Guide to the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Commission on Ecumenical Mission and Relations Secretaries' Files: Venezuela Mission
Open for research.
The PCUSA's mission in Venezuela was established in 1897 with the arrival of the Reverend and Mrs. Theodore S. Pond who had been transferred from the neighboring mission in Colombia. Dr. and Mrs. Pond remained the only missionaries in Venezuela until 1912, when they were joined by the Reverend and Mrs. Frederick F. Darley. Later, in 1919, the Reverend and Mrs. C. Arthur Phillips arrived and served until 1958. Though the mission is still in existence today, both it's size and the scope of it's activities have greatly diminished.
This collection documents the history of the PCUSA's Venezuela Mission from 1897-1958. Also included are some post-1958 UPCUSA COEMAR records. Mission minutes, annual reports, executive and missionary correspondence dominate this collection. Individual subjects are not documented extensively but the activities of the mission and personnel who served there are reflected in the mission and station meeting committee reports. The mission's financial status is also well documented through the quarterly reports and statistical summaries.
When arranging this collection, provenance had to be disregarded since no practical order was discernable. The original chronological arrangement has been superseded by a topical one, as follows:
BOX 1: SERIES 1: MINUTES, 1913-1961
BOX 1: SERIES 2: REPORTS, 1897-1960
BOX 2: SERIES 3: BOARD AND MISSION LETTERS, 1913-1955
BOX 2: SERIES 4: CORRESPONDENCE, 1900-1966
BOX 3: SERIES 5: FINANCIAL REPORTS, 1922-1958
BOX 3: SERIES 6: CABLES, 1923-1950
BOX 3: SERIES 7: COMMITTEE ON COOPERATION IN LATIN AMERICA/FIVE YEAR PLAN, 1913-1948
BOX 3: SERIES 8: MISCELLANY, 1907-1965
The folders in this collection are numbered consecutively with each subseries begining again at Number 1. Therefore, the researcher must specify the series title, not just the box and folder number, when requesting materials.
The researcher should be advised that some of the missionary correspondence, and to a lesser extent the executive correspondence, both in series 8, are written in Spanish. No attempt was made to segregate these items.
Related collections include RG 99, Secretaries' Files of the Venezuela Mission, 1911-1972. Some duplication of the materials may exist.
Collection processed and finding aid prepared: 1982
Frederick J. Heuser, Jr., Archivist
Finding Aid revised: July 1992
Stephanie Muntone, Processing Archivist
| Box | Folder | Description | |
| 1 | 1 | Finding Aid to Record Group 159 | |
| SERIES 1: MINUTES, 1913-1961 | |||
| Mission Minutes | |||
| 1 | 2 | Volume 1, 1913-1917 | |
| 1 | 3 | Volume 2, 1917-1920 | |
| 1 | 4 | Volume 3, 1920-1922 | |
| 1 | 5-11 | 1923-1930 | |
| 1 | 12-21 | 1931-1940 | |
| 1 | 22-31 | 1941-1950 | |
| 1 | 32-33 | 1952-1953 | |
| 1 | 34 | 1956 | |
| 1 | 35-37 | 1959-1961 | |
| 1 | 1-6 | Mission Executive Committee Minutes, 1954-1959 | |
| 1 | 1-19 | Station Meeting Minutes, 1940-1959 | |
| SERIES 2: REPORTS, 1897-1960 | |||
| 1 | 1-13 | Annual Reports of Caracas Station, 1897-1910 | |
| Deputation Reports | |||
| 1 | 1 | #1-3, 1923 | |
| 1 | 2 | Report of Secretary of the Venezuela Mission regarding Assignments (Draft Notes), 1939 | |
| 1 | 3 | Report, Preview of Venezuela Mission Problems (prepared for Deputation), 1939 | |
| 1 | 4 | Minutes, Special Deputation Meeting of the Venezuela Mission, 1940 | |
| Station Meeting Committee Reports | |||
| 1 | 1 | 1950 | |
| 1 | 2 | 1951 | |
| 1 | 3 | 1953 | |
| Missionary Reports | |||
| 1 | 1-2 | 1922-1923 | |
| 1 | 3-12 | 1931-1939 | |
| 1 | 13-23 | 1940-1950 | |
| 1 | 24-25 | 1952-1953 | |
| 1 | 26 | 1956 | |
| 1 | 27-28 | 1959-1960 | |
| Mission Property Reports/Lists | |||
| 1 | 1 | 1926 | |
| 1 | 2-6 | 1939-1943 | |
| SERIES 3: BOARD AND MISSION LETTERS, 1913-1955 | |||
| 2 | 1 | 1913 | |
| 2 | 2-5 | 1916-1919 | |
| 2 | 6-14 | 1920-1929 | |
| 2 | 15-17 | 1931-1933 | |
| 2 | 18-31 | 1937-1950 | |
| 2 | 32 | 1955 | |
| Mission Station Letters | |||
| 2 | 1-8 | 1920-1927 | |
| 2 | 9 | 1942 | |
