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Real letters from missionaries, preserved through time

Genuine correspondence, handwritten in the field — China, Africa, Burma, the United States — by real people, over a hundred years ago.

placeCanton, China · 1831

Letter I

— Rev. E. C. Bridgman

MY DEAR YOUNG FRIENDS:--The general agent of the Massachusetts Sabbath School Union has requested me to write something which I have "seen, heard, or thought of" for the Treasury. He proposed that I s…
placeWashington, D.C., United States · 1880

District of Columbia — Lincoln Mission

— Rev. S. P. Smith

One of the most beautiful sights on the streets of Washington, on the 5th of July morning, was the colored Sunday-schools coming out from different churches, going to Howard Park, Vaness Garden and ot…
placeFlorence, Alabama, United States · 1880

Florence and Her People

— Rev. George W. Moore

Florence is one of the prettiest towns in Northern Alabama. The climate is fine, the water good, and the scenery picturesque. It stands upon the banks of the majestic Tennessee, which is fast being op…
placeGood Hope Station, West Africa · 1880

Mendi Mission — Good Hope Station

— Mr. Nathaniel Nurse

We have about a mile of land connected with this station. On this the natives have built a number of "fackies" in which they live. I noticed one afternoon, as I entered one of them, a man before the f…
placeCentral and Southern Africa ·

Open Letter

— David Livingstone

My views of what is missionary duty are not so contracted as those whose ideal is a dumpy sort of man with a Bible under his arm.…
placeA Southern city, Louisiana, United States · 1880

Lady-Missionary's Letter

— Unnamed lady missionary (name withheld by the editor at the time)

I must tell you of my experience last Sabbath in the "House of Refuge." At 3 P. M. I took a car up the long, beautiful, white shell-road... to the Institute buildings, expecting there to meet our supe…

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