Oxford, England.

Availability of other formats note:

In 1991, all the material that had been transcribed and photocopied from 1913 to 1950, together with the relevant portions of the finding aid, was microfilmed on reels H-1994 to H-2007, and reel C-4497 for the finding aid.

Related material:

Library and Archives Canada (LAC) also holds microfilm copies of the SPG's early records (MG17 B8) in the archives of the Archbishops of Canterbury at Lambeth Palace Library, and microfilm copies of the records of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (MG17 B9). Records of the Bishops of London relating to the SPG in colonial North America are found in the microfilm copies of the Fulham papers fonds (MG17 B5). An early nineteenth century account of the SPG in Canada is available in MG24 J49. LAC also holds copies of the Society's Annual Reports and Sermons, 1701-1844, on seven reels of microfilm (LC call number ML 405) as well as the Society's "Classified Digest of the Records", 1701-1892 (London: 1893), which includes its missionary rolls for each province (BV 2500 A3 1894).
Subject heading:

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Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts - Meetings, 1747-1835, 1840-[1862] North America, 1705-1860

Society for the Propagation of the Gospel - Records and correspondence, 1700-1951 Bishop of London, 1817-1827

Religious organizations, 1700-1951 Bishop of Newfoundland, 1842-1889

Religion - Canada, 1700-1951 Annapolis Royal (N.S.), 1699-1713

Society for the Propagation of the Gospel - Annual Reports and Sermons, 1701-1844 United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, 1699-1951

Missionaries - Canada, 1700-1951 Church of England Missionary Society, 1700-1951

Missionary organizations, 1700-1951

Statistics - Forms, 1845-1885, 1901-1951

Missionaries - Newfoundland, 1700-1951

Dioceses - Canada, [1700-1951]

Upper Canada Clergy Society - Records and correspondence, 1836-1847

Missionaries - Nova Scotia, 1700-1951

Land titles - Registration and transfer, 1699-1713

Missionaries - New Brunswick, 1700-1951

Missions - Societies, etc., 1700-1951

Missionaries - Upper Canada, 1700-1951

Missionaries - Lower Canada, 1700-1951

Missions - Canada, 1700-1951

Society for the Propagation of the Gospel - Calendars, 1934-1938
Source:

Private

Related control no.:

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1989/0157 MSS

Former archival reference no.:

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MG17-B1
Ordering and viewing options

Conditions of access:

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Textual records

[Consultation90 Open]

Finding aid box [FA 285] 508

[Consultation 10 Closed]

Textual records: microform

[Consultation90 Open]

Terms of use:

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The transcripts and photocopies have been microfilmed and withdrawn from circulation. Researchers must use the microfilm. Those wishing to make photocopies or to reproduce microfilm reels must first obtain the written permission of the United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, which may be contacted at USPG House, 157 Waterloo Road, London SE1 8XA, England. Library and Archives Canada (LAC) does not have the authority or the ability to make reproductions from microfilm reels A-1904 to A-1917.

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Date modified:: 2024-04-09