| Mission Letters to Board | |||
| 2 | 1 | 1922 | |
| 2 | 2 | 1923 | |
| 2 | 3 | 1925 | |
| 2 | 4 | 1926 | |
| 2 | 5 | 1927 | |
| Board General Letters | |||
| 2 | 1 | (#29, 40), 1930 | |
| 2 | 2 | (#42), 1931 | |
| 2 | 3 | (#53), 1934 | |
| 2 | 4 | (#56), 1935 | |
| 2 | 5 | (#66), 1938 | |
| 2 | 6 | (#75-77), 1940 | |
| 2 | 7 | (#78-79), 1941 | |
| 2 | 8 | (#80, 82), 1942 | |
| 2 | 9 | (#84), 1943 | |
| 2 | 10 | (#87), 1944 | |
| 2 | 11 | (#88), 1945 | |
| 2 | 12 | (#92), 1946 | |
| 2 | 13 | (#106-107), 1949 | |
| 2 | 14 | (#105A), 1950 | |
| 2 | 15 | (#124), 1954 | |
| 2 | 16 | (#126), 1955 | |
| SERIES 4: CORRESPONDENCE, 1900-1966 | |||
| Executive Correspondence | |||
| 2 | 1 | 1900 | |
| 2 | 2-4 | 1908-1910 | |
| 2 | 5 | 1913 | |
| 2 | 6-10 | 1916-1920 | |
| 2 | 11-20 | 1921-1930 | |
| 2 | 21-24 | 1931-1934 | |
| 2 | 25-28 | 1937-1940 | |
| 2 | 29-38 | 1941-1950 | |
| 2 | 39 | 1965 | |
| 2 | 40 | 1966 | |
| Missionary Correspondence | |||
| 2 | 1 | Extracts of Correspondence, 1897-1910 | |
| 2 | 2 | 1912-1914 | |
| 2 | 3 | 1920 | |
| 2 | 4 | 1923 | |
| 2 | 5-9 | 1925-1929 | |
| 2 | 10 | 1932 | |
| 2 | 11 | 1933, 1935 | |
| 2 | 12 | 1937 | |
| 2 | 13 | 1938 | |
| 2 | 14-21 | 1940-1947 | |
| 2 | 22 | 1960 | |
| 2 | 23 | 1964 | |
| 2 | 24 | 1966 | |
| SERIES 5: FINANCIAL ESTIMATES/REPORTS, 1922-1958 | |||
| 3 | 1-9 | 1922-1930 | |
| 3 | 10-15 | 1931-1936 | |
| 3 | 16 | Annual Report, 1937-1938 | |
| 3 | 17-27 | 1938-1948 | |
| 3 | 28 | Expenditures, 1950 | |
| 3 | 29-30 | Miscellaneous Financial Items, 1951, 1953 | |
| 3 | 31 | Mission Financial Statements, 1954 | |
| 3 | 32 | Salary Revision, 1955 | |
| 3 | 33 | Miscellaneous Financial Items, 1958 | |
| SERIES 6: CABLES, 1923-1950 | |||
| 3 | 1-13 | 1923-1942 | |
| 3 | 14-20 | 1943-1950 | |
| SERIES 7: COMMITTEE ON COOPERATION IN LATIN AMERICA/FIVE YEAR PLAN, 1913-1948 | |||
| 3 | 1 | Minutes, Correspondence, Report, 1931 | |
| 3 | 2 | Correspondence, 1932 | |
| 3 | 3-5 | Correspondence, 1940-1942 | |
| 3 | 6 | Correspondence, 1947-1949 | |
| 3 | 7 | Report, Five Year Plan, 1948 | |
| 3 | 8 | Estimates, Five Year Plan, 1948 | |
| 3 | 9 | Correspondence, 1948 | |
| SERIES 8: MISCELLANY, 1907-1965 | |||
| Miscellaneous Reports | |||
| 3 | 1 | Committee on South America and the Executive Council, 1916 | |
| 3 | 2 | Work of the Presbyterian Mission in Venezuela, 1920 | |
| 3 | 3 | Resolutions of Venezuela Missionaries' Conference; Survey of Five Year Period (1923-1927); Miscellaneous Items (1923), 1923-1927 | |
| 3 | 4 | Forward Looking Program/Survey of Field, 1928 | |
| 3 | 5-7 | Treasurer's Reports, 1931-1933 | |
| 3 | 8 | Treasurer's Correspondence (monthly friendship letters), 1937 | |
| 3 | 9 | Treasurer's Correspondence, 1938 | |
| 3 | 10 | First Presbyterian Conference of Latin America, 1955 | |
| 3 | 11 | Presbytery of Venezuela, 1955 | |
| Miscellaneous Items | |||
| 3 | 1 | Correspondence/Miscellaneous Items re History of Venezuela Mission, 1929? | |
| 3 | 2 | Unidentified Blueprint (Caracas?), 1929? | |
| 3 | 3 | Medical Bulletins (#32-33), 1932 | |
| 3 | 4 | Miscellaneous, 1932 | |
| 3 | 5 | Minutes (?), Latin American Council, circa 1931, undated | |
| 3 | 6 | Forms/Correspondence re Furloughs, 1932 | |
| 3 | 7 | Miscellaneous, 1933 | |
| 3 | 8 | Operating Procedures/Instructions and Guidelines, 1934 | |
| 3 | 9 | Miscellaneous, 1934 | |
| 3 | 10 | Field Correspondence, Latin American Field Council, 1945-1948 | |
| 3 | 11 | Correspondence from Norman Taylor, 1948-1949 | |
| 3 | 12 | By-Laws of the Venezuela Mission (revised), 1953 | |
| 3 | 13 | Summary of Reverend Phillips Contributions to the Venezuela Mission (?) (in Spanish), 1958 | |
| 3 | 14 | Miscellaneous, undated | |
| Miscellaneous Items | |||
| 3 | 1 | Mission Historical File, 1927, 1947-1948 | |
| 3 | 2 | Correspondence, 1945, 1960-1961, 1963 | |
| 3 | 3 | Correspondence, 1964-1965 | |
| 3 | 4 | Miscellaneous, undated | |
| 3 | 5 | Minutes, Association of Fraternal Workers in Venezuela, 1954-1965 | |
| Correspondence (F.F. Darley) | |||
| 3 | 1-6 | 1907-1919 | |
| 3 | 7 | 1920-1922, 1931 | |
| 3 | 8 | Miscellaneous, undated |