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The Archives steward the official records and correspondence of the IMB. Our collections also contain donated materials such as personal papers and artifacts from missionaries and others.

Digitized assets include periodicals, correspondence, board minutes, and annual reports, and are available for viewing on this site. For information about the Archives' non-digitized holdings, please visit the About page.

Browse selected collections published in the IMB's digital archives.

Periodicals Collections

For over 170 years various entities of the Southern Baptist Convention have published missions-related periodicals comprised of news, commentary, and images from the mission fields.  These collections include most issues of the following publications: 

Southern Baptist Missionary Journal, The Commission, Home and Foreign Journal, Foreign Mission Journal, Home and Foreign Fields, and Commission Stories.

African-American Heritage Collection

This collection contains transcribed letters, articles, and reports related to the IMB's early African-American missionaries to Liberia and Sierra Leone (1846-1861), including John Day, Boston J. Drayton, A. P. Davis, B. P. Yates, and others.

IMB History

Explore these resources to learn more about the IMB's history. In these resources, you will find an interactive map journal, a 175-year timeline, and a podcast covering topics in missions history.

 

The "Journey to the Orient" is an interactive map journal about the third Foreign Mission Board (now IMB) executive leader's tour of the mission stations around the world. Robert J. Willingham served as Corresponding/Executive Secretary from 1893–1914.

 

An interactive timeline from 1845 to 2020 presents milestones in IMB history and major world events as well as profiles of Southern Baptist missionaries and their efforts to spread the gospel to all peoples.

 

The Missions History Podcast (MHP) explores international missions history through interviews with missionaries, mission historians, and others.  Remembering the past to inspire the future.