Records of the Societe de Etudes Oceaniennes:

1. Orders of the day of the Commanding Officer, Iles Sous le Vent, Society Islands, January-February, 1897.
2. Miscellaneous documents on Huahine and Raiatea, 1879-1891.
3. Notes on the ethnology of the Marquesas Islands by C. Noury, Capitaine de Fregate, Commandant of the Nukuhiva station, November 2, 1849. (Human sacrifice and The Origin of Fire in Marquesan and French).
4. Documents on the ethnology of the Society Islands gathered by C.F. Lavaud, Capitaine de Vaisseau, Commissaire de la Republique, Society Islands - dated July 16, 1849, and September 20, 1849 (Tahitian and French).
5. Genealogy of Ma'i, by Rene Calinaud, magistrate, Papeete, July 23, 1966.
6. Report on a mission to the Gambier Islands by Cdt. de la Motte Rouge, February, 1871.
7. Letters on the smallpox epidemic at Nukuhiva and Uapou, Marquesas, 1863. (Originals in Bishop Museum, Honolulu).
8. The Old Orsmond Manuscript.
9. Legend of the Lizard Mo'orea by the Chief of Mai'ao (French and local language).
10. Letter of Commandant Maxime Destremau, December 2, 1914. (Destremau was the commander of the French warship 'Zelee' when the German raiders 'Scharnhorst' and 'Gneisenau' bombarded Papeete on September 22, 1914).
11. An official document thanking the men who rescued the victims of the German raider 'Seeadler' from Mopelia Atoll in 1917.
12. Notes on the inland route from Papenoo to Mataiea, Tahiti, by M. Jay.
13. Report on lands owned by the Pomare Family, compiled by a secretary of Queen Pomare IV (in Tahitian).
14. Legends of the Society Islands and other papers.
15. Useful plants of Tahiti, by Edouard Butteaud.

Reverend Charles Moore went to Tonga as a Methodist missionary in 1924. He spent four years in Ha'apai, followed by four years in Vava'u, and returned to Australia in 1932. The correspondence (85 items) chiefly consists of letters from the Rev. Rodger C.G. Page, president of the Tongan Conference of the Methodist Church. Other correspondents include Queen Salote Tupou and a number of other Tongans, whose letters are in the Tongan language. In addition there is a copy of a letter from the Rev. Shirley W. Baker, Premier of the Tongan Government, to the president of the Wesleyan Methodist Conference in Melbourne of 1888.

The Rev. John R. Metcalfe (1889-1970) was born in Yorkshire and served as a Methodist missionary in the Solomon Islands for 37 years. He served as a home missionary in Great Britain before moving to Victoria in 1914. He became a candidate for the Methodist ministry in 1916, and after being ordained was appointed to the Solomon Islands in 1920. After a brief period at Roviana, he was appointed to Choiseul as assistant to the Rev. V. LeC. Binet. Apart from four years at Teop, he remained on Choiseul until 1951. During the war, he served as a Coastwatcher. He became chairman of the Methodist Mission in the Solomons in 1951, a post he held until he retired to Australia in 1957. He continued to take an active interest in the mission until his death in 1970.

A collection of 39 articles with the following titles: Lauru; The Three Brothers; Harry Raeno; Stephen Gandepeta; The Two Friends; Timothy Loe; Solomon Damusoe; Methodism in the Marovo; A Footnote to Rickenbacker; The Vurulata Senga Feud; Pioneering on Choiseul; The Gumi Family; Methodism on Guadalcanal; The Helena Goldie Hospital; The Melanesian Cargo Cult; Our Time at Teop; Osea Tambipunda; How the Lauruans met the Japanese; Thoughts on Etoism; Aola Methodism; San Marcos or Choiseul Island; The Fisherman who Got Lost; Sub-Hospital No.3; The Coming of the Uniform; The Coming of the Aeroplane; Christmas in the Battle Area; Broadcast at Honiara (8/4/51); How I Left Munda; The Methodist Church and the Development of North-East Bougainville; How the Japanese Descended on Lauru; The Beginning of the Kamanga Tribe; The Problem of the Tropical South Pacific; Co-operation in the Solomon Islands District; My Years as Chairman; Vangunu: The Tragedy at Egolo... Rendova; and three broadcasts made in August and September, 1943, entitled Readings from a Missionary's Diary.

The Rev. John R. Metcalfe (1889-1970) was born in Yorkshire and served as a Methodist missionary in the Solomon Islands for 37 years. He served as a home missionary in Great Britain before moving to Victoria in 1914. He became a candidate for the Methodist ministry in 1916, and after being ordained was appointed to the Solomon Islands in 1920. After a brief period at Roviana, he was appointed to Choiseul (also, Lauru) as assistant to the Rev. V. LeC. Binet. Apart from four years at Teop, he remained on Choiseul until 1951. During the war, he served as a Coastwatcher. He became chairman of the Methodist Mission in the Solomons in 1951, a post he held until he retired to Australia in 1957. He continued to take an active interest in the mission until his death.

