Guide to the Society for Missionary Inquiry (Auburn Theological Seminary) Records

The date of the founding of Auburn (NY) Theological Seminary's Society for Missionary Inquiry is unknown; the earliest recorded annual meeting was in 1823. The SMI's purpose was to collect and preserve information about the missionary work being done by Auburn graduates and about missionary work in general. Alumni serving in such places as Turkey, Siam and Cyprus wrote detailed letters home about their work, and the SMI circulated these letters among its membership, wrote exhaustive reports based on this firsthand information, and maintained its own library of these materials. Many seminaries besides Auburn had Societies of Missionary Inquiry, and Auburn's group communicated regularly with the others, sharing home letters and reports.

Many of the missionaries sent home samples of soil, plants and stones from the foreign lands in which they settled. By 1841 the SMI had amassed enough specimens to open a small museum and to start a Society of Natural History, members of which wrote papers and sponsored lectures in addition to taking care of the museum.

The Auburn SMI flourished throughout the nineteenth century; in 1898 its functions were absorbed into the YMCA.