The papers document the activities of the Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions and provide valuable information on various aspects of American religious life during the period 1886-1964. Religious conditions on American college and university campuses are documented. Vast files of student volunteer application, information and health examination blanks provide personal data on thousands of prospective missionaries which is of potential interest to genealogists, biographers and historians. The financial records and correspondence provide documentation related to philanthropic support of religious causes in America. The Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions was an organization that sought to recruit college and university students in the United States for missionary service abroad. It also publicized and encouraged the missionary enterprise in general.
Connecticut's Archives Online