Eastman and his wife Winifred (nee Grimwade, married 1914) ran the London Missionary Society Mission in Rarotonga from 1913 to 1918 and the LMS Gilbert Islands Mission from 1918 to 1947. The Gilbert Islands Mission, which was based at Rongorongo on the island of Beru included the Ellice Islands, Nauru, Ocean Island and the Phoenix Islands. Eastman, who was awarded an OBE in 1946, retired to Swanage, Dorset in 1949. For further information see Norman Goodall, A History of the London Missionary Society, 1895-1945 (OUP, 1954) <BR>and John Garrett, Ways across the ocean in Bernard Thorogood (ed.), Gales of Change: responding to a shifting missionary context: the story of the London Missionary Society, 1945-77 (Geneva, 1994) pp.188-190. See also PMB 478 for Eastman's Rarotongan-English Dictionary, 1918.

Reel 1: Personal correspondence, 1914-69.
Reel 2: Cook Islands - newsclippings, typescripts and pamphlets, 1914-18.
Mss of Notes on Rarotongan Grammar, 1913.
Personal notebook, 1918-46.
Gilbert Islands Mission reports and newsletters, 1918-47.
Reel 3: Gilbert Islands Mission financial and administrative papers, 1918-50 and papers on education, 1922-48.
Reel 4: Sermons in English and Gilbertese: Old Testament, 1917-47, New Testament, 1918-22.
Reel 5: Sermons - New Testament, 1923-44.
Reel 6: Sermons - New Testament, 1945-47 (undated sermons at end of sequence)
Reels 6-7: Research material on the history, culture and flora of the Gilbert Islands, including mss and typescript extracts and transcripts from other sources, printed and roneoed documents, notes, drafts and maps.
Reel 7: 1922 mss transcript/revision of an English/Gilbertese vocubulary originally compiled by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions.
Reels 7-8: Mss working draft of an English Gilbertese vocabulary assembled by Eastman.
Reel 8: 1948 typescript draft of Eastman's published English/Gilbertese vocabulary. 170 photographs taken in the Cook Islands and the Gilbert Islands.
Reels 8-11: 48 books and pamphlets printed in Samoa and the Gilbert Islands, 1892-1978. 38 of these publications are in Gilbertese, three are in Rarotongan and the remainder are in English. A complete inventory of publications filmed is available.

See Finding aids for details.