The documents in this collection were put into folders labeled and arranged by the archivist. Materials were foldered by types of the material. Mrs. Wismer originally kept these material in notebooks and several of the documents are still in the plastic sheets she put them in. The archivist removed them from these plastic sheets if it was necessary to read both sides of a document.

Most of the collection consists of transcripts of the Gateway to Joy radio program, which had with the intended audience of Christian women in the United States (folders 1-5 through 2-3). These were mostly downloaded by Mrs. Wismer from the Back to the Bible website in 2010, but there are a couple of earlier downloads. They consists mainly of Elliot’s comments on a wide variety of questions and problems in the Christian faith, especially but not exclusively those of concern to women. Topics concern child-raising, family life, male/female relations, dating, marriage, motherhood, Christian sexuality, suffering, knowing God’s will and obedience to it, prayer, devotion readings, and hymns. Elliot also often read letters from viewers in which they talked about problems and events in their own Christian faith. There several transcripts dedicated to Christian people significant in Elliot’s life and thought, either through personal contact or her readings, including her parents Katherine and Philip Howard, her husband Lars Gren, her daughter Valerie Shepard, Gladys Aylward, Corrie ten Boom, Amy Carmichael , Shirley Dobson and Isobel Kuhn, among others.

There are also several friendly, brief letters and notes that Elliot or her husband Lars Gren wrote to Wismer over the years (folder 1-2), discussing Elliot’s activities and concerns. Some of these letters also touch briefly on topics related to living one’s Christian faith. The last letter, Janaury 2012, in the folder is from Lars Gren. Similar correspondence in in the notebook in box 3. Other folders have items that Wismer gathered as a result of or as a resource for her work on the radio program, such as articles about Elliot (folders 1-1, 2-4), copies of the program’s newsletters (folder 1-3), and an annual report from the program’s early days (folder 1-4).

There are also a few items not directly related to the program. One such set of documents are the transcripts of talks that