An outcome of the World Missionary Conference, Edinburgh, 1910, the MRL was founded in 1914 by John R. Mott in connection with the Foreign Missions Conference of North America. In 1929 the MRL was housed in the Brown Memorial Tower of Union Theological Seminary, its Board of Trustees composed of FMCNA (later DOM-NCCCUSA) and UTS members. In 1976 its unique collections, heritage of Ecumenical Protestantism, were transferred into the care of the UTS Library.

The MRL Archives contains collections of named missionaries' papers and institutional records within geographic divisions:

Series 1. Africa
Series 2. Near/Middle East
Series 3. South Asia
Series 4. Southeast Asia
Series 5. East Asia
Series 6. China
Series 7. Japan
Series 8. Korea
Series 9. Latin America
Series 10. North America
Series 11. Australia and Oceania
Series 12. Ecumenical/World Mission

Please contact burkespecial@library.columbia.edu for further details and access information for any collection before visiting the library.

James Emman Kwegyir Aggrey Papers, 1920 - 1927
All Africa Christian Conference Records, 1959 - 1972
Basel Mission (Gold Coast) Papers, West Africa, 1894 - 1904
Christian Educational Policy in Tanganyika Territory, 1932
Presbyterian Church of the Gold-Coast, West Africa, 1908 - 1942
David Livingstone Papers, 1856; 1957 
Robert Hamill Nassau Papers, 1856 - 1976
Erwin Hart Richards correspondence, 1905 - 1907
Emory Warren Ross Papers, 1877 - 1971
Albert Schweitzer Records, 1949; 1966
Basel missionaries in Cameroon Reports, 1914 - 1915
Rheinische Missiongesellschaft Reports, 1897 – 1912
Dorothy E. Pecht Slides, 1959-1980
Missionary Research Library collection on mission work in Africa, 1903 -- 1972

American Constantinople Relief Committee Records, 1912 - 1914
James Shepard Dennis Papers, 1873 - 1916
Pliny Fisk Papers, 1821 – 1935
Joseph Kingsbury Greene Papers, 1857 - 1917
Lorenzo Warriner Pease Papers, 1811 - 1896
Mary Lewis Shedd [Mrs. W. A.] Papers, 1918
Near East Relief Committee Records, 1904-1950
Near East College Association Records, 1928-1943

Missionary Research Library collection on the establishment of the Baha'i faith in the United States, 1901 -- 1944

Missionary Research Library collection on mission work in the Near/Middle East, 1911 -- 1941

American Madura Mission Records, c. 1900-1944
American Marathi Mission Records, 1813 - 1962
Arunodaya. The Autobiography of Bãbã Padmanjí, 1944
George Bowen Papers, 1846 - 1862
William Adams Brown Papers, 1912 - 1946
Henry Ballentine Papers, 1888
Charles Peck Bush Papers, c.1800-1880
William Wilberforce Chapin Papers, 1860 - 1865
"A Church is Born," Church of South India Inauguration Records, 1947-1948
Daniel Johnson Fleming Papers, c.1900 - 1949
Franklin Grasson Davis Papers, 1876-1883
Hervey DeWitt Griswold Papers, 1893 - 1941
Clark P. Hard Papers, 1863 - 1923
John Franklin Goucher papers on Lucknow, India, 1890-1919

Augustine Ralla Ram Papers, 1947-1955
William Carey Letter, 1800

The Autobiography of Munshi Abdullah, 1918
Bertha Davis Papers, 1892 - 1946
Robert Ernest Hume Papers, 1817
Frank C. Laubach Papers, 1924-1952
Missionary Research Library collection on mission work in South and Southeast Asia, 1897 -- 1970

United Board for Christian Colleges in China (UBCCC) Records, 1931-1959
Missionary Research Library collection on mission work in East Asia, 1885 -- 1960

James Whitford Bashford Diaries, 1905 - 1918
Miner Searle Bates Papers, 1927-1984
Charles Luther Boynton Papers, 1807-1976
Margaret H. Brown Papers, c. 1940 - 1969
Mark W. Brown Papers, 1908 - 1965
Catholic University of Beiping Art Department papers, 1937
China Continuation Committee Records, 1912-1922
China Information Committee Records, 1937-1939
China Planning Committee Records, 1944-1945
Christian Evangelistic and Religious Educational Posters and Christian Scrolls and Bible Verses, [1930?-1949?]
Conference on American Relations with China, 1925
Hunter Corbett and Harold F. Smith Papers, 1862-1948
Earl Herbert Cressy Papers, 1918-1960
John Horton and Helen Daniels Papers, 1919-1956
Samuel Dodd and Samuel T. C. Dodd Papers, c. 1925-2014
Douglas Newton Forman Papers, 1930-1949
Alice Browne Frame Papers, 1905 - 1971
Paul Goodman Hayes Papers, [circa 1940-1960]
Isaac Taylor Headland Papers, [1900?] - 1939
Edward Hicks Hume Papers, 1914 - 1959
Timothy Tingfang Lew Papers, 1907-1961
Edwin Carlyle Lobenstine Album, 1935
David Willard Lyon Papers, 1904-1950
Harold Shepard Matthew Papers, 1967
National Christian Council of China Records, 1919-1950
Phonetic Promotion Committee Records, 1919-1930
Missionary Research Library copy of Nestorian Tablet [c. 1937]
George Merriam Newell Papers, 1905-1960
Loren E. Noren Papers, 1962
David Washington Cincinnatus Olyphant Papers, 1827-1851
Frank Joseph Rawlinson Papers, 1924-1937
Nathan Sites Papers, 1861-1912
William Edward Smith papers, 1897-1936
Missionary Research Library collection on student evangelism, 1938-1947
Elwood G. and Donald G. Tewksbury Papers, 1872-1959
Matilda Calder Thurston Papers, 1902-1958
United China Relief Records, 1943-1949
Abbe Livingston Warnshuis Papers, 1877 - 1963
Joseph Whiteside diaries, 1899 - 1929
Matthew Tyson Yates Papers, 1878

