Archives of The Evangelical Union of South America and Latin Link

The collection mostly covers the activities of the Evangelical Union of South America and related mission and church organisations. Some more recent material related to the formation of Latin Link is also included. A minority of material has been generated by predecessor societies to EUSA, and those with which EUSA was to amalgamate. The material covers the activities of EUSA as an organisation and individual missionaries in the United Kingdom and in Peru, Brazil, Argentina and Bolivia, although other Latin American nations are represented. The collection comprises of:

• Foundation documents and policy papers
• Meeting minutes and associated correspondence and reports
• Official correspondence
• Personnel files for individual missionaries
• Prayer letters and reports written by individual missionaries working in South America
• Field minutes, reports and articles for publication
• Educational materials, including slides, cinefilm, audio cassettes and written material
• Teaching materials in Spanish, Portuguese and Quechua
• Photographs of South America, evangelical institutions and individual missionaries
• Glass plate negatives and lantern slides
• Evangelical pamphlets written by missionaries
• Periodicals

The Evangelical Union of South America (EUSA) was inaugurated at the Keswick Convention in Liverpool in 1911. The society formed after missionaries working in South America were informed that the continent was not to be discussed in the 1910 World Missionary Conference held in Edinburgh, since Anglicans objected to Roman Catholic lands being considered a legitimate field for mission. EUSA was formed from three existing missions operating in South America: the sections of Regions Beyond Missionary Union working in Argentina and Peru; the South American Evangelical Mission working in Argentina and Brazil; and the Help for Brazil mission (which joined EUSA two years later in 1913). The Help for Brazil Mission had links with Dr and Mrs Robert Reid Kalley, who pioneered Protestant missionary work in Brazil from 1855.

The first Chair of the Evangelical Union of South America was Charles Hay Walker, a head of an engineering firm with interests in South America. The main fields of operation for EUSA were Peru, Brazil and Argentina. EUSA ran evangelical bookshops, evangelical bible schools and seminaries, medical services, and forged alliances with local evangelical church organisations in order to cement a native-led interdenominational evangelical movement in South America. The British contingent of the Andes Evangelical Mission (AEM, previously known as the Bolivian Indian Mission) merged with EUSA in 1981, which expanded the organisation's activities in Bolivia where the bulk of the work of AEM was based. In the late 1980s, talks began with Regions Beyond Missionary Union to effect a merger of the two organisations to form a new mission agency in South America. These talks resulted in the inauguration of Latin Link in June 1990, which works throughout South America to foster native evangelism, carry out community and social enterprise work, and to promote education and literacy.

The collection has been arranged in sympathy with the original filing systems of Latin Link, and contains the following series: Foundation and Policy Documents; EUSA Council; EUSA British Executive; Missionary Personnel Files; Prayer Letters; Peru Activities; Brazil Activities; Argentina Activities; Bolivia Activities; EUSA Various Nations; Latin America; EUSA North America; Education and Outreach; Theoretical Writings; EUSA History; Pamphlets; EUSA Lantern Slides; EUSA Photographs; Latin Link; Andes Evangelical Mission; Miscellaneous Papers; Books; and Periodicals.

Access restrictions have been placed on some papers due to the sensitive nature of some files and to protect information about named individuals in compliance with the Data Protection Act (1998). The archivist can advise on these restricted files, although the great majority of the collection is open to researchers. Please contact the Director of the Centre for the Study of World Christianity, Professor Brian Stanley, at is-crc@ed.ac.uk for further details on access restrictions. Alternatively, please telephone the Centre on 0131 650 8934.

The collection was deposited with the Centre for the Study of World Christianity, University of Edinburgh, in August 2002.

A paper high level catalogue description is available, along with an Excel spreadsheet covering all holdings. Prayer letters have been indexed by author. Missionary personnel files have been indexed by name, although not all of these are accessible to the public in compliance with the Data Protection Act (1998).

The collection includes cinefilm, which it is hoped can be transferred to DVD for access purposes. Selected audio cassette tapes have been digitised, and can be accessed in the Centre for the Study of World Christianity. Unfortunately, it is not possible to hear the reel-to-reel audio tapes in the Centre for the Study of World Christianity until they have been transferred onto compact discs.

This description was prepared by Louise Williams in April 2012 with archival sources from the Latin Link collection.

Researchers are required to sign a non-commercial use agreement before consulting the archive. Please contact the Centre for commercial, broadcast and publication enquiries. The Centre for World Christianity can be contacted through the Director, Professor Brian Stanley, at is-crc@ed.ac.uk . Alternatively, please telephone the Centre on 0131 650 8934.

The collection has been appraised in accordance with the wishes of Latin Link, and duplicates have been removed

No further accruals expected

The papers of EUSA missionaries Stuart and Janet McIntosh have been deposited with the National Library of Scotland. The Centre for the Study of World Christianity holds papers and audio visual materials generated by Regions Beyond Missionary Union (CSCNWW33).