Billy Graham Center Archives

Collection 74 - Ephemera of Billy Graham. Correspondence, form letters, tapes, films, etc., gathered for the most part from non-Billy Graham Evangelistic Association sources which relate to Graham's family history, his work as an evangelist, and and his activities and influence as a public figure. The exhibit used portions of the interview of Mark Lee in this collection, tape T74.

Collection 136 - Records of Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF). Office files of MAF, a mission agency that provided transportation, radio contact and other support to missions working in remote areas, as well as some services to non-mission agencies. Materials (including correspondence, minutes, reports, prayer letters, personnel files, and budgets) that document the administration and activities of MAF, especially the Development division (extensive individual prayer letters from entire mission staff), the Research and Planning division, Personnel division, and the technical requirements of mission aviation. Of special interest are the files relating to the so-called "Auca Incident," including the killing of MAF pilot Nate Saint.

Collection 165 - Records of the Evangelical Fellowship of Mission Agencies (EFMA). Executive Directors' (Clyde Taylor, Wade Coggins, Paul McKaughan) files of the EFMA. The association of denominational and nondenominational foreign missions boards began as a commission of the National Association of Evangelicals to serve common interests of members in government relations (domestic and foreign); use of communication channels; cooperative purchasing/travel; and relations between each other.  The exhibit uses a document from the files of the Five Missionary Martyrs Fund.

Collection 277 - Papers of Philip James "Jim" Elliot. Correspondence, journals, notebooks, school records, poems, clippings, drawings, and other materials describing the ministry of Elliot and his spiritual preparation for the mission field and death at the hands of Waorani Indians.

Collection 278 - Papers of Elisabeth Howard Elliot. Correspondence, slides, clippings, publicity releases, reviews, manuscripts, video and two audio tapes relating to Elliot's ministry as a missionary in Ecuador, author, teacher and speaker; one recording is of an oral history interview about her childhood and college years. The collection is particularly rich in material relating to the so-called Auca Incident and her own work the Waorani, whose enemies called them the Auca.

Collection 313 - Papers of Robert Van Kampen. Correspondence, minutes, reports, manuscripts, photographs, audio tapes, clippings, etc., related to Van Kampen's responsibilities on the Board of Directors of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association as well as various board committees, the boards of BGEA subsidiaries or affiliated institutions (Billy Graham Benevolent Fund, Billy Graham Evangelistic Film Ministry, Inc., Billy Graham Evangelistic Trust, Billy Graham Foundation, Grason Company, World Evangelism and Christian Education Fund, World Wide Pictures, World Education Fund, World Wide Pictures, World Wide Publications), and Wheaton College's Board of Trustees. The documents focus on the administrative and planning aspects of these institutions. Information is also available on Billy Graham, the Billy Graham Center, and the 1966 World Congress on Evangelism in Berlin. The exhibit used an audio tape from this collection about the attendance of the two Waorani at the 1966 Congress.

Collection 329 - Papers of Louis and Phil Palermo. Papers of Louis and Philip Palermo musical evangelists with Chicago Midnight Brigade and Youth for Christ from their meetings in the United States and other parts of the world especially Italy and Vietnam. Collection includes articles, audio tapes, clippings, correspondence, films, phonograph records, photo albums, photographs, video tapes and wire recordings. The exhibit used clippings in some of the scrapbooks about the deaths of the missionaries in Ecuador.

Collection 349 - Papers of Clarence Wesley Jones. Collection includes correspondence, reports, sermons, memos, minutes of meetings, clippings, photographs, videotapes, slides, and other materials relating to the career of mission executive Jones. The documents deal mainly with his work at the Chicago Gospel Tabernacle and the growth and development of the organization he helped found, the World Radio Missionary Fellowship, and especially its primary broadcasting station, HCJB in Ecuador. There is also an extensive amount of information on Protestant broadcast ministries in other parts of the world. HCJB broadcast the first news to the world of the deaths of the five missionaries in 1956 and the collections contains many clippings and other documents about the event.

Collection 657 - Papers of Kenneth Fleming. Letters, articles, audio recordings and other material collected by Ken Fleming relating to the deaths of the five missionaries in Ecuador, including his brother Peter, and the growth of the church among the Waorani.

Collection 670 - Papers of Kathryn Rodgers Deering. Manuscripts, newsletters, photos, digital copies of journals, other materials relating to the life and ministry of Elisabeth Elliot as they were gathered by Kathryn Deering. Deering was the editor of Elliot’s newsletter and of several of her books.

Collection 684 - Papers of Herbert I. and Colleen Collison Elliot. Correspondence and photographs of Bert and Colleen Elliot, Plymouth Brethren missionaries to Peru from 1949 to 2012. Correspondence is by and large written by Colleen Elliot to her parents and sister. Topics covered include reflections on cultural and spiritual differences between the United States and Peru, the challenges of missionary life and language divides, interactions with missionaries from different denominations, medical work in rural areas, evangelism, and the spiritual development of Peruvian converts. The collection also contains material covering the 1956 "Auca Incident" involving the death of Bert's brother, Jim Elliot, as well as material relating to Elisabeth Elliot's ministry in Ecuador and later as a writer. The correspondence covers the time period 1943-1994.

Collection 687 - Papers of Theophilus Edward Jr. "Ed" and Marilou G. Hobolth McCully. Journal, correspondence, manuscript, audio recordings, photos and other documents that describe Ed McCully’s education (including at Wheaton College), successes in oratorical competition, courtship of Marilou Hobolth, their work in Ecuador as Plymouth Brethren missionaries, his death at the hands of Waorani tribesmen, and her subsequent involvement in telling the story of his life and faith.

Collection 701 - Papers of Olive Fleming Liefeld. Letters, reports, transcripts, photographs, photo albums, and other materials from the papers of Liefeld relating to her first husband, Peter Fleming, their work as missionaries in Ecuador among the Quichua people, his death along with four other missionaries at the hands of Waorani tribesmen in 1956, the continuing development of that story in terms of the impact of the men’s deaths on American evangelicalism and the growth of a Christian community among the Waorani, and the friendship between the widows of the five men.

College Archives & Special Collections (Buswell Library)

RG/02/004 - Office of the President Records (V. Raymond Edman), 1918-1972. Records of Wheaton College President Dr. V. Raymond Edman include biographical files, subject files, correspondence, financial records, sermons, audio recordings and memorabilia. Edman served as president during the missionaries’ student years at Wheaton. The exhibit used Box 11 from the Edman papers, containing correspondence, memoranda and newspaper clippings relating to the missionaries, their deaths and Five Missionary Martyrs Fund. 

RG/11/002 – Biographical Files. Individual biographical files were created as students matriculated at Wheaton College and then served as a "central file" for general information that was received and retained by the college. Upon a student's death files are transferred to the college's archive for permanent retention. Other files, mainly those of faculty and other notable figures related to Wheaton College, are a part of this collection.

RG/20/010 - Wheaton College Archives Photograph Collection. The photo database provided images of the five missionaries to Ecuador, in addition to various other individuals and locations associated with the outreach and aftermath.