Touchstone Dec 2004

Flukes of History Preserve Archives

By Yvonne Wilkie

After noting the loss of our records through fire, floods and other natural causes it makes us realize that it is often by chance rather then good management that many of our archives survive today. The Presbyterian Missions Committee holdings are an example of this.

Accumulated in various places throughout New Zealand from 1867 the surviving records were brought together in 1926. Initially housed in the central office on The Terrace they were eventually transferred to the Mission Office in Auckland .

On three separate occasions, in 1935, 1939 and 1947 the Overseas Missions Committee made the decision to destroy all or part of the existing missions committee material.

In 1935 the Superintendent of Missions, the Rev. George Budd wrote to the General Treasurer stating that ‘a large pile of stuff stored … will have to go to the destructor'. He believed that the value of keeping records, other then Minutes, ‘for years and years', was of ‘doubtful' use. ‘It seems a pity to shift all this rubbish over to the new Office', he wrote. Fortunately, his intention to ‘cull and burn' the Foreign Mission material did not happen then!

Four years later the issue of storage faced the Committee once more. On this occasion it agreed to the ‘destruction of the Foreign Mission correspondence prior to 1929'. The collection survived this decision thanks to the aid of Mr. J Cuthbertson who organised the material to be stored in ‘tin-lined trunks' in the basement of Dingwall Building .

In 1947 the Committee gave the Rev. D.D. Scott authority ‘to sort out from the records anything that had permanent value' and a grant of £25 allocated for the task. No further mention is made, however a note made by the Mission Secretary in 1960 confirms that some culling took place. Just what was culled is anybody's guess; fortunately it appears to have been undertaken judiciously.

Until 1974 there is little hint as to the whereabouts and condition of the records. The restructuring of the Missions Committee with the Methodist Mission Committee and the potential centralisation to Wellington a new location for the records required to be found. An approach to the Presbyterian Historical Society bore no fruit. The Society's limited resourcing led them to decline the collection due to ‘classification and storage difficulties'. It is more then likely from this date that they came to be stored in the Methodist Central Mission Office in Auckland .

The issue did not go away over the years that followed. References to where the collection should be housed are scattered through the minutes, with little evidence of action by the Church. Many more records had accumulated and overflowed into the Methodist Archives in Auckland taking up valuable space.

The decision by the Joint Board of Mission to officially deposit the collection in the Methodist Archives and St. John's College in late 1983 jolted the Presbyterian Church into action. The Rev. Raeburn Lange prepared a report into the location and extent of the records for the Historical Records Committee. He encouraged the church to make a decision as soon as possible as it was ‘unfair to expect the Methodist people to tidy it up' if the material was to be removed.

Once an agreement had been reached regarding cost of transport, the arrangements for transfer were underway. By July 1984, 22 tea chests measuring 3 cubic metres arrived in Dunedin .

An early photograph from the New Hebrides Mission. Rev Oscar Michelsen (left rear) and Mrs Jane Michelsen (right rear) pictured with a group of Christian natives on Tongoa Island, c.1890.

Now measuring 120 linear metres of shelf space, the Mission collection reveals a unique picture of trends in mission strategy, the relationship to indigenous communities, and an understanding and prosecution of mission activity. At a broader level the records highlight early indigenous cultures, emerging nationalism, the positive and adverse effects of foreign colonialism and Christian evangelism, pioneer medical work, industrial training, children's education, and relationships with other missionary organisations. The individual correspondence tells of sacrifices, success, problems, tragedies and the occasional heroism.

For all the uncertainty surrounding the collection it is surprisingly preserved and intact. Today it is proving to be one of our most significant and popular collections among researchers here in New Zealand and overseas.

© PCANZ Archives 2004

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