In the collection MHS/A-1065 Norwegian Mission Society - Hunan - China there is a total of 99 protocols named "Church register". Their origin are from the congregations of the Lutheran Church, founded with the assistance of missionaries from Norway. The protocols are listed in our paper catalogue. See item #7 at our list of catalogues.

For further research it will be of interest to know if such registers from churches and congregations in China prior to 1949 exist in other archival institutions or repositories inside or outside China. Response and information can be sent to the Mission Archives at arkiv@mhs.no.

Around 1990 a letter was found in the administration offices of the Norwegian Lutheran Mission (NLM) in Oslo.The letter was handed over to Trygve Bjerkrheim, and having seen the content he decided to forward it to some friends in the Norwegian Mission Society (NMS), namely Ingrid and Per Aasen. Shortly afterwards, 21 June 1990, Ingrid sent the material to chief archivist Nils Kristian Høimyr, NMS Archives, Stavanger.

The original letter had been sent by Ms. Sigrid Valen to Ms. Rut Wilhelmsen, editor of "Blåveisen", the children's magazine of the NLM. Excerpts of the above mentioned correspondence are found below with annotations in square brackets.

The Document of the month - December 2009 is a letter from Hans Paludan Smith Schreuder to the head office of Norwegian Mission Society, written in South Africa, 1844.

Johan Christian Haslund (1844-1886) served as ordained missionary for NMS in Madagascar from 1874 until his death there after twelve years of ministry. His diary, which has been in the Mission Archives since the 1960s, is now available in two formats: a full PDF-version of the original and a PDF-version of a typewritten transcript made in the 1970s. Use the above link to find the documents.

A handwritten Christmas card from king Olav V is part of the archive from the Norwegian School, operated by the Norwegian Missionary Society in Madagascar. This collection arrived at the Mission Archives earlier this year.
Et håndskrevet julekort fra kong Olav V er en del av arkivet fra Den norske skolen, drevet av Det norske misjonsselskap på Madagaskar. Arkivsamlingen kom til Misjonsarkivet tidligere i år.

In the archive collection (A-1154) from Otto Emil Birkeli (1877-1952) we have found some tree leaves illustrating cattle ear marks from western Madagascar. Birkeli served there 1903-1919 as ordained missionary, sent by the Norwegian Missionary Society. Alongside his ministry he also did extensive research of culture and ethnology.

The handwritten memoirs by Peter Andreas Gotfred Petersen from his six years in Madagascar is a valuable document in the collection at the Mission Archives. A full presentation is available here at our website.Misjonsprest Peter Andreas Gotfred Petersen (1864-1950) fra Mandal gjorde tjeneste på Madagaskar i årene 1893-1900. Etter avsluttet tjeneste i NMS utvandret han i 1902 til USA, hvor han gjorde tjeneste som prest i norsk-amerikanske lutherske menigheter fram til 1921. Mens han var i byen Flaxton i Nord-Dakota, skrev han ned memoarer fra misjonærårene. Hans håndskrevne bok på omtrent 140 sider har et forord som er datert "februar 1904".