American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions records, 1821-1871

The bulk of the collection consists of typescript copies of journal extracts, reports, correspondence, and financial documents of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions concerning its missionary operations in the Oregon Territory. Many of the typescripts are based on originals held in the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions archives in the Houghton Library at Harvard University, and are referred to by the sequential numbers that the Houghton Library assigned. The collection includes the reports of Jonathan S. Green (a missionary based in Hawaii) on his exploration of the northwest coast of North America, and correspondence and records relating to discussions on whether establishing a mission in the Pacific Northwest would be worthwhile. Missionaries to the Pacific Northwest who are represented in this collection are William H. Gray, Henry H. Spalding, Cushing Eells, Elkanah Walker, and Marcus Whitman, as well as Board secretary David Greene. There are a few original items and photostatic copies of documents in the collection in addition to the typescripts.