"Copier-Buch Indien-Verein (v. Hrn Eidenbenz 1920 mitgebracht). / Copy book of the India Society[1842-7], brought back to Basel in 1920 by Mr Eidenbenz."

A very early copy-book made of tissue paper, probably one of the earliest in the archive. The dimensions including the cover are 27 x 22 x 3.1 cm. The copy-book was used from back to front - about 2/3 of the pages are unused. It contains tissue paper copies of letters 1842-1844 and paper copies of letters pasted between 1844 and 1847. Preservation standard: In the case of tissue paper copies, almost entirely catastrophic, in the best case the traces of the ink are barely legible. Attempts were made to salvage some of the basic information in the documents, using pencil or ink additions in the old German manuscript. The later papers are readable, although they were not written well enough as file copies to be easily read by anyone other than the author. Despite the wording of the title ("Indien-Verein" = "India Society"), it is the example of the Basel Women's Mission, which was tried to organize in Europe from 1842. The author of the letters 1842-1844 is Pastor Huber in Basel. Copies of letters from 1844 exist in paper form, often without signatures, although it seems clear that the correspondence was conducted by Pastor Adolf Sarasin. Some letters are addressed to missionaries in India (e.g. the Gunderts) who were interested in developing a women's mission. Others are obviously part of the attempt to build a network to support this organisation in Europe. Others are directed to people who travelled abroad for the Basel Mission (in particular Karolina Mook).

1842

1847

1842-1847

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