The papers contains file folders on various places, organizations, and people Ralph T. Templin associated with during his missions. There are five files while he was at Central State University. Eight files directly related with missionary work in India but there are a number of others also pertaining to the India Missions. Eight files on the Puerto Rican independence nationalist movement which Ralph Templin strongly supported. There are various amounts on information pertaining to the Peacemaker movement and a number of files on personal correspondence. The other folders are manuscripts and published works. Some files contain photographs and newspaper clippings. The last box of the collection contains three large copies of Templin's, "Farewell Address" at Clancey High School. Two of the copies are in English and the final copy is in Sanskrit.

This collection documents the professional life of Paul Bentley Kern as a pastor, educator and bishop for the Methodist Episcopal Church, South (1844-1939) and later for the Methodist Church (1939-1968). At the end of this collection the researcher will find various ministerial credentials awarded to Kern and his forbearers.

The manuscripts include sermons (with and without Biblical texts), addresses, and publications which offer a diversity of interests and commitments that shaped Kern's ministry. Major topics of concerns include a strong anti-war stance in both World Wars (though most of the information is centered on World War I), ethics in business, labor, church union in 1939, the Advance, Crusade for Christ, jazz, as well as systematic and practical theological issues, role of the church in America and the world, America as a steward of the world's wealth and resources, temperance, organization of the Korean Methodist Church, and Methodism. Christian education, sociology, matriculation addresses, Reformation Sunday, missions with an emphasis on China round out the rest of the topics. Kern considered all these areas as major forces which could and should shape the ever changing world in the early and middle twentieth century. . Part of the materials include addresses which were part of the Cole Lectures which he delivered at Vanderbilt University in 1935.

Administrative records include correspondence, telegraphs, reports, annual conference materials, and the Council of Bishops. The correspondence segment is centered on congratulatory remarks in the form of letters (1930) and telegrams (1930) which Kern received upon his election to the episcopacy. One of the reports relates to his trips to the Orient where he served his first term as a bishop for the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. There are a small number of field reports from Orient as well. Clippings make up most of Florida, Holston and Tennessee Annual Conferences folder with emphasis on Kern's Episcopal administration in the Tennessee area. There are also a few items relating to China.

This collection includes dossiers, correspondence, letters, records of annual conferences and agencies, subject files, manuscripts, articles, personal and family papers, photographs, negatives, clippings, and other printed matter. Bishop Springer's papers primarily document the interaction of American social and ecclesiastical structures forged at the edge of the American frontier with a region of the African continent which was undergoing the process of civilization. Reflected also among these materials is the impact which such interaction had upon Americans who went to spend their lives in the African mission fields, as well as the impact upon Africans themselves. See the published guide, "Preliminary Inventory of the Papers of Bishop John McKendree Springer" (issued by the General Commission on Archives and History, 1982) for individual series descriptions.

There are five matted photographs illustrating both Obee's and Methodist Protestant Church work in the central region of Japan. There are three photographs documenting the Yokkaichi church, one of First Church in Nagoya and a group photograph of teachers and graduates from the Tokyo School for the Blind. The photographs approximately measure 10.75 x 8.5 inches sans matting.

This collection contains dairies, stereoscopic photographs, correspondence, clippings, bulletins, pamphlets, and publications relating to the work and ministry of Newton Tennis Gottschall. One of the diaries, written while in Indonesia, is from Charlotte Agnes Swank Gottschall.

The correspondence in this series is composed of both in-coming and out-going letters. The correspondence deals soley with foregn mission work.

This collection contains nine handwritten journals kept by Simonds while she was a missionary in India. The journals record her daily activities while serving in the mission field.

This collection of personal papers of Mildred Anne Paine includes 23 diaries and journals, photographic images, correspondence, clippings, and biographical miscellany, most of which concern her years of missionary work. The correspondence includes personal, business, and Dear Friends letters.

Most of the diaries contain additional related information tucked between the pages, including letters, poems, prayers and newspaper clippings. The completeness of entries varies from year to year, with the most detailed and personal information from 1957-1974. Some years are missing from this collection, particularly in the period of 1926-1943. The entries are generally written in reflection of the day at hand, noting activities both personal and missionary related, daily concerns and observations, and interactions with colleagues, staff, family, and friends.

This collection also contains genealogical information, including a hand-inscribed book of births, deaths, and marriages dating from 1830, created by Paine’s Aunt, Rena W. Goldsmith. Additionally, Paine kept a birthday book of friends and family dating from 1914.

There are eight audio cassettes of Bishop Arthur James Armstrong teaching Bible themed topics at an unidentified meeting or retreat in 1977.

The microfilm contains minutes created by the Methodist Episcopal Church Missionary Society Bord of Managers.

This collection contains mostly administrative records from Williams' work in missions administration. Included are Williams' reports on his trips overseas; personnel application procedures and personnel development procedures; papers and reports by other authors on missiology and missions theory; a history of the Joint Committee on Missionary Personnel: clippings, books, pamphlets, and reports on several geographic regions, especially China.