[Note: In the Scope & Content section, the notation "folder 2-5" means "Box 2, Folder 5"]

The records in this collection include catalogs, correspondence, diaries, newsletters, news clippings, tracts, scripts, audio tapes, photographs, films, filmstrips, and video tapes. Almost all of the material in the collection was produced by the Baptista Film Mission and either document the history of the mission or the broader theme of the use of films and filmstrips for evangelism and Christian education.

Series I: Paper Records

Arrangement: The folders are arranged alphabetically according to folder title (folder titles were supplied by the Archives staff). The materials within each folder are arranged chronologically.

Date Range: 1943-1963, 1977

Volume: .6 cubic feet

Boxes: 1-2

Geographic coverage: United States

Type of Documents: Scripts, catalogs, company diaries, clippings and articles, catalogs, brochures, tracts

Correspondents: C. O. Baptista, Maxwell Kerr

Subjects: History of the Baptista Film Mission, use of film by missions, evangelistic ministries, and churches, Protestant Evangelical theology and methods of presenting the Gospel

Notes: Most of the materials in this series cover the production and distribution of the films and filmstrips made by the company. Folders 1-1 and 1-2 contain various catalogs of the films and projectors that the company produced. This includes lists of Spanish language films, which were a specialty of the company in its early years.

Several of the scripts for films and film strips are in folders 1-8 through 1-43, with additions or changes penciled in the margins. There are penciled notes for one Tel-N-See script in folder 2-4. The company produced film and synchronized filmstrip projectors that would be reliable, yet inexpensive enough to be purchased by churches. The film projector came with a guarantee that it would be good until the Second Coming of Christ. A copy of the guarantee and more detailed information about the film and filmstrip projectors can be found in folders 2-2 and 2-6.

The printed diaries, entitled Hitherto has the Lord Helped Us, in folders 1-5 through 1-7 consist of short entries about daily events in the company or reactions from film users, with many examples of how the films were used for Christian ministry. Folder 1-5 contains Baptista's handwritten diary which served as the basis for the 1945 printed diary. The tracts in folder 1-43 were published by the company. One of them, Confessions of a Business Man, tells the story of Baptista's life and the early years of the film mission. A copy of the Dunn and Bradstreet rating of the company in its early years is in folder 2-3.

Correspondence in folders 1-3 consist of letters between C. O. Baptista and Robert F. Jones. Jones apparently had donated and invested money in the company and was trying to help the company remain solvent by advising Baptista on financial matters. Folder 1-4 contains a few other letters, including one from Maxwell Kerr written long after the company dissolved about the origins of the Miracle Projector.

There are also a few newspaper and magazine clippings about the work of the company in folders 1-11 and 2-1.

Series II: Audio-Visual Materials

Arrangement: Films and filmstrips are generally in alphabetical order

Date Range: 1908, 1939-1955

Volume: 11.82 cubic feet Geographic coverage: United States, China, Israel, Philippines, Indo-China, Mexico

Type of Documents: Films, filmstrips, audio tapes, photographs

Subjects: Christian evangelism, evangelistic music, Christian life, Bible memorization, Christian foreign missions

Notes: The individual items are described in the Location Records. Audio tapes T1a, T2a, T4a have no connection at all with Baptista Film but were included in a gift to the Archives that included Baptista material.