The Norwegian Missionary Society, NMS, was founded in 1842 in Stavanger, Norway. The Mission Archives is affiliated with The School of Mission and Theology (MHS) and is used for academic research purposes. The repository is arranged within four rooms of the lower floor of the faculty building.

The Mission Archives represents historical records related to Christian mission efforts from the 1820s onwards, as well as private missionary material from around the globe. The collection includes documents, microfilm, photographs, 16mm films, videos and sound tracks.

The overall purpose of the Mission Archives is to preserve these records and to make these materials available to visitors of the archive. The cataloguing of documents is achieved with the help of the computer program ASTA. An overview of the computerized catalogue material can also be found on the internet: at Samkatalogen for privatarkiver. The catalogue number (all types) is now 86. The Mission Archives is also presented on the national website Kulturnett.no.

The documents from our collections are to be used primarily within the premises of the Mission Archives. Students, teachers and other users may loan certain material on other conditions.

The Mission Archives has reading room facilities associated with the document collection. Visitors can read and/or copy microfilm material, as well as use the regular photocopier for selected paper documents.

In an effort to preserve the Mission Archives' integrity, hand-written documents can not be photocopied. In the case where an exception is granted, the user will be required to return the copy after use. This is to preserve the authenticity of the original hand-written documents.

The oldest documents go back to 1820. This was a vital period representing the beginning of Norway's growing interest in missionary work. Many documents reflect that interest in the form of personal diaries, letter collections and photo albums. These can be of particular interest to those conducting genealogical research and/or studying family relations in Norway during that period.

Reproduction of photographs or other use of our material

© Copyrights: All copyrights belong to the Mission Archives.

All users of the archives must get a written permission if they are going to use material in public for exhibitions, magazines, books or other medias.

Reproduced images or other copied materials may only be published once.
If a user wants to use the same image or material a second time a new permission to do so is required.

All commercial use of photographs and other material from the NMS Archives needs a special agreement and will be priced individually.

NB! "© Misjonsarkivet - MHS", "© Mission Archives - MHS" or equivalent information must always appear on the very page or poster where the image is used or on a separate reference list of images in the same publication.

Digital Imaging
We can provide digital copies of pictorial and printed material from our collections.
There is a charge of NOK 50.00 per image for high resolution versions of images already available in our image databases.

We can scan other images in black and white or color, in the image format of your choice (JPEG, TIFF), and provide them on CD, DVD or E-mail at the cost of NOK 100.00 per image.

Payment
Prepayment may be required depending on the circumstances. Please contact us for prior agreement on the form of payment. Visitors can pay cash in NOK.