Index Cards of the Peruvian Inland Mission

by Savannah Weiler

The Peruvian Inland Mission (PIM) was founded by Miss Annie G. Soper in 1930 and was active in the area around Lamas, northern Peru until 1948. Index cards form part of the large collection of records of the Regions Beyond Missionary Union (ref. CSWC 33/39/3), which took over operation of the Peruvian Inland Mission. Members of the mission had taken the care to note down on small cards the details of missionaries who came to work for the mission, people they met in Peru, new converts, as well as villages in the area where the mission had spread to. These cards give a quick overview of decades worth of missionary activity in this part of Peru and give a fascinating glimpse into the lives of those involved with the PIM.

There are cards for Lamas and other places in the north of Peru, such as Moyobamba and Iquitos, as well as for Lima. Each card details the activities of the mission in these areas, such as new buildings constructed, amount of converts through the mission, and sometimes the religions of those living in these areas. The card for Lamas (see figure 1), where the mission was based, shows that they built a school, hospital, a Bible School, and a Church. The area they operated in is quite expansive and is highlighted by these index cards. Reading through letters, meeting minutes and journal articles that form part of the PIM’s records, it becomes clear what difficulties individuals faced when travelling in this area, with travel between villages sometimes taking days due to poor infrastructure and frequent rainstorms. The cards tell us where each missionary was stationed and provide details about the important journeys they made, showing the determination of these individuals to carry out their work.

Figure 1, Some of the index cards giving information on missionaries in the field. Ca. 1930-1950.

CSWC 33/39/3, Archives of the Regions Beyond Missionary Union, Centre for the Study of World Christianity, University of Edinburgh

Individual cards documenting Peruvians the missionaries met further show how far the mission spanned and the network the PIM formed with other missions and institutions. People travelled as far as the Costa Rica Bible Institute and the United Kingdom to further their education once they had completed their initial training at schools built by the mission. Martina is one of the girls who grew up in the mission (see figure 2). Her cards note that she travelled to Edinburgh and England to further her education and then returned to Lima, where she trained as a nurse. Details are given on her family and how far she travelled, and give a glimpse into what she was like, quoting her ‘rebellious spirit’ and ‘nursing gifts’. We also come to hear more unfortunate stories, such as when she lost nearly all her belongings to the disastrous 1940 Lima earthquake. The next card gives details of her brother, and through this we come to know an entire family.

Figure 2, Martina’s index card and the card for Lamas, giving details on the progress of the mission there and key people and dates involved.

CSWC 33/39/3, Archives of the Regions Beyond Missionary Union, Centre for the Study of World Christianity, University of Edinburgh.

A photograph (see figure 3), taken at the Costa Rica Bible Institute shows Miss Soper and five of her students, who travelled with her from Lamas to Costa Rica to complete their missionary education there. The photo lists the names of these people, who also have their own index cards that give us details of their personalities, education, and life. This photo helps attach faces to names and gives an even more colourful idea of what life was like for those at the Lamas mission, and the impact the PIM had on various peoples’ lives.

Figure 3, Photograph taken at the Costa Rica Bible Institute showing Miss Soper, Senor V. Coral, Don Alejandro Castillo, Don Hildebrando Tello, Señora Hortensia de Pina and Señorita Rosa Portacarrero.

CSWC 33/39/3, Archives of the Regions Beyond Missionary Union, Centre for the Study of World Christianity, University of Edinburgh.

These cards are a wonderful summary of documents that would take hours to read through to get the same detailed information. They show the dedication of many of the missionaries involved with the PIM, travelling long distances between various villages just to spend a few days in each, and facing other obstacles along the way too. The cards show the reach of the mission in Peru, and its wider networks in Latin America and Britain. Lastly, reading these cards gives an intimate view of what life was like for the people involved with the mission. We are granted insight into their personalities as well as a snapshot of the highs and lows they faced in life. The photograph of Miss Soper and her students adds even more colour to the stories of those we have got to know in the index cards.

Latin American collections

Since January two students have been working at the Centre for Research Collections at the Main Library of the University of Edinburgh cataloguing the rich archives of the Regions Beyond Missionary Union (RBMU). Alice Fagan and Savannah Weiler are looking at the records of the RBMU in Latin America, especially in Peru and Argentina. They are working under the leadership and supervision of Kirsty Stewart, Scottish and University Collections archivist responsible for the Centre for the Study of World Christianity (CSWC) archives. The bulk of the material they are cataloguing consists of monthly magazines, annual reports, news bulletins, correspondence, minute books, reports, and photographs, in both printed and manuscript form. Funds for this project have been provided by the CSWC and the University, and their work will enhance the visibility of the archival collections and provide crucial information for future digitisation work.

The first impetus behind the RBMU was Henry Grattan Guinness (1835-1910), an Irish revivalist preacher and evangelist and grandson of Arthur Guinness, founder of the brewing empire. In 1873 Henry founded the East London Training Institute for Home and Foreign Missions, taking inspiration from faith missions like James Hudson Taylor’s China Inland Mission. The institute charged no fees from students and was to be run by faith alone, which lent a revivalist impetus to its endeavours but also generated its own financial troubles. The Regions Beyond magazine, created in 1878, publicised the actions and challenges of the Institute and gave news of missionaries around the world. Several evangelistic ventures sparked from the RBMU’s founders, students, and associates, such as the Livingstone Inland Mission and the Congo Balolo Mission that operated in Central Africa. In 1897 the Institute also took responsibility for the support of a group of students working in Peru and Argentina. Because of internal disagreements about the organisation of the mission and financial difficulties, these missions were handed over to the newly founded Evangelical Union of South America in 1911. Over the first decades of the twentieth century missionaries trained by the RBMU established new missionary centres in South America, such as the Peru Inland Mission, and were able to support themselves through educational and medical work.

Alice Fagan
Savannah Weiler

In the next few months, the students will publish some of their interesting archival findings in this blog. The posts illuminate the actions, ordeals, and challenges of missionaries, the intimate relationship they developed with the populations of Peru and Argentina, the medical and educational ventures undertaken, their idiosyncratic views on mission and civilisation, amongst other things. Alice Fagan is a third-year student in the School of History, Classics, and Archaeology. She is broadly interested in social history and material culture in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, as well as museum and gender studies. In the past Alice took the course ‘History of Christianity as a World Religion’ in the School of Divinity, and now, looking at the RBMU records and the medical and educational actions of missionaries, is expanding her knowledge on the worldwide iterations of Christian religion. Savannah Weiler is a fourth-year student in the Fine Art programme at the Edinburgh College of Art. She has interests in art practice, photography, and old photographic techniques, as well as archival and translation work. Savannah is interested in the photographic records of the RBMU and missionary action in the 1960s and 70s, a period of intense historical transformations as well as political and social polarisation. Their blogs highlight the richness of the CSWC archival collections and the usefulness of missionary sources as tools of historical interpretation.