United Mission to Nepal

Copy minutes of Board and Executive meetings; includes correspondence and printed material.

Administrative/Biographical History

The United Mission to Nepal (UMN) originated in 1954 when, at the invitation of the Nepal Government and with the help of 8 mission organisations, a group of pioneering individuals set up a mission hospital in [Tansen]. A copy of the printed history of the UMN, 1954, is included with the archive. The UMN is interdenominational and has worked with the people of Nepal and various church organisations to develop and empower communities through special projects relating to education, engineering and industrial development, health, rural development. The UMN has also participated in the national church.

Reference: University of Birmingham, Special Collections Department, Online Archive Catalogue ( http://calmview.bham.ac.uk/ ). Accessed May 2002.

Volumes are in chronological order

Access Conditions

Open to officials of the United Missions to Nepal member bodies: Methodist Church Overseas Division, Baptist Missionary Society, The Church of Scotland, Interserve BMMF, Regions Bengal Missionary Union and Tear Fund in the UK. All papers held at the Orchard Learning Resources Centre will be viewed at the Birmingham University Information Services, Special Collections Department. Please contact the University Archivist for further information.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

The records were deposited with the Selly Oak Colleges Central Library [later forming part of the Orchard Learning Resources Centre] by the United Mission to Nepal in 1988. Additional deposits of minutes are made on a regular basis.

See full catalogue for more information.

United Missions to Nepal. Permission to make any published use of any material from the collection must be sought in advance in writing from the University Archivist, Special Collections.

Following the merger of the Selly Oak Colleges and the University of Birmingham in 1999 the custodial ownership of collections belonging to the Selly Oak Colleges and held at the Orchard Learning and Resource Centre (OLRC) was transferred to the University. These collections now form part of the University's Special Collections Department and are available for consultation at the Main Library on the University's Edgbaston Campus.

Further deposits are expected.

The University of Birmingham, Special Collections Department holds a rich collection of archives relating to missions, charities and other religious and ecclesiastical organisations and individuals.

All records of the UMN except for material less than five years old (unless published material, e.g., Annual Reports) are located at The Centre for the Study of Christianity in the non-Western World, New College, Mound Place, Edinburgh EH1 2LU. The holdings consist of approximately 250 box files, a quantity of photographs, official plans, film strips and slides; also included are Annual Reports and Director's Reports 1954-present. Material less than five years old is maintained at the UMN's headquarters in Kathmandu, Nepal; a set of minute books is also kept in Goshen, Indiana, at the Mennonite Archives.