Introduction to the A. M. A.
The American Missionary Association Archives is one of the largest and most historically significant collections at the Center. The American Missionary Association (A. M. A.), an abolitionist and interdenominational organization, was formed in 1846 from several early missionary groups. Most of the organization's founders were involved in the defense of the Amistad Africans from 1839-1841. It had a strong commitment to social justice and focused its efforts on abolishing slavery, assisting formerly enslaved people, improving the treatment of Native Americans, assisting immigrant populations, and meeting the needs of peoples in foreign lands. Between 1847 and 1865, the A.M.A. founded and/or supported 285 antislavery churches and commissioned 45 abolitionists as itinerant ministers in the United States. During and after the Civil War, the A.M.A. established hundreds of schools for freedmen, including institutions of higher education such as Fisk University, LeMoyne-Owen College, Atlanta University, Tougaloo College, and many others. The organization's commitment to education and social justice continued into the 20th century.

Organization of the A. M. A. Archives
The American Missionary Association Archives consist of two parts: the original archives and the addendum.

Original Archives
Contains approximately 350,000 manuscript pieces, the bulk of which are letters.
Materials date mainly from 1839-1882.
Letters are comprised of three parts:
- Over 100,000 reports from the foreign and home missionaries and teachers.
- Letters from financial and moral supporters of the AMA.
- Correspondence among the officers of the association.
The original Archives has been arranged, elaborately indexed, and microfilmed.

Addendum
- An addendum is manuscript material from a particular donor that the Center received after the original donation.
- The A. M. A. Addendum more than doubled the size of the collection.
- It has a larger proportion of non-correspondence than the original deposit.
- It dates mostly from 1928.
- It is a unique source for studying A. M. A. schools in the 20th century
- The Addendum has been arranged, but has not been indexed or microfilmed.

Research Tools
There are many ways to research the American Missionary Association. The list below describes some of our research tools.

Index to the A. M. A. - This index allows researchers to locate the correspondence and documents of individual missionaries, teachers, A.M.A. supporters, organizations, and A.M.A. officers in the original Archives. It is arranged alphabetically by the author of each document, and the entry includes date, name of recipient, and location. The location from which the document was sent and the date written are important to note, because the physical arrangement of material in the original A.M.A. Archives is chronological within each state or country. The index is a PDF file and requires Adobe Acrobat Reader to view.

Document Number - Each document in the original A.M.A. Archives has a unique document number. This number does not appear in the online index, but can be obtained by contacting the Reference Department at the Amistad Research Center. This document number speeds up the process of locating specific documents, especially those scattered throughout different years and geographic locations. It is also helpful in determining which microfilm rolls may be requested through interlibrary loan.

Microfilm List - All documents in the original A. M. A. Archives have been microfilmed. The microfilm is what researchers will use at the Amistad Research Center, so that the original letters may be preserved as long as possible. The microfilm is also available through interlibrary loan. This microfilm list shows the range of document numbers for each roll of a particular state or country. To locate a particular piece of correspondence, consult the online index for names, date, and location. Then contact the Reference Department for the corresponding document numbers.

The American Missionary [Magazine] Records - The A. M. A. began publishing its own monthly magazine in October 1846. The American Missionary [Magazine] Records do not contain issues of the publication itself. At present, the collection consists of four groups, primarily of photographs, that employees of Congregational home mission boards gathered largely in the 1920s with a view toward their publication in the magazine. A large number were published, but most were not and may exist today only in this collection. Some of the images can be viewed online as part of our IMLS Digital Project. For further information about this collection, take a look at the American Missionary Association bibliography or contact the Reference Department.

American Missionary - This monthly publication American Missionary is available for viewing on microfilm at the Amistad Research Center and can be borrowed through interlibrary loan. Click here [under construction] for a list of microfilm rolls and their corresponding dates.

American Missionary Association Annual Reports - The A. M. A. published annual reports beginning in 1847. These reports are available for viewing on microfilm at the Amistad Research Center.

IMLS Digital Project - The American Missionary Association and the Promise of a Multicultural America: 1839 - 1954 is a digital photo archives of more than 5000 photographs of the activities of and related to the American Missionary Association. Photographers working with the American Missionary Association traveled through urban and rural communities within the continental United States and visually recorded the foreign environments and people who lived within them. The photographs document the experiences and lives of various ethnic groups of the world. The images can be searched by keyword and browsed by photographer and title.

A. M. A. Timeline - The timeline provides an overview of the history of the A. M. A. and is illustrated with images of documents from the A. M. A. Archives.

A. M. A. Bibliographies and Related Collections - For additional resources on the American Missionary Association please consult the following bibliographies and research guides:

The American Missionary Association
The Amistad Case
Guide to the United Church of Christ Holdings.