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The collection chronicles the life and work of Benjamin Severance Winchester, who began serving as a Congregationalist minister and religious educator in 1897 and was active into the 1930s. During his career Winchester lived and worked in Washington, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, and Connecticut. Most of the collection details religious education curriculum in various fields, including sexual education, race relations education, Prohibition education, and peace education. Correspondence, curriculum, meeting minutes, and reports stem from Winchester's work with multiple organizations, including the Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America and the International Council of Religious Education.

These are the official archives of Berkeley Divinity School, a seminary of the Episcopal Church, which affiliated with Yale Divinity School in 1971.

These papers document Bernard Read's work as a scientist in China from 1909 to 1949, as well as the life of his family in China and his internment during the Japanese occupation of Shanghai, 1941-1945. Bernard Read was not directly engaged by a missionary agency but spent the first part of his career in China at the Peking Union Medical College, a union venture related to various mission agencies. Read left the Peking Union Medical College due to disagreements with its leaders, and went to work for the Henry Lester Institute, an organization financed by an American businessman in Shanghai.

The records provide valuable documentation of an indigenous program of the church in China during the years 1939 to 1950. The correspondence and writings of Archie R. Crouch, English-language secretary of the Department, 1944-1946, provide interesting insight into the experiences of a Western missionary serving under Chinese leadership. The Border Service Department was the first missionary outreach effort of the Chinese Church. The peoples among whom the Border Service Department worked were known as the Kiang or Ch'iang, Chiarong or Gia-rung, Lolos or Nosus, and Miaos. Fields of work were western Sichuan (Szechuan) (Lifan), Sikong and Yunnan.

These papers include correspondence, sermons, writings, and other documentation of the life and work of Bradford Edward Ableson, a Yale Divinity School graduate, Captain in the Chaplain Corps of the U.S. Navy, and clergyman. A prominent chaplain with a distinguished 25-year naval career, Captain Ableson provided combat ministry with Marines during Operation Desert Storm in the first Gulf War. From 1996 to 1999, he assumed Presidential Service duties as the Chaplain at Camp David, Maryland during the Clinton Administration. In 2004, he was promoted to the rank of Navy captain and assumed responsibilities as Command Chaplain of the U.S. Strategic Command.

J. Homer and Minnie Bright, their son J. Calvin Bright, and his wife Harriet Bright, were American missionaries in China from 1911 to 1951, serving under the Church of the Brethren mission. The elder Brights served in Shao Yang and Ping Ting, Shansi province. J. Calvin and Harriet Bright served in Chengdu, Sichuan (Chengtu, Szechwan) province. This record group also contains material related to Daniel and Jane Dye, who taught at the West China Union University in Chengdu (Chengtu). J. Calvin and Harriet Bright were Church of the Brethren ministers in Indiana and Illinois after 1951.

The papers document the work of the Student Young Men's Christian Association primarily during the period when Bruce Maguire served as the Executive Secretary, 1955-1970. They provide insight into the activities and thought of American college students during this turbulent era and provide detailed information about the operations and policy of the Student YMCA as it sought to define its role in a changing society. Bruce Maguire was involved in student work for the YMCA from 1942 to 1971. From 1955-1970 he was Executive Secretary in the Student Department and National Student Council of YMCAs.

Correspondence, writings, and research materials by and about Cai Yongchun (Ts'ai Yung-ch'un) (1904-1983), provide insight into the life and work of a Chinese scholar, educator, and theologian, and into conditions in China during the Cultural Revolution.

This collection contains church bulletins, brochures, event notices, newletters, fans, and other ephemera documenting urban churches in America,primarily dating from 2000-2004. These materials shed light on the weekly activities of churches, their pastors and leaders, worship services, and outreach efforts. They provide a fascinating snapshot of religion in urban America.

The papers document two generations of Baptist missionary effort in South China. Extensive biographical and autobiographical material gives insight into the personal lives of the Campbells. Conditions in China during World War II are reflected in the letters of Louise and Dorothy Campbell. The Campbells were a family of missionaries in China. George Campbell and his wife, Jennie Wortman Campbell served in South China (1887-1916). Four of their eight children continued missionary efforts. Louise Campbell, principal of the Kwong Yit Girls' School, Meihsien, Guangdong (Kwangtung) Province, worked for 40 years among the Hakka tribespeople, as did her sister, Margaret Larue Campbell Burket and Margaret's husband, Everett S. Burket from 1916-1946. Dorothy McBride Campbell served in China from 1926-1944, as did David Miles Campbell from 1926-1942.