The contents of the archives of the Mill Hill Missionaries date from the foundation of St Joseph’s Missionary Society, Mill Hill, in 1866, by Father Herbert Vaughan, and comprise letters and papers concerning the foundation of the Society, financing, design and construction of Saint Joseph’s College and Chapel, and provision of funding for the education of students. These are followed by documents of 1871 relating to the first four young Mill Hill Missionaries’ departure for the Diocese of Baltimore, Maryland, to minster among the recently emancipated slaves. Father Vaughan accompanied these four priests to Baltimore, and after seeing them settled in the parish of Saint Francis Xavier, undertook a tour of the Eastern States begging for money to support this missionary endeavour and searching for men to join his Society and work as priests among the Black population.
The Archive collates letters and papers, and other documents of the Society’s early evangelising ministry in the United States of America, South India, Afghanistan, Borneo, New Zealand; and later evangelising ministry in North India and Pakistan, Uganda, Belgian Congo/Zaire/DRC, Philippines, Caribbean Islands, Cameroon, Kenya, Sudan, Falkland Islands, Chile, Ecuador, Brazil, Peru, Australia, and latterly, Cambodia.
The Archive also holds a collection of photographs relating to the ministry of Mill Hill Missionaries in the aforementioned areas.
The Archive material provides a first-hand account of the daily ministry of the Mill Hill Missionaries and is a valuable resource for researchers of inter alia church history, colonial history, missiology, ethnology, education, and linguistics, as well as a resource for research into local church history, parish history, and family history.
Enquires are welcome.
Documents available to view and download
Contact the Archivist
For details regarding the Archives, please contact the MHM Archivist, Stephen Giles.
The Archivist
Fr Stephen Giles MHM
Heritage Centre
41 Victoria Road
Freshfield
Liverpool
L37 1LW
United Kingdom