Mission archives and collections

THE NATURE AND RELEVANCE (IMPORTANCE) OF THE LEIPZIG MISSION ARCHIVES (AND COLLECTIONS) IN REGARD TO HISTORICAL RESEARCH

Extract

Brief introduction to the history of the Leipzig Mission and the archives

The Leipzig Mission was established in 1819 at Dresden (capital of the Kingdom of Saxony) as an aiding organisation for the Basle Mission.
1836 the constitution was redrafted and the society was named: "Evangelical Lutheran Mission"/ Dresden.
1840 two missionaries were sent to Australia to serve the German speaking emigrants in the area of Adelaide/South Australia. In a short time it was recognized that sending more missionaries to South Australia would not serve the purpose of Mission and therefore the Board decided to search for a new mission field.

In 1840 Rev. Cordes was sent to the then Danish possession in India, to explore possibilities to continue the work of the "Halle Danish Mission" at Tranquebar, South India. 1848 the Mission moved to Leipzig and was in 1856 named hereafter "Evangelical Lutheran Mission at Leipzig". The then Director Graul was of the opinion that the mission candidates should undergo proper theological studies at the Leipzig University, before being sent abroad. At the Mission Seminary they studied: Culture, Customs and Religion, Geography and Languages (Tamil, later on Kiswahili) etc. in order to get acquainted with their future assignment in India (and later on in East-Africa).

In 1847 the Leipzig Mission signed a contract of historical relevance and consequence with the „Mission Collegium“ at Copenhagen. All rights and duties, the properties in Tranquebar then in the Presidency of Madras, including the so called „Tranquebar Archive and Library“ etc. were transferred to the Leipzig Mission, but the latter remained in Tranquebar for some time.

In 1893 the Leipzig Mission started her work in East Africa, today Tanzania.

In the 1950s the Leipzig Mission was called to Papua New Guinea to join the Bavarian Mission in her work.

Our collection at Leipzig consists of the following:

Just before the II. World War the then Director Dr. Ihmels gave instruction to safeguard the precious archives and library. The collection was divided into bits and pieces and stored in different places on our premises until 1997. During the GDR time the material remained where it was hidden, because there was fear that part of it would be confiscated and either be sold or kept in state archives, which were often unapproachable to the public and especially to scholars.

In 1997 after reconstruction of our buildings we collected whatever was found and the objects were accommodated in our new archive- and library rooms. Since that time we started slowly to reregister whatever was found and is approachable now.

The library with a rich stock of literature of the 18th, mostly 19th Century relating to: Theology, Indology, General Geography, Languages etc. Some of the most precious books are editions like:

• "Beschreibung der Ostindischen Küsten Malabar und Coromandel", Amsterdam 1672, by van Waasberge and van Someren .

• "Genealogie der Malabarischen Götter", handcopy 1713 by Ziegenbalg and Gründler.

• "Histoire de Christianisme de Indes", 1724 by M.V. la Croze, German translation 1727.

• "The History of the Church of Malabar" 1694, by Geddes, Michael-London.

• "Dialog zwischen einem Bildanbeter und einem Christen", 1790/91 by Chr. Fr. Schwartz.

Unique are the diaries of Ziegenbalg/Gründler, 1712/1720 and an unprinted manuscript, titled: "Ausführliche Beschreibung des Malabarischen Heidenthums", 1713.
We possess also an interesting collection of books relating the 18th and 19th Century, Theology, Dictionaries, Travel Reports etc.
Famous is the so called "Tranquebar Library", consisting of about 300 books from the 17th and a few from the 16th Century. This is mostly theological literature.
In addition we also own a fairly good stock of Tamil literature (about 4000 copies), with different editions of Hymn Books, Bible translations, dictionaries etc. All of them were printed by the "Tranquebar Press", Tranquebar/Madras. Not much research is done on the latter so far, because not many scholars are fluent in Tamil properly.

A tremendous collection of Mission bulletins of the 19th Century from Scandinavia, Great Britain, USA, India, France, Italy, Germany etc. is a treasure for scholars in History, Politology, Geography etc. Most material was collected for the Mission Seminary, but it seems not many used it, because many issues were never opened.

We continue until today this collection, but in a different context.

Our ethnological collection consists of about 2200 different objects from India, East Africa and Papua New Guinea/Pacific.
Between 1995 and 1999 we were able to register most of the objects. A detailed description is still not at hand so far, but we identified e.g. about 125 different statues from India, images of gods and deities (wood and metal). In addition we identified about 340 ornaments. Other items are only registered , but neither identified nor described yet. A lot of research is necessary to establish a proper catalogue of the whole collection.

The Archives

Our Archives consist of six different sections:
1. The general archive relates to the history and activities of the Mission in Germany. This section contains personnel files, minutes of the Board and Executive, letters to co-workers abroad and correspondence between the Directors, Secretaries and other staff with personnel in overseas etc. It is important for us that we have got many files containing correspondence with leaders of the Ecumenical Movement (like Söderblom and others) of the 1920s and 1930s. No research has been done so far on this material. In addition we inherited the correspondence of various German Missionologists (like Prof. Dr. Ihmels and others). This material is unregistered and not touched so far.

2. A very small archive relates to the beginning of the work in South Australia. We have got a fairly clear picture about this section and it is used by Australian scholars.

