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Incoming correspondence from missionaries in the Ultra Ganges mission field to the London Missionary Society headquarters. Includes correspondence from Malacca, (1815-1859), Penang, (1805-1869), Singapore, (1817-1884), Amboyna, (1814-1831), Rangoon, (1809-1810), and Batavia [Jakarta], (1813-1841). The letters have been written predominantly by missionaries in the field, but there are also letters from the wives of missionaries; LMS officials including directors, secretaries and deputations; local converts and evangelists, including Leangafa [Leang A Fa, Leang A-Fa, Leung A-Fa] in Malacca and Mehi Ali, a Muslim convert in Singapore; representatives of other missionary societies operating in the field, including letters from the English Presbyterian Church following the sale of LMS mission property in Singapore, and representatives of private concerns including lawyers, local and colonial officials.
Detailed cataloguing of letters has been completed at file level for certain areas and dates. This includes letters for Malacca, 1814-1859, Penang, 1805-1869, Singapore, 1817-1887, Batavia, 1814-1843, Rangoon, 1809-1810, and Amboyna, 1814-1831. Catalogue entries provide the names of correspondents, dates of letters, places and a summary of the subject matter. Letters for the later period have yet to be catalogued.
For details of the correspondence from each region, see separate descriptions (sub-series).
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Until 1927, the LMS kept all correspondence received from the mission field in strict chronological order. From approximately the last quarter of the 19th century, each letter has a cover sheet, which gives it a unique number, date sent, date received by the Home Office, the appropriate governing region (Eastern, Southern etc) and a precis of contents. The arrangement of incoming correspondence changed in 1928, when the administrative decision was made to file incoming and outgoing correspondence together in alphabetical files from individuals.
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Detailed lists of Incoming Correspondence for Malacca 1815-1859, Penang 1805-1869, Batavia 1814-1843, Rangoon 1809-1810 and Amboyna for the period to 1831 (G1) are available for consultation in the Special Collections Reading Room, SOAS Library.
For Singapore, there are hand written lists of correspondence for each year up to 1844, which have been placed in the front of the folder to which they relate. There is also a small book in Box 1 which logs each item by sender, place and date (but no summary of contents) up to 1866. Summaries of contents on attached LMS sheets start in 1867.
Digitised copies of these lists are available in SOAS Digital Collections - see URL links in catalogue records by region.
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