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papers related to an effort by the Christian Endeavor Society of First Mennonite Church, Newton, Kansas, to raise money for building a new mission station in India in the 1920s

A small set of personal papers documenting the ministry and personal life of a pastor of the (old) Mennonite Church.  Materials include an autobiography, scattered diaries of Hartzler as well as his first and second wives, sermon and Bible course notes, and miscellaneous materials.  Also includes photographs of J.S. and Fannie Stutzman Hartzler and photographs and postcards from J.S. Hartzler's trip to India, the Middle East, and Europe in 1910-11.

Records of the Home and Foreign Relief Commission, an early organization aiming to respond to the famine in India. Records from the organization's founding and operation are included, as is the correspondence of relief worker George Lambert. Photographs that chronicle the process of sending and delivering aid to India can also be found in this collection.

This collection has been arranged into the following series:

(1) Commission Records, 1892-1951

(2) George Lambert Correspondence and Materials, 1896-1897

(3) Photographs, circa 1897

Outgoing letters and 8mm films created by a medical missionary couple that served in Dhamtari, India. The letters, written by Jonathan Yoder to his family in the United States, are quite descriptive, providing reflections on his work as a physician, Indian cultural practices, and information about other missionaries serving in the same area. A transcription of the letters by Paton Yoder (1989) is available in the collection. The films are heavily spliced and include brief notes about their subjects. Six of the films were created by Jonathan Yoder's sister, Rhea Yoder, a teacher at Woodstock School. VHS viewing copies for all of the films are available.

Incoming and outgoing admistrative correspondence from the highest office of the American Mennonite Mission in India.  Correspondence includes communications between the mission board in the United States as well as Indian government officials.  These records also include ledger books listing the names of donors who provided financial sponsorship of Indian orphans.

Meeting minutes documenting the work of the committee charged with managing the finances, property, and human resources of the American Mennonite Mission in India.  It appears that executive committee and the managing committee are two names for the same body.  This series also includes an index to the meeting minutes (1939-1945, 1949-1950) and scattered correspondence and miscellaneous records.

Researchers should note that earlier minutes for the executive committee may be found in the American Mennonite Mission (Dhamtari, India) Secretary Correspondence and Subject Files (IV-17-004).

This series consists primarily of Incoming and outgoing correspondence to and from the office of the secretary, which appears to have replaced the office of the superintendent as the director of the mission's affairs.  Researchers will find in this series correspondence between the secretary and leaders of the Mennonite Board of Missions, Indian government officials, and non-Mennonite mission organizations.  Also present here are the secretary's record book (1905-1915), which contains the earliest executive committee and business meeting minutes as well as a number of subject files.

Secretaries of the American Mennonite Mission include J. N. Kauffman, Aldine Carpenter Brunk, and J. D. Graber (1937-1944).

Committee meeting minutes, primary school reports, scholarship applications, curricula, and other records pertaining to the educational institutions supported by the American Mennonite Mission.  These institutions included the Dhamtari Christian Academy and a number of elementary and vocational schools.  Minutes of the education committee concern the progress of individual students, scholarship awards and the curriculum..

Scattered records documenting the American Mennonite Mission's teacher training program, which seems to have trained Indian teachers and other workers in Christian education.

Committee meeting minutes, evangelism record books, correspondence, and miscellaneous materials pertaining to American Mennonite Mission's efforts to convert Hindu and Muslim Indians to Christianity.  Meeting minutes generally do not discuss overall mission strategy, but focus on the assignments, performance, and financial compensation of Indian evangelists,  The evangelism record books provide in-depth accounts of preaching and books distributed to various villages.  Researchers should be aware, however, that these record books are in Hindi.  Also of interest in this series are the records pertaining to the Bible Women, who evangelized on behalf of the Mennonite mission.  Mennonite missionaries' evaluations of the Bible Women are in English, while the Bible Women's evangelism records are in Hindi.

Minutes of the body charged with the administration of the mission medical facilities, including the hospital, the leprosaureum, and various dispensaries. After 1952, the Medical Committee was renamed the Medical Council.

These records document the work of an organization of missionary women that guided the work of the Indian Bible Women and the sewing circles in India.  Meeting minutes comprise the bulk of the records.

Records of the committee charged with educating the public about the work of the American Mennonite Mission in India through print media.  Materials include an account book (1924-1929), meeting minutes (1922-1937, undated), and miscellaneous materials, including statistical reports about Mennonites in India and the beginnings of the Mennonite Church in India (1949-1952).

A small set of records documeting the work of the auditing committee, which monitored the financial operations of the American Mennonite Mission in India.  Earliest years of the records include committee minutes; after 1921, only reports were retained.  Researchers should note that reports are not present for all years.

A small set of records documenting the management of real estate and structures owned by or associated with the American Mennontite Mission in India.