Missionary Research Library collection on higher education institutions in China, 1857 -- 1957

Missionary Research Library collection on mission work in China, 1893-1950

Missionary Research Library collection of lantern slides, circa 1920 -- 1929

Sarah S. Andrews Papers, 1916 - 1961
Anti-Christian Edict Board (Sadame: Kirishitan shu), 1682
Gertrude S. Bigelow Papers, 1887 - 1926
Christianity in Japan Records, 1927 - 1931
Cornelia A. Condict Papers, 1883 - 1894
Dai Kokumin [The Great Nations] Records, 1916
Kagawa Toyohiko Papers, 1929 - 1968
Missionary Research Library collection on mission work in Japan, 1902 -- 1981

Henry Gerhard Appenzeller Papers, 1883-1902
Byung Hun Choi Papers, 1908-2004
Chinese Church of Christ in Korea Records, 1908-1975
George Heber Jones Papers, 1898 - 1918
Korea Conspiracy Case Records, 1910 - 1913
Korean Independence Outbreak Records, 1919-[192?]
Missionary Research Library collection on mission work in Korea, 1904 -- 1964

Committee on Cooperation in Latin America (CCLA) and Congress on Christian Work in Latin America (CCWLA) Records, 1914-1956
Samuel Guy Inman papers, 1914-1929
MIAU/LAB News Service Records, 1969-1971
Latin American Churches' Response to Social Movements Records, 1962-1973
Primer Encuentro Latinoamericano de Christianos por el Socialismo (PELCS) Records, Santiago, 1971-1973
Ashbel Green Simonton Journal, 1852-1866
Missionary Research Library collection on mission work in Latin America, 1911 -- 1974
Howard W. Yoder Papers, 1954

Hezekiah Waterman Ripley papers on the American Home Missionary Society, 1860-1869
Martha Letita Edwards Papers
David Chamberlin papers on John Eliot, 1882 - 1958
Gustavus Elmer Emanuel Lindquist Papers, 1897-1955
Bertha Mary Magdalen Mugrauer Papers, 1950
John Dunbar Papers, c.1836-1904
Missionary Research Library collection on missions to Jews, 1889-1927
North America General Records, 1819-1963
New York Sabbath Committee Minutes, 1857-1878

Samuel Leigh Papers, 1818-1824
Missionary Research Library collection on mission work in Australia and Oceania, 1840 -- 1956

American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions Records, 1878 - 1958
Missionary Research Library collection of missionary autographs, 1827, 1906
Bureau of Missions Records, 1898-1914
Board of Foreign Missions of Netherlands Reformed Church Records, 1825; 1963-1971
Eastern Fellowship of Professors of Missions Records, 1932 - 1965
Ecumenical Conference on Foreign Missions records, 1900
Foreign Missions Conference of North America (FMCNA) Records, 1894 - 1968
John Franklin Goucher Papers, [16??] - 1962
International Missionary Council Records, 1913 - 1962
International Missionary Union Records, 1849-1932
Institute of Pacific Relations Records, 1925-1943
Laymen's Foreign Missions Inquiry Records, 1879-1940
Laymen's Missionary Movement Records, 1906-1956
Charles Tudor Leber Travel Correspondence, 1944 - 1953
Missionary Biographical Records, 1800s - 1900s
Missionary Education Movement Records, 1910-1931; 2014

Missionary Research Library collection of Missionary Personnel records, 1929 -- 1964

Missionary Research Library Administrative Records, 1851-1994

Missionary Research Library questionnaire collection, 1955

John Raleigh Mott Papers, 1904 - 1955
Missionary Research Library collection on the preparation of missionaries, 1920 -- 1963
Robert E. Speer Papers, 1795-1947
Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions Records, 1893-1946
Clarence R. Thayer Papers, 1947 - 1974
YMCA and YWCA Records, 1925 - 1945
Woman's Board of Missions Records, 1862 - 1927
World Missionary Conference Records, 1883-2010
Missionary Research Library collection on ecumenical and world-wide mission work, 1792 -- 1990
Conference on Racism and World Order Records, 1943-1944
Missionary Research Library Scrapbooks, 1892-1956