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This collection documents the life and work of Anna Lane Wilson and Stanley Wilson, who were missionaries in China from 1917 to 1949, primarily serving at Yenching University. Of particular note are Anna Wilson's letters to family in the United States and journals document her voyage to China, missionary life, Chinese customs and celebrations, dress, architecture, the flu epidemic, climate, and political events.

The bulk of the papers relate to Brown's activities in the Presbyterian Church, the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, and with the ecumenical and world missionary movements. Of special interest are Brown's travel diaries of tours of China and the Far East, 1901-1902 and 1909. Arthur Judson Brown was a Presbyterian clergyman, author and pioneer in the ecumenical and world missionary movements of the 20th century. The positions he held included administrative secretary of the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions (1895-1929), charter trustee of the Church Peace Union (1914), organizer of several World War I relief committees, editor of Missionary Review of the World (1930), vice-president of the International World Alliance of Presbyterian and Reformed Churches (1933-1937).

Minutes, correspondence, printed material, and administrative records document the creation of the AWI and its development into an organization led primarily by Asian women. The archives also contain documentation related to the Asian women's colleges that were members of the AWI. The Asian Women's Institute was created in 1975 as a catalyst organization motivating Christian colleges for women in Asia to focus attention and resources on the major needs of women in their respective countries and to build a cooperative network among the thirteen member institutions. For many years the AWI had a New York office as well as an international office, but after the early 1990s the majority of its activities were handled through the international office.

The Associate Board of the Women's Christian College, Madras, was the American governing body of the College, which was founded in 1915 in Chennai (Madras), India, as a joint venture of several British and American mission boards.

The Association for Case Teaching was established in 1978 to promote the use of case studies for improving the quality of theological teaching. The "case method" is a means of participatory and dialogical teaching and learning by group discussion of actual events. ACT was a professional association of college and seminary faculty members, pastors, denominational and ecumenical staff persons, lay leaders, church professionals and other interested persons who utilized the methodology of "case teaching" in their educational and training roles. Its membership included individuals and institutions from throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe, Africa and Asia.

Correspondence and organizational records document the work of the Association of Professors and Researchers in Religious Education and its predecessor organization from 1963 to 1995. The Association of Professors and Researchers in Religious Education grew out of the Professors and Research Section of the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches. The group decided to move in the direction of a separate autonomous society that would become more ecumenical and interfaith.

The papers document the history of the APRRE from 1995 to 2004, when the organization merged with the Religious Education Association. They are an addition and accession for Record Group 154, which covered the years from the founding of the organization in 1970 to 1995, with pre-APRRE documents dating back to 1963. There is some overlap with a few records from 1993 and 1994. Included are records of the Executive Committee, annual business meetings, as well as correspondence, publications and membership directories.

Letters and diaries document Long's YMCA work in Tianjin (Tientsin) and Shenyang (Mukden) and shed light on the political situation in China during the 1920s. Austin O. Long was a YMCA worker in Tianjin (Tientsin), China from 1919 to 1923 and in Shenyang (Mukden), Manchuria from 1924 to 1928.

The Backus Historical Society Records, 1853-1961, are primarily records of administration and documentation of library accessions. In addition, there is a group of material identified as Collected Papers, although there is no record to verify provenance of these manuscripts.

The papers document various aspects of the lives of brothers David Nelson Beach and Harlan Page Beach, including their student days at Yale (1868-1878), Harlan's work in North China (1883-1890), and David's work as a clergyman and with the Anti-Saloon League while in Cambridge, Minneapolis and Denver. David Nelson Beach, 1848-1926, was a prominent Congregational clergyman in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Minneapolis, Minnesota and Denver, Colorado and was active in temperance reform. He was president of Bangor Theological Seminary from 1903-1921. Harlan Page Beach, 1854-1933, was a missionary to China under the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) from 1883-1890. He was professor of missions at Yale Divinity School from 1905-1921 and librarian of Yale's Day Missions Library from 1911-1925.