Atla Digital Library Welcomes Carey Baptist College Ayson Clifford Library

We are pleased to welcome Carey Baptist College Ayson Clifford Library as the newest contributor to the Atla Digital Library! Carey Baptist College digitized their Emma Beckingsale collection with support from the Atla Digitization Grant Program.

Emma Beckingsale (1870-1955) was born in the province of Otago in southern New Zealand, and as a young woman did nursing training in Dunedin hospital. Accepted by the New Zealand Baptist Missionary Society for service in India, she traveled to that country via the United Kingdom in order to undertake a midwifery course in Edinburgh. On Christmas Day 1895 she arrived in Kolkata (Calcutta) to begin a missionary career in East Bengal (now Bangladesh) that lasted nearly four decades (1895-1934).

From the time she left New Zealand, Emma kept a diary. Some twenty-seven exercise books of her writing remain, covering the period from 1895 to 1924. Along with the routines, challenges, frustrations and occasional joys of day-to-day missionary work, the diaries record careful observation of life in East Bengal — the climate and geography, economic and social conditions, Hindu and Muslim religious practice, and the ever-pressing need for medical care.

The Beckingsale diaries are significant because of the insight they give into the conditions of the time, in particular, the plight of women, especially those of low caste and outcasts (untouchables). The digitized versions of these works offer access for researchers everywhere to a resource which provides an often-ignored perspective from an intelligent, entrepreneurial woman, witnessing large affairs through a life of service across the turn of the 20th century.

Explore highlights from this collection below.

Emma Beckingsale Diaries

The Emma Beckingsale diaries are a unique resource in New Zealand religious and social history. Key to their significance is their continuity across several decades. The diaries are not inner-life private confidences but were written to inform the churches and interest groups providing support for Emma Beckingsale’s work. As such they reveal both the history of an important aspect of New Zealand’s engagement with the wider British Empire, but also the interests and concerns of religious New Zealanders at home. The diaries, in addition, are full of detailed incidental observation of life and customs in Britain and in East Bengal, where she worked.

Diary twelve of a collection of Emma Beckingsale’s diaries. This diary covers the period from September 10th 1898 to January 21st 1899. The description at the start of the diary states: “Chandpur.” There are 112 pages of handwritten text.

“Miss Beckingsale and Miss Rice in summer attire”

This photograph of Emma Beckingsale and Hilda Rice, was likely taken in the Bengal mission field. Miss Rice worked 22 years in the mission field during the period between the wars. She was involved in teaching young people and had a part in both compound and village education.

You can see the full Emma Beckingsale collection in the Atla Digital Library

About

The Atla Digital Library brings together in a singular, searchable platform digitized collections from libraries, religious institutions, and other organizations worldwide who collect and preserve texts, records, maps, photographs, recordings, and other materials. The items found in the Atla Digital Library are of importance to those with an interest in researching, studying, teaching, and otherwise searching for historical and archival content in religion and theology. Learn more on how to become a contributing institution.

Check out all of the over 129,000 works in the Atla Digital Library.