[Minnesota]. [Missionary Press]

Missionary Paper. By the Associate Mission for Minnesota [& by Bishop Seabury Mission, Nos. 1-15, 20-30, 32-34, 37, 39, 41, & Extra]

Faribault, Mn. 1859-1868. Thirty-three issues in one, with varying paginations. Later library buckram with gilt spine title. Library shelf label at foot of spine; institutional bookplate on front pastedown. Institutional perforation stamp to title page of first issue, other scattered internal library marks and annotations. Some edge wear and toning; a few short, closed tears. Still very good. Item #6300

An extraordinary sammelband of missionary newspapers issued by the Associate Mission of Minnesota, or the Bishop Seabury Mission, with much on the Sioux Massacre, relations with Native Americans, conversion efforts amongst the tribes, appeals on their behalf, and much more. The institution was established at Faribault, Minnesota, fifty miles south of Minneapolis and St. Paul, in 1858 by Rev. James Lloyd Breck, and was renamed the Bishop Seabury Mission in 1860 after it came into the sphere of the first Episcopal Bishop of Minnesota, noted religious reformer and Indian advocate, Henry Whipple. The first issue of the Missionary Paper offers an introduction to the Associate Mission thus:

"That which will remain to the Associate Mission will be the central school and educational establishment at Faribalt [sic]. It will be deeply interesting to the friends of the Mission abroad to know, also, how far this feature of our work has progressed. Within the wooden walls of a few Mission houses, have been drawn together ten young men who seek the ministry. Three of these, along with two female teachers, instruct a day school of nearly one hundred pupils.... With an increase of quarters, it is believed that the number of pupils will be, by another year, one hundred and fifty. The school is also normal in its character. From these features, united strongly in one central organization, it may readily be gathered what its future is to be in the Northwest."

Present here are thirty-three issues of their Missionary Paper, the bulk dating from 1859 to 1864 and comprising thirty of the first thirty-five editions, which served as a newsletter and fundraising appeal to benefactors, donors, church authorities, and other interested parties. In addition to describing the organization and the setup of the mission, the first issue also reports activities and occurrences there, such as the participation of members of multiple tribes in their services:

"The good Bishop, at the end of morning prayer, delivered the gospel charge in his happiest style, animated -- as we all were -- with the representatives of two nations before him, which had hitherto made so continual war upon each other... After the customary services, holy hands were laid upon the head of our red brother, and he humbly received the commission in the 'name of Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.' En-megah-bowh now arose from his knees, and delivered the gospel in a modest but distinct voice. The Bishop added a few more deeply impressive and prayerful words, when the Eucharistic service began. The Christian chief participated in this with his new pastor. Several nations were now represented around the table of the Lord, and we felt that it was good to be here."

The issues continually describe the efforts of the mission amongst local tribes, including the Dakota, Chippewa, and Ojibwa, the activities and speeches of native visitors, and the progress of the religious and training schools at the mission. Some examples of native language printing are scattered throughout, such as versions of the Lord's Prayer in Chippewa and Ojibwa. The reports take a turn following the outbreak of the Dakota Uprising in 1862 and the resultant killing of hundreds of frontier settlers. In the first issue after the massacre has occurred, the causes and effects of the armed conflict are explained through the missionary lens, and the U.S. government in fact receives a good deal of the blame:

"The border for 200 miles was desolated and cruelties perpetrated to appall the stoutest heart. Neither age nor sex was spared. Even those who saw the fruit of this in the wounded brought to hospitals will never forget it to their dying day.... We do feel that a fearful responsibility rests on the Government which has so blindly fostered a system which has always brought a harvest of blood. It comes because we have refused to recognize that the Providence of God has made these men our wards. We have left an unprotected population to suffer the blow of savage warfare, and given these innocent Indians nothing to control or change savage life. This lesson is written in so sharp and hard a school of sorrow ought to teach us to reform this wrong system and to throw such safeguards around the frontier as will forever prevent the recurrence of another Indian massacre."

