Abstract:

The American Board (American Foreign Mission Representatives Association) (ABCFM) is a Protestant missionary organization founded in 1810. In 1812 the Massachusetts State approved the American Board to send missionaries for religious purposes abroad. Missionaries are also encouraged to work in the areas where they go, such as hospital and school opening. The first missionaries of the American Board arrived in İzmir in 1820 and until the 1920s they established many stations in both the Balkans and the Anatolian region, especially for the Armenians and the Romans. In order to work more effectively, they divided the Ottoman State (such as the Eastern, Central, Western and European Turkish Missions) into separate administrative units and continued their work in the Republic of Turkey. The American Board has published guidelines (manuals) for missionary candidates to participate in the organization in different periods for corporate purposes and handbooks (handbooks) for missionaries and missionaries within it. These documents describe the rules and regulations of the American Board, and details of the organization’s relationship with the missionaries. This study analyses some of the missionary candidates and missionary guidelines and handbooks published by the Board in the first thirty years of the twentieth century in order to better understand the work principles of the Board and its missionaries. The study of these libraries is important in terms of documentation that allows us to better understand the structure of the Board.

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