From time to time during his career in the Solomon Islands, Metcalfe wrote long, descriptive newsletters to friends overseas which he called general letters. They were invariably typewritten. Apparently several carbon copies of each letter were sent out. Those on this microfilm were written in the following years: 1920 (2), 1921 (2), 1922 (1), 1924 (1), 1925 (1), 1926 (1), 1927 (1), 1929 (1), 1936 (2), 1937 (2), 1938 (2), 1939 (1), 1941 (1), 1946 (2), 1947 (2), 1948 (1), 1950 (1).

Metcalfe, a Methodist missionary in the Solomon Islands for 37 years, was born in Yorkshire in 1889. He served as a home missionary in Great Britain before moving to Victoria in 1914. He became a candidate for the Methodist ministry in 1916, and after being ordained was appointed to the Solomon Islands in 1920. After a brief period at Roviana, he was appointed to Choiseul as assistant to the Rev. V. LeC. Binet. Apart from four years at Teop, he remained on Choiseul until 1951. During the war, he served as a Coastwatcher. He was chairman of the Methodist Mission in the Solomons from 1951 until he retired to Australia in 1957. He died in 1970.

Correspondence between Metcalfe and the general secretary for foreign missions of the New Zealand Methodist Church.<BR>For other Metcalfe papers see also PMB 67, 68, 74-80, 82, 88 and 413.

The 15 manuscript items on this microfilm were bought by the Territory of French Polynesia at an auction of Pacific manuscripts in Paris in June, 1969. They were formerly part of the Ropiteau-O'Reilly collection.

The 15 items are:

1. A six-page account of Tahiti by Chenard de la Giraudais, commander of 'l'Etoile', the consort of Bougainville's ship 'La Boudeuse', which visited Tahiti in April, 1768.
2. Letter written in Tahiti on February 6, 1799, by the L.M.S. missionary John Harris.
3. Journal of the missionaries Henry Nott and James Elder describing a preaching tour, Tahiti in 1802.
4. Letter from King Pomare II to the L.M.S., London, dated January 1, 1807.
5. Journal kept by the missionaries William Henry and John Davies during a preaching tour on the island of Huahine in 1809.
6. Letter from Pomare II dated September 25, 1812, to the missionaries on Moorea informing them of his determination to abandon false gods and ancient rites against evil spirits.
7. Letter from the missionaries John Williams, L.E. Threlkeld and J.M. Orsmond from Raiatea to the L.M.S. in London, dated September 5, 1819. Collective report on affairs at the missions on Raiatea and Tahaa.
8. Letter from the missionary George Platt from Bora Bora, dated May 28, 1828, describing a visit to the island of Maupiti.
9. Letter from Queen Pomare IV and her second husband Ariifaaite to the missionary Henry Nott dated February 4, 1836, asking to be readmitted to church membership.
10. Letterbook (pp71) copies of 19 letters by George Pritchard, British Consul in Tahiti - November 26 1836 to February 15 1837.
11. May 11, 1846 letter from Queen Pomare IV at Raiatea to the directors, L.M.S., stating she would never live under the French protectorate.
12. 94-page report, 'Look Again, or a few observations on the affairs of Tahiti from 1845 to 1849 by an eye-witness' by Rev. J.M. Orsmond to President of France.
13. & 14. Letters from Queen Pomare IV to President of France (August 26, 1851) re government of her country and French Governor (September 18, 1872) re funeral of her small daughter.
14. Account book 1877-1882 by Pomare V Tahiti's last king, d.1891

Diaries span Rev. John R. Metcalfe's entire career as a Methodist missionary and are of especial historical interest for his years in Solomon Islands. See also MS 75 through to MS 80.

Reverend John R. Metcalfe (1889-1970) was born in Yorkshire and served as a Methodist missionary in the Solomon Islands for 37 years. He became a candidate for the Methodist ministry in 1916, and after being ordained was appointed to the Solomon Islands in 1920. After a brief period at Roviana, he was appointed to Choiseul as assistant to the Rev. V. LeC. Binet. Apart from four years at Teop, he remained on Choiseul (with a break during the war) until 1951. He was then appointed chairman of the Methodist Mission in the Solomons. He retired in 1957.

Diaries spanning Reverend John R. Metcalfe's entire career as a Methodist missionary and are of particular historical interest for his 37 years in Solomon Islands from 1920-1957. Metcalfe was appointed to Solomon Islands in 1920. After a brief period at Roviana, he was appointed to Choiseul (Lauru island) as assistant to the Rev. V. LeC. Binet. Apart from four years at Teop, he remained on Choiseul (with a break during the war) until 1951. He was then appointed chairman of the Methodist Mission in the Solomons.

See also PMB MS 74 through to MS 80.

Diaries spanning Reverend John R. Metcalfe's entire career as a Methodist missionary and are of particular historical interest for his 37 years in Solomon Islands from 1920-1957. Metcalfe was appointed to Solomon Islands in 1920. After a brief period at Roviana, he was appointed to Choiseul (Lauru island) as assistant to the Rev. V. LeC. Binet. Apart from four years at Teop, he remained on Choiseul (with a break during the war) until 1951. He was then appointed chairman of the Methodist Mission in the Solomons.

See also PMB MS 74 through to MS 80.