The following issue prints "An Appeal for the Red Man," which presents even more stark criticism of the treatment of Native Americans in Minnesota:

"There is not to-day an old citizen of Minnesota who will not shrug his shoulders as he speaks of the dishonesty which accompanied the purchase of the lands of the Sioux. It left in savage minds a deep sense of injustice. There followed ten years of savage life, unchecked by law, and uninfluenced by good example. They were taught by white men that lying was no disgrace, adultery no sin, and theft no crime. Their hunting grounds were gone, and the onward march of civilization crowded them on every side. The only possible hope of being saved from starvation was the fidelity with which a great nation fulfilled in plighted faith, which before God and man it had pledged to its heathen wards. The people here on the border, and the rulers at Washington know how that faith has been broken."

A vital and rare document of Native American relations on the Upper Midwestern frontier during the Civil War, and with much information from a local viewpoint on one of the most important and bloody episodes in the history of those relations, the Dakota War and the mass execution of the Sioux at Fort Snelling, still the largest such event to take place in the United States. We locate a strong run of these papers at the Minnesota Historical Society, but otherwise only scattered issues among a handful of other institutions. A full list of issues present here is as follows:

1) Missionary Paper. Number One. By the Associate Mission for Minnesota. 1859. 8pp. Minnesota Imprints 240.
2) Missionary Paper. Number Two. By the Associate Mission for Minnesota. The Educational Department. 1859. 8pp. Minnesota Imprints 241.
3) Missionary Paper. Number Three. By the Associate Mission for Minnesota. The Indian Department. 1859. 8pp. Minnesota Imprints 242.
4) Missionary Paper. Number Four. By the Associate Mission for Minnesota. The Associate Mission. 1859. 8pp. Minnesota Imprints 243.
5) Missionary Paper. Number Five. By the Associate Mission for Minnesota. The Indian Mission at Work. 1860. 8pp. Minnesota Imprints 284.
6) Missionary Paper. Number Six. By the Associate Mission for Minnesota. Bishop Whipple. 1860. 8pp. Minnesota Imprints 285.
7) Missionary Paper. Number Seven. By the Associate Mission for Minnesota. The Associate Mission Progressive. 1860. 12pp. Minnesota Imprints 286.
8) Missionary Paper. Number Eight. By the Bishop Seabury Mission. Faribault, Minnesota. Our Plans for Future Work. 1860. 8pp. Minnesota Imprints 287.
9) Missionary Paper. Number Nine. By the Bishop Seabury Mission. Faribault, Minnesota. The Dacotah Mission. 1860. 12pp. Minnesota Imprints 288.
10) Missionary Paper. Number Ten. By the Bishop Seabury Mission. September 1860. Faribault, Minnesota. The Schools of the Mission. 1860. 8pp. Minnesota Imprints 289.
11) Missionary Paper. Number Eleven. By the Bishop Seabury Mission. October 1860. Faribault, Minnesota. The Andrews' Hall. 1860. 8pp. Minnesota Imprints 290.
12) Missionary Paper. Number Twelve. By the Bishop Seabury Mission. January 1861. Faribault, Minnesota. Christmas Greetings to Children. 1861. 8pp. Minnesota Imprints 353.
13) Missionary Paper. Number Thirteen. By the Bishop Seabury Mission. February 1861. Faribault, Minnesota. Epiphany Greetings to Sunday School Teachers. 1861. 8pp. Minnesota Imprints 354.
14) Missionary Paper. Number Fourteen. By the Bishop Seabury Mission. March 1861. Faribault, Minnesota. Lent Greetings to our Female Co-Laborers. 1861. 8pp. Minnesota Imprints 355.
