EAP971/2/4/1/2

Mostly copies of letters from the secretaries of the American Ceylon Mission to the secretaries of the ABCFM. Primary writers are Thomas S. Scott, Giles G. Brown, and W.E. Hitchcock, successive ACM secretaries. Primary recipients are Dr. J.L. Barton and Dr. Enoch F. Bell (secretaries of the ABCFM) Miss Kate G. Lamson, (secretary of the Women's Board of Missions), and Rev. Dr. T.B. Scott in Kingston, Ontario. The letters contain the reports, appropriations, decisions, and desires of the ACM between 1913 and 1915. General emphasis is made on the following issues: village schools, which according to the ACM provided the strongest opportunity for evangelism despite receiving very little funding; the relationship between Jaffna College and the ABCFM, which the missionaries desired to straighten out, proposing that the Foreign Board of Trustees in charge of Jaffna College's funding be comprised of at least 50% Tamils and, of those, 2/3 Tamils from the mission; a proposed plan by Mr. Fraser, Principal of Trinity College, Kandy, to establish a Union Training Colony in the south of the island to train teachers, catechists and priests; lack of funding to pay adequate salaries for teachers and preachers, and the consequent inability to retain full-time, commited persons for those posts; the inability to keep up with the needs of the medical mission and the wish to instead emphasize evangelization; a request for a doctor to help Dr. Curr at the Inuvil Hospital; the financial difficulties caused by World War I, especially in accessing bank funds, selling drafts, and traveling to India; and Dr. Barton's plan to begin a school specifically for the "depressed classes" in order to reach out to those the mission had long ignored. While--as is the case with most missionary documents--Tamil persons are often unnamed and neglected, a few cases stand out. Dr. Miss. Nallamma Murugesu, assistant to Dr. Curr at Inuvil, is highlighted as a critical element of Inuvil's continued functioning; when Dr. Curr goes on furlough, she is asked to stay at Inuvil for eight months on her own to continue the work. Rev. J.K. Sinnathamby is offered the post of Rev. Ward following his departure for furlough, which consisted of preaching to the churches and managing the schools in the Chavagacherry district. The file also contains a letter in Rev. Sinnathamby's hand asking for the ACM's blessing to leave his post at Panditerrupu in order to answer a call from the Methodist Episcopal Church in Kuala Lampur, Malaysia; he did not receive the mission's blessing, as the missionaries were reluctant to part with an educated, well-liked Tamil preacher. A letter to a Mr. A. Daniel sanctions the man for his persistent request for advances from the mission to pay his debts.

Size and dimensions of original material: 1 file of 344 pages.