3. The East Africa section begins in 1893. With the help of the "Volkswagen Foundation" and in cooperation with the Africa Institutes of the Universities of Leipzig and Bayreuth we were able to produce a six volume catalogue on the East Africa material.

4. Papua New Guinea is a relatively new archive, since the Leipzig Mission started her work in the Pacific in the 1950s only.

5. Unexplored and unregistered is our photo cum movie archive. The first consists of about 60 000 photos, drawings, sketches etc from India, East Africa, Papua New Guinea/Pacific and Brazil (where the Leipzig Mission worked for some years between 1950 and 1970). Some thousand photos relate to India. The earliest photos were shot about 1875. Those of interest to us relate to the period of between 1890 und 1935. Many of them are of historical, ethnological and indological interest.

6. The so called India archives consist of two sub-sections

6.1. The general "India Archive" begins 1840 and relates to the early beginning of the work in India/South India. It consists mostly of personnel files, minutes of the "Feldleitung" (Mission Board) in Tranquebar/Tiruchirapalli, correspondence, reports, etc.

I personally fail to understand, why this archive, which as far as its volume is concerned is the largest among those in our house, is neglected by scholars, especially by theologians, missionologists and church historians.
For me this is the most interesting one, because it is an unlimited area for research. We keep only a vague record on the many files and we do not know the content of the files in detail yet.

The personnel files of the missionaries who served in Southern India are full of bio-data's, descriptions of places and people, of events, disputes between the individuals and the Board etc., e.g. one would find abundant material in regard to caste conflicts on which not only the missionaries, but also the Home Board had different opinions. As a result of this conflict some missionaries left our mission and established their own mission in India with the help of German and Danish supporters.

Very rarely we get scholars working on this files and most of them are Educationalists or Sociologists who are more interested in the socio-political aspects of time and person than in history.

For historians, church historians ,missionologists or linguists this sub-section, although it contents "modern material" (since 1840), is an opportunity to explore a "white spot" on the map of mission history.

In regard to this section of the archive Prof. Dr. Adam Jones, Director of the Institute for African Studies, Leipzig, wrote:
"Mission archives (especially in East Germany) lived for a long time a fringe life and were very rarely consulted or only used by scholars when mission historical questions arose. This attitude changed since the beginning of the 1980s when one began to recognize the value of such assets...(because) Mission archives play a central role, only in the writings of missionaries one finds an attempt to present and to understand the thinking of former generations...".
We agree very much with his view. It is very interesting that this sub-section relates to the photo archive and to many parts of the library, including the Tamil Library.
6.2. The year 1893 is important for our topic, because the "Tranquebar Archive and Library" was shifted from Tranquebar to Leipzig. An open question remains till today: "What was actually brought to Leipzig and what remained in India? Did we receive the complete archive and library?" We raise the question, because there are neither reliable records nor an index available. We even do not know exactly what was lost during the cause of the past decades, nor do we know exactly, what kind of material was added from own resources or from friends and relatives of former missionaries to the so called "Tranquebar Archive and Library". The original transfer papers were not found yet and we do not even know for sure, whether they ever existed.
The "Tranquebar Archive" contains about 35 "Kapseln" (files/boxes) of different volume. The earliest documents start around 1707 and the latest are from 1840/47. The archive is not a homogeneous one, it is rather a collection of very different issues, e.g.:

• The letters of August Hermann Francke to the missionaries, beginning 1708.
• The correspondence between Gotthilf August Francke 1727/1769 and an additional correspondence of Aleman, Juncker 1726/1740 and others from Halle to the missionaries in India and other places, e. g. the correspondence between Johann Albrecht Bengel/Stuttgart 1751
• Count Chr. Ernst zu Stollberg and the missionaries, beginning 1708.

Of importance in relation to this conference is the correspondence between the missionaries at Tranquebar and the SPCK, 1711/Newman, W. Watts, S. Th. Albinus, A. W. Böhme; the Archbishop of Canterbury, 1718; King George of England, 1727, the Duchess of Kendall and others in English, Danish, German and Latin, beginning 1711/1787, about 200 pages.

• The correspondence between Ziegenbalg and the Mission Board at Copenhagen, between him and King Frederic VI and his court (between 1705 till 1727).
• Letters from Denmark to the Missionaries, dated 1718 till 1830.
• Letters from St. Petersburg, Boston, Reval and Amsterdam, dated around 1735.
• Letters from Plütschau to the Missionaries 1712/1736.

To conclude the introduction we want to mention that especially the "Tranquebar Archive and Library" is partly in a bad condition. That means, many documents and books are close to be destroyed forever, e.g. by improper storing, unprofessional handling and age has done its own course, e.g. many papers are yellowed or damaged. Our materials need to be properly registered, some need to be properly preserved. We do not have sufficient expertise nor money to take the appropriate steps to safe the collection.

Nevertheless we try our level best with limited financial and personal resources to give whatever support possible to maintain this precious material for future generations of scholars, especially for those with whom we are historically linked since 1706.

Contacts

Evangelical-Lutheran Mission Leipzig
Paul-List-Strasse 19
04103 Leipzig/Germany

Michael Hanfstängl
Tel: (0049) 341 99 40 622

The Library and archives can be visited only after having contacted Director Hanfstängl.