AMERICAN HOME MISSIONARY SOCIETY:

An Inventory of Its Minnesota Papers at the Minnesota Historical Society

Manuscripts Collection

Part or all of this collection is restricted.
For details, please see restrictions.


Expand/CollapseOVERVIEW

Creator: American Home Missionary Society.
Title:American Home Missionary Society Minnesota papers.
Dates:1849-1893.
Language:Materials in English.
Abstract:Microfilmed letters written by clergy members of an interdenominational association formed in 1826 to financially assist new congregations in Minnesota and other states in order that they could support a minister and to coordinate missionary activities. The letters provide information on social and economic conditions in early Minnesota.
Quantity:1.0 cubic feet (1 box, 24 microfilm reels, and 1 item in reserve).
Location: See Detailed Description for shelf locations.

Expand/CollapseHISTORICAL NOTE

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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Expand/CollapseSCOPE AND CONTENTS

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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Expand/CollapseADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION

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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DETAILED DESCRIPTION

LocationReel
M2491Letters on microfilm:
April 10, 1849-April 18, 1855.
LocationReel
M2492 May 7, 1855-July 1, 1857.
The first 5 feet of this reel was removed in 1966 because it was damaged.
LocationReel
M2493 July 6, 1857-June 9, 1858.
LocationReel
M2494 September 27, 1858-September 14, 1859.
LocationReel
M2495 September 15, 1859-July 10, 1860.
LocationReel
M2496 January 25, 1860-May 10, 1861.
LocationReel
M2497 April 30, 1861-June 2, 1862.
LocationReel
M2498 June 2, 1862-October 1, 1863.
LocationReel
M2499 October 18, 1863-January 14, 1865.
LocationReel
M24910 January 14, 1865-April 1, 1866.
LocationReel
M24911 April 2, 1866-June 9, 1867.
LocationReel
M24912 June 2, 1867-August 24, 1868.
LocationReel
M24913 August 24, 1868-December 8, 1868.
March 28, 1856-September 5, 1866.
December 1, 1859.
December 30, 1851.
January 27, 1838-February 15, 1864.
Inventory or list of these reels evidently prepared by Grace Lee Nute.
LocationReel
M24914 March 31, 1868-July 7, 1870.
LocationReel
M24915 December 1, 1870-1872.
LocationReel
M24916 May 13, 1872-August 1872.
Contains some duplicates of items found on reel 15.
LocationReel
M24917 April 7, 1873-December 25, 1876.
LocationReel
M24918 May 1, 1876-March 29, 1877.
LocationReel
M24919 1876-1893.
Letters are not in chronological order.
LocationReel
M24920Letter books on microfilm:
1848-1855.
LocationReel
M24921 1854-1859.
LocationReel
M24922 1859-1862.
LocationReel
M24923 1862-1866.
LocationReel
M24924Pamphlets on microfilm, 1845-1918.
Membership directors, anniversary histories, and similar small publications of Congregational churches located in Saint Paul, Minneapolis, Northfield, Cottage Grove, and Winona, as well as images of letterpress book pages dating from 1845 and 1872.
Location
153.I.5.4FCalendar card index to filmed material, undated. 1873.
Chronologically-ordered card file index to microfilmed letters (April 10, 1849-January 7, 1873) produced by Minnesota Historical Society staff.
Location
Reserve 87Edward D. Neill letter to Milton Badger, February 13, 1850. 1 item.
This letter does not appear on the Minnesota Historical Society's microfilm.
Access Restricted.
Edward D. Neill letter to Milton Badger, February 13, 1850.Digital version

Expand/CollapseCATALOG HEADINGS

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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