Encyclopedia of Missions (1904)

This massive 851 page Encyclopedia provides a tremendously detailed snapshot of the progress of Christian Missions up to 1904. As one would expect it also reflects many of the prejudices of its age – see the entry on Australia, for example. My thanks to the Cambridge Centre For Christianity Worldwide for providing me with a copy to scan. This title is in the public domain.

Henry Otis Dwight, H. Allen Tupper & Edwin Munsell Bliss, eds, The Encyclopedia of Missions. Descriptive, Biographical Statistical, 2nd edn. New York & London: Fumk & Wagnalls Company, 1904. Hbk. pp.851. [Click to download the complete volume in PDF]

Preface to the Second Edition

No long series of reasons need be given why The Encyclopedia of Missions demands revision after twelve vears. Political changes have parceled out among the nations the islands of the Pacific, have brought one at least of the Asiatic nations into parity of influence with Western Powers in shaping the destinies of the Far East, and have marked all Africa with the familiar national colors of Europe and made her mysterious central regions a field for the personally-conducted tourist, and a participant in the privileges of the Universal Postal Union. The body of experience in the mission field has crystallized into what is sometimes called a “Science of missions,” made up of more or less exact principles of labor, which are more and more widely accepted by missionaries of all nations as fundamental. [Continue reading]