British Christianity was adapted and modified in colonial environments and helped to shape a growing sense of national identity in Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific. This chronologically arranged index will identify for scholars documentary sources of the Archbishops of Canterbury and the Anglican Church relevant to Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea, and the other Pacific islands and held in the Lambeth Palace Library's archives. In the 1860s, Archbishops of Canterbury inherited responsibility from the Colonial Office for selecting and nominating colonial bishops. By the turn of the twentieth century, archbishops had become confidantes, counselors, and advisers to bishops overseas. Although the papers and correspondence primarily reflect the ecclesiastical life, they also reflect the social, economic, and political atmosphere of the time, and underscore how vital religious institutions were to the colonial communities' developing sense of unity. The papers' contents are diverse and include, among other topics, information about Aborigines, Australian church and community life, women's roles, immigration issues, imperialism, Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States, and race relations.
This index will be a valuable source to scholars and researchers studying social and institutional developments in the former British Empire and Commonwealth. Data is organized chronologically by archbishop. The volume contains two appendices; one listing archbishops of Canterbury, bishops of London, and bishops and archbishops in Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific, and another listing Lambeth degrees. Separate subject and name indexes are included.
