Margaret Clark Papers

The collection contains: material relating to the mobile bookshop that Clark helped to start and maintain in Nigeria; papers on the Methodist Church and its role in mission; book lists and reports compiled for educational work in Nigeria; papers on the foundation of the Methodist Church Nigeria; and papers relating to the Methodist Girls' League in eastern Nigeria.

Margaret Clark, Methodist Missionary Society missionary in Gambia and Nigeria, was born in Hartlepool on 12 September 1920. She was brought up in a Methodist family, her father being Circuit Secretary for Overseas Missions. She trained as a teacher at St Hild's College, Durham where she was a member of the Student Christian Movement. From an early age she had been interested in the world church and this increased with her membership of the Girls' League through which she met many missionaries and members of overseas churches. In 1945 she offered for missionary service and attended Kingsmead Missionary Training College, Selly Oak for 6 months' training.

In December of 1946 Clark sailed to Gambia where she worked as a teacher in the Methodist Girl's High School in Bathurst until early 1950. She was then transferred to Eastern Nigeria arriving in the autumn of 1950. She first taught at the Methodist Elementary Training Centre in Oron then from October 1953 at the Women's Training College in Umuahia. She was, for a time, Literature Secretary of the Girls' League and became increasingly involved in Christian literature campaigns. From August 1959 she devoted herself full time to evangelical and literature work, in particular to establishing and running the Mobile Bookshop based at Umuahia and to organising audio-visual and literature conferences and workshops. She was present at the inaugural conference of the Methodist Church Nigeria in 1962. She resigned from the mission in the same year and arrived back in England in 1963 to work as Juvenile Missionary Association Secretary a post she held for three years. During this period she also did some writing for the Edinburgh House Press and the National Christian Education Council. Clark returned to Hartlepool in 1966 and moved to Northallerton in 1990.

Open to researchers. It is essential to arrange an appointment in advance to view the archive in order that someone can be available to help. Please contact us by email at is-crc@ed.ac.uk . Telephone the Centre on: 0131 650 8900. Postal address: Centre for the Study of World Christianity, University of Edinburgh School of Divinity, New College, Mound Place, Edinburgh, EH1 2LX.

The papers were donated to the Centre by Margaret Clark in 1993.

A paper catalogue to the collection is available for researchers at the Centre.

Description originally written and researched by Caroline Brown in July 2001. This was added to Archives Hub in August 2012 by Louise Williams.

Reproduction of materials (for example by digital camera) is free for private research and educational use, although we ask researchers to sign an agreement. Please contact us for enquiries on using the material in a commercial setting, for which there will be a fee. Contact us by email at is-crc@ed.ac.uk . Telephone the Centre on: 0131 650 8900. Postal address: Centre for the Study of World Christianity, University of Edinburgh School of Divinity, New College, Mound Place, Edinburgh, EH1 2LX.

No further additions to this collection are expected.