AMERICAN HOME MISSIONARY SOCIETY:

The American Home Missionary Society was formed in May 1826 by members of the Presbyterian, Congregational, Dutch Reformed, and Associate Reformed churches with the intention of helping congregations financially so that they could support an established minister and coordinating interdenominational missionary activities across the United States and its territories. The home office of the Society was in New York City. The New School Presbyterians withdrew from the Society in 1861 because they felt it favored Congregationalists. In 1893 the Society was no longer interdenominational and changed its name to the Congregational Home Missionary Society.

Source: A Guide to the Microfilm Edition of the Papers of the American Home Missionary Society, David G. Horvath, editor, 1975.

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Letters and pamphlets from home missionaries in Minnesota, including those of Richard Hall, the Society's superintendent for the state, regarding Congregational churches supported by the Society. The letters include yearly statistics on the growth of congregations; information about the settlement of towns and the source of the population; economic conditions; the prices of farm produce and the harvesting of crops; the hardships of life on the frontier; social events and the meetings of lyceums and temperance societies; the beginnings of schools and colleges; the building of railroads; and the effects of the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862. The microfilm also includes copies of Minnesota-related items in the Society's letter books (1848-1866), and of some pamphlets touching on Minnesota life and churches, including Plymouth Church (Saint Paul) and congregations located in Cottage Grove, Northfield, Minneapolis, and Winona.

The collection includes an original 8-page 1850 letter from Edward D. Neill, St. Paul, to Milton Badger, D.D., New York City. describing St. Paul and the surrounding areas upon Neill's arrival in 1849. The letter includes Neill's impressions of early St. Paul residents, his work as a Presbyterian minister, the geography of the Mississippi River and its impact on business and trade, American Indians, actions of the territorial legislature, immigration, and general commentary on the landscape of the Minnesota Territory. A digitized copy is available for research use.

The collection also includes a card file claendar to the microfilmed material.

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Access Restrictions:

Access to reserve material (an original letter by Edward D. Neill that does not appear on the microfilm) requires the curator's permission.

Preferred Citation:

[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. American Home Missionary Society. American Home Missionary Society Minnesota papers. Minnesota Historical Society.

See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.

Microfilm Production:

[St. Paul, Minn. : Minnesota Historical Society], 1974. 24 reels ; 35 mm.

Microfilm available for interlibrary loan or sale from the Minnesota Historical Society.

Location of Originals:

Originals: Amistad Research Center, Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana.

Provenance:

In 1933 and 1938 the Minnesota Historical Society sent a researcher/photographer to Chicago Theological Seminary, then custodian of the American Home Missionary Society Papers, to make photo slides of all Minnesota-related material in its collection; the Minnesota Historical Society had a microfilm copy of the papers made in 1975.

Accession Information:

Accession number: 3803; 4629; 16,787

Processing Information:

Processed by: David B. Peterson, August 2013

Catalog ID number: 007714783

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This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.

Topics:

Congregational churches -- Minnesota.

Dakota Indians -- Wars, 1862-1865.

Education -- Minnesota.

Farm produce -- Minnesota.

Frontier and pioneer life -- Minnesota.

Home missions.

Lyceums.

Railroads -- Minnesota.

Temperance -- Societies, etc.

Persons:

Bumstead, Horace, 1841-1919, author.

Cable, G. A., author.

Cheney, William, author.

Conard, William J., author.

Gates, Hiram N., author.

Hall, Richard, 1817-1907, author.

Hall, Sherman, 1800-1879, author.

Hancock, Joseph Woods, 1816-1907, author.

Mills, Thornton A., author.

Montgomery, M. W., author.

Morley, John H., author.

Morse, Alfred, author.

Moses, Leonard H., author.

Neill, Edward D. (Edward Duffield), 1823-1893, author.

Nichols, Henry Martyn, 1824-1860, author.

Norton, William (William W.), author.

Peregrine, Philip, author.

Pike, Alpheus J. (Alpheus Justus), author.

Pond, Gideon H. (Gideon Hollister), 1810-1878, author.

Powell, John N., author.

Ray, J. W., author.

Roe, A. D., author.

Rosenkraus, David W., author.

Rounce, Joseph Samuel, 1814-1892, author.

Seccombe, Charles, 1817-1900, author.

Shedd, Charles, 1802-1885, author.

Sheldon, Charles Burt, 1821-1895, author.

Simmons, H. C., author.

Simpson, Adam, author.

Smith, Andrew J., author.

Snell, William W., author.

Starr, Otis A., author.

Stearns, D. G., author.

Todd, James D., author.

Tuttle, Harmon B., author.

Walcott, Frank N., author.

Weld, William M., author.

Whitney, Joseph Clinton, 1818-1896, author.

Williams, E. S., author.

Young, Nelson, author.

Organizations:

Plymouth Church (Saint Paul, Minn.)

Places:

Cottage Grove (Minn.)

Minneapolis (Minn.)

Minnesota -- Church history.

Minnesota -- Economic conditions.

Minnesota -- Emigration and immigration.

Minnesota -- Social life and customs.

Northfield (Minn.)

Saint Paul (Minn.)

Winona (Minn.)

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