Guide to the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Board of Foreign Missions Secretaries' Files
Open for research.
John Cameron Lowrie was elected Assistant Corresponding Secretary to the Board of Foreign Missions (PCUSA) in 1838. In 1850, he joined his father Walter Lowrie as Corresponding Secretary; father and son worked together until Walter's death in 1868. John Cameron continued as Secretary for another 23 years, retiring in 1891.
The corresponding secretaries were responsible for maintaining contact by mail with missionaries on the field. Missionaries sent in reports at specified intervals and wrote additional letters whenever necessary, detailing their day-to-day work on the fields, discussing plans for their missions for the future, reporting on illnesses and asking for help whenever necessary. The secretaries replied to these letters with comments, counsel and their central perspective on the mission work.
Record Group 175 contains correspondence and reports on missions to the Chinese in California (this was considered foreign mission work at the time; it was not transferred to the Board of National Missions until 1923); outgoing correspondence to the Gaboon and Corisco mission in West Africa; and other outgoing correspondence.
The letters and reports on the Chinese work in California are written by the Revs. Augustus Ward Loomis and Ira Condit, two of the first missionaries on that field, to the Lowries.
SERIES 1: MISSIONS TO THE CHINESE IN CALIFORNIA, 1863-1873
SERIES 2: GABOON AND CORISCO MISSION, 1879-1885
SERIES 3: OUTGOING CORRESPONDENCE, 1845-1869
Series 1 available on microfilm: MF/POS./ 812.
Researchers should consult the following related collections:
RG 81 BFM Secretaries' Files, 1892-1965
RG 142 West Africa Mission Records, 1911-1965
RG 174 Walter Lowrie Papers, 1839-1871
RG 264 Condit Family Papers, 1860-circa 1899
Collection processed and finding aid prepared: 1984
Frederick J. Heuser, Jr, Archivist
Collection reprocessed and new finding aid prepared: October 1991
Stephanie Muntone, Processing Archivist
Box | Folder | Description | |
1 | 1 | Finding Aid to Record Group 175 | |
SERIES 1: MISSIONS TO THE CHINESE IN CALIFORNIA, 1863-1873 | |||
1 | 2 | Correspondence and Reports, 1863-1866 | |
1 | 3 | Correspondence and Reports, 1866-1868 | |
1 | 4 | Correspondence and Reports, 1869-1871 | |
1 | 5 | Correspondence and Reports, 1871-1873 | |
SERIES 2: GABOON AND CORISCO MISSION, 1879-1885 | |||
1 | 6 | Outgoing Correspondence, 1879-1885 | |
SERIES 3: OUTGOING CORRESPONDENCE, 1845-1869 | |||
1 | 7 | General Correspondence, 1845-1869 |