15) Missionary Paper. Number Fifteen. By the Bishop Seabury Mission. April 1861. Faribault, Minnesota. Easter Hopes for Missions. 1861. 8pp. Minnesota Imprints 356.
16) Missionary Paper. By the Bishop Seabury Mission. Number Twenty. Lent, 1862. Faribault, Minnesota. An Episcopal Visit to the White Fields of Minnesota. 1862. 8pp. Minnesota Imprints 418.
17) Missionary Paper. By the Bishop Seabury Mission. Number Twenty-one. Easter, 1862. Faribault, Minnesota. The Mission to the Dakotah Indians. 1862. 8pp. Minnesota Imprints 419.
18) Missionary Paper. By the Bishop Seabury Mission. Number Twenty-two. Trinity, 1862. Faribault, Minnesota. The Parish of the Good Shepherd. 1862. 12pp. Minnesota Imprints 420.
19) Missionary Paper. By the Bishop Seabury Mission. Number Twenty-three. Advent, 1862. Faribault, Minnesota. Christian Indians under Various Trials of Faith. 1862. 12pp. Minnesota Imprints 421.
20) Missionary Paper. By the Bishop Seabury Mission. Number Twenty-four. Epiphany, 1863. Faribault, Minnesota. An Appeal for the Red Man. 1863. 16pp. Minnesota Imprints 472.
21) Missionary Paper. By the Bishop Seabury Mission. Number Twenty-five. Lent, 1863. Faribault, Minnesota. The Frontier Church, and Rev. Dr. Breck's Visit to the East. 1863. 8pp. Minnesota Imprints 473.
22) Missionary Paper. By the Bishop Seabury Mission. Number Twenty-six. Faribault, Minnesota. The Mission of St. John on the Upper Missouri to the Dakotah Indians. 1863. 16pp. Minnesota Imprints 474.
23) Missionary Paper. By the Bishop Seabury Mission. Number Twenty-seven. August, 1863. Faribault, Minnesota. The First Response to the Rev. Dr. Breck's Appeal to the Churches. 12pp. Minnesota Imprints 475.
24) Missionary Paper. By the Bishop Seabury Mission. Number Twenty-eight. Advent, 1863. Faribault, Minnesota. The Second Response to the Rev. Dr. Breck's Appeal to the Churches. 16pp. Minnesota Imprints 476.
25) Missionary Paper. By the Bishop Seabury Mission. Number Twenty-eight [i.e. -nine]. Christmas, 1863. Faribault, Minnesota. The Indian System. 10pp. Minnesota Imprints 477.
26) Missionary Paper Extra of the Bishop Seabury Mission. Quinquagesima, 1864. A Supplemental APpeal for the Church Buildings at Faribault Minnesota. 8pp. Minnesota Imprints 534.
27) Missionary Paper. By the Bishop Seabury Mission. Number Thirty. Lent, 1864. Faribault, Minnesota. Letters on the Indian System. 20pp. Minnesota Imprints 535.
28) Missionary Paper. By the Bishop Seabury Mission. Number Thirty-two. Trinity, 1864. Faribault, Minnesota. The Third Response to the Rev. Dr. Breck's Appeal to the Churches. 16pp. [including terminal blank]. Minnesota Imprints 537.
29) Missionary Paper. By the Bishop Seabury Mission. Number Thirty-three. September, 1st, 1864. Faribault, Minnesota. Letters on the Indian System. 16pp. Minnesota Imprints 538.
30) Missionary Paper. By the Bishop Seabury Mission. Number Thirty-four. Epiphany, 1864. Faribault, Minnesota. The White Field. 8pp. Minnesota Imprints 535.
31) Mission Paper of the Bishop Seabury Mission, Number Thirty-seven. Whitsuntide, 1866. Faribault, Minnesota. The Associate Mission. St. Paul: Davidson & Hall, 1866. 16pp. Original wrappers bound in.
32) Missionary Paper of the Bishop Seabury Mission, Number Thirty-nine. November, 1866. Faribault, Minnesota. The Present and the Future of the Bishop Seabury Mission. 12pp.
33) Missionary Paper of the Bishop Seabury Misssion, Number Forty-One. Epiphany, 1868. Faribault, Minnesota. The Work of the Bishop Seabury Mission. 8pp.

Price: $12,500.00