Free online access to the Library's mission archives

"Great program and great that you offer it." 2022-2023 subscription holder

"I am using this resource and loving it. Thank you for this opportunity." 2021-2022 subscription holder

We are pleased to announce the start of the third year of Cadbury Research Library Adam Matthew Digital Partnership Subscriptions. Adam Matthew has made available a further 12 free, individual subscriptions for Adam Matthew products that give online access to records and periodicals from the Church Mission Society Archive dating back to 1799.

The subscriptions are for people who wish to explore written histories relating to their own local or national history and are not able to visit the Cadbury Research Library or access Adam Matthew products in any other way. We are particularly hoping to hear from people who self-identify as, for example, First Peoples, Aboriginal, Indigenous Peoples, First Nations, Inuit or Métis Peoples, Okinawan or Ainu.

Church Mission Society Archive (CMS)

The Archive, previously under the title 'Church Missionary Society Archive', is one of the most extensive and popular collections held by the Cabury Research Library at the University of Birmingham, on behalf of the Church Mission Society.

Much of the CMS Archive consists of records and publications arising from the Society's work outside of the UK, including thousands of items of correspondence, personal journals and illustrated magazines. There are also records of organisations that amalgamated with the CMS, including the Church of England Zenana Missionary Society (CEZMS), the Society for Promoting Female Education in the East (FES) and the Loochoo Naval Mission (L).

The records document the history of each organisation’s work and the activities, experiences and observations of the men and women recruited from the countries in which the societies were working, from the UK and Europe. There is much relating to Indigenous Peoples, historical events and the built and natural environment.

You can find out more about the CMS Archive and related collections through the Cadbury Research Library online catalogue and Guide to using the Archive (PDF - 7 MB).

The Cadbury Research Library holds the CMS Archive on behalf of the Church Mission Society.

The CMS Archive in Adam Matthew Digital collections

cms-periodicals

Adam Matthew has digitally published thousands of items from the Archive under two titles: ‘AM Scholar – Church Missionary Society Archive’ and ‘Church Missionary Society Periodicals’.

These products are particularly important for anyone interested in African countries, the area now known as Canada, the Caribbean (West Indies), China, India, Japan and Palestine.

The Cadbury Research Library Adam Matthew Digital partnership

To use Adam Matthew Digital products, you usually need to be a member of an institution that has taken out a subscription or be visiting a subscribing institution. During the national lockdowns of 2020-2021, as soon as we asked for help, Adam Matthew responded to the needs of researchers who could neither visit the Cadbury Research Library because of Covid-19 related restrictions nor access online copies through a subscribing institution. They arranged short-term, free individual access to the Adam Matthew (AM) products for researchers who had no other means of viewing the CMS Archive or AM products. The response from people contacting our Enquiry Service was overwhelmingly positive.

The success of this short-term solution to Covid-related travel and access restrictions, alongside news of the Adam Matthew partnership with the Royal Historical Society, planted the seed for the Cadbury Research Library Adam Matthew Digital Partnership Subscriptions.

We are very aware that, for some researchers, the restrictions we saw under lockdown are permanent. Of particular concern is that, for some people currently unable to access the collections, the CMS Archive holds unique records relating to the history of their own country or culture. The Cadbury Research Library welcomes many visitors from around the world but not everyone has the opportunity or ability to visit the Library in person, to purchase copies from our reprographics service or to benefit from an institutional subscription to Adam Matthew Digital. It is a privilege for the Cadbury Research Library to hold these records and our responsibility to find ways to share them as widely as possible.

The subscriptions give 12 months of free access to 'AM Scholar – Church Missionary Society Archive' and 'Church Missionary Society Periodicals' to 12 people who want to access documentary sources relating to their own local area, country or culture and wish to use digitised copies of papers, periodicals and publications from the CMS Archive.