China Inland Mission Archive

The collection description reads: « The China Inland Mission (CIM) was officially set up in 1865 under the direction of the Rev James Hudson Taylor and William Thomas Berger. Refusing to appeal for funds but relying on unsolicited contributions, the goal of the China Inland Mission was the interdenominational evangelization of China’s inland provinces. Missionaries were to have no guaranteed salary and were expected to become closely involved in the Chinese way of life. From its inception, women played a crucial role in the CIM. From 1878, amidst much public criticism, Taylor permitted single women to work in the mission field. By 1882, the CIM listed 56 wives of missionaries and 95 single women engaged in the ministry.  The collection has been arranged into seven main sections: China Inland Mission (CIM); Overseas Missionary Fellowship papers (CIM/OMF); James Hudson Taylor papers (CIM/JHT); personal and private papers (of individual missionaries) (CIM/PP); Chefoo Schools and Chefoo Schools Association (CIM/CSP); China Inland Mission photographs (CIM/PHOTO); and publications (CIM/PUB). Each section is sub-divided, with material arranged broadly in chronological order or, in the case of the personal and private papers, by the names of individual missionaries. »