This project arose out of a fortuitous combination of an idea for a summer research leave project on my part and Martha Lund Smalley's involvement in a potential project by ASIANetwork ( www.asianetwork.org ) exploring the use of missionary materials in undergraduate teaching at member libraries. It was agreed that I would work on creating a guide to such materials, with a focus on South Asia . I identified institutions that might possible hold relevant materials from the lists of ASIANetwork members, Oberlin group of libraries, colleges with holdings listed in the Crouch volume for China, and colleges with denominational affiliations. A student research assistant at The College of Wooster, Jessica Kaminsky, did much of the work in identifying which institutions were likely to have material, and in gathering contact information. Information on holdings was then gathered from online catalogs and finding aids and institutions were contacted to verify and amend the gathered information.
My own interest in creating such a guide comes from several interwoven sources. My parents were Presbyterian missionaries in India (James N. Warner, India 1937-1975; Cleone B. Warner, India 1940-1975). I attended Woodstock School , Mussoorie , India , which at that time was both school and home to the children of missionaries from many denominations, countries of origin, and countries of service. The missionary community was my childhood family; the parents of my friends and classmates were, and still are, my Aunts and Uncles. As a librarian and an alumna of Woodstock School , I assisted the school in establishing a school archive during a summer leave in 1997. In my current position, I work closely with the Special Collections unit of the libraries at The College of Wooster, an institution that has long been connected to South Asia with many graduates serving as missionaries, and many children of missionaries as students. The College of Wooster is a member of the Five Colleges of Ohio along with Denison University , Kenyon College , Oberlin College , and Ohio Wesleyan University . Several of these have collections relevant to and included in this project.
Margo Warner Curl
Technical Services Librarian
The College of Wooster Libraries
Call for participation: If you have information to contribute to the guide, please contact Martha Lund Smalley, Special Collections Librarian at the Yale Divinity School Library: martha.smalley@yale.edu