Reports, Publications, and Photographs 1899-1917

ArchivalResource

General Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in North America Board for Missions in Puerto Rico and Latin America. Reports, Publications, and Photographs 1899-1917

Reports, Publications, and Photographs 1899-1917

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/71063053

This series comprises six of the eight biennial reports issued by the Board of Missions for Porto [sic] Rico and Latin America of the General Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of North America from its inception in 1901 until its merger into the Board of Foreign Missions of the United Lutheran Church in America in 1918. The series includes the first report, 1903, and subsequent reports issued in 1907, 1911, 1913, 1915, and 1917: 1905 and 1909 are missing. Reports were issued in the fall of every other year, immediately preceding the biennial meetings of the General Council. Missing reports can be found in the published proceedings of the biennial conventions of the General Council, GC 1/1, General Council Conventions, Minutes, 1866-1917. Also filed with the reports is a brochure issued by the board in the period 1917-18 which reproduces a letter written to it on April 3, 1917 by Miss Emma R. Schmid, a helper in the mission field, describing the health and economic crises then facing the people of Puerto Rico. These biennial reports provide information on the board members and on funds raised by the synods of the General Council for the work of this mission. Reports are also made concerning the mission field, including the names, accomplishments, and terms of service of the missionaries and their assistants. The inception of new mission stations and churches are reported, along with statistics of communicant memberships; of numbers of baptisms, marriages, and funerals; and of funds collected in the field. The publications in English include a printed report by missionary Alfred Ostrom and a pamphlet titled "The Passing of the Porto Rican," written by Clara A. Beck of the Ministerium of Pennsylvania and Adjacent States. The publications in Spanish were all sponsored by the General Council and include two translations of Luther's Small Catechism, one by Puerto Rico mission founder Gustav S. Swenson and the other by missionary Alfred Ostrom. The photographs document a Sunday School class in San Juan, Puerto Rico in 1899; the first two Puerto Rican confirmands, 1900; and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Divine Savior at CantaÞo, Puerto Rico, ca. 1903-1910. The board was known as the "Porto Rico Mission Board" from its inception until its incorporation as the Board for Missions for Porto Rico and Latin America in 1915.

1 box (.2 cubic ft.)

eng,

spa,

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Library, ELCA Library