Whether you are registered on our contact list or have come across this site by accident, we hope you find information of interest in our explorations of links between the Church of Ireland (Anglican Church) and South America and maybe even add your own story.
What is the project about?
In 2026 we mark 170 years since the official establishment of the Irish Auxiliary of the South American Missionary Society (SAMS), now better known as SAMS Ireland. To date, the early development of the SAMS Ireland has received very little attention, the stories of the earliest missionaries and supporters largely remaining untold.
On the 3 October 1969, in a ‘SAMS Special Focus’, the Church of Ireland Gazette noted that a ‘book could be written specially for Ireland – or some other record made of the people from our church who pioneered the work. Eyre Massey Nason, Mary and Cherie Dawson, Henry C. Grubb – and others of whom even less is remembered.’
The ‘Living Archive Project’ led by Dr Fiona Clark (Queen’s University Belfast) aims to address this gap in our knowledge of the men and women who have worked with SAMS Ireland over the last almost two centuries, and those from South America who have impacted the church in Ireland.
Why a ‘living archive’?
There are many ways of understanding and questioning what an archive is or should contain. In addition to working with archival and ‘historical’ written texts or photographic images, this project is seeking out the living stories, memories, and experiences of individuals, groups, and parishes, who have worked with or supported the work of SAMS Ireland in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
We aim to build as rich and diverse a body of materials as possible that will be added to the SAMS Collection held in the Representative Church Body Library and form an record of this shared heritage for future generations.
How can I get involved?
This site will be continually evolving as information becomes available and as people add to it. There are several ways to get involved in the project:
- Register for updates to the site;
- Give us feedback – any changes or areas of interest you would like to see included?;
- Get in touch to let us know if you have materials that could be donated to the RCB SAMS Collection;
- Get in touch if you have worked with SAMS – home staff, missionary experience, long-term volunteer, summer project participant, supporter – and have a story to tell!
- Are you interested in family or local history links? Then get in touch with us as well. We would love to hear from you!
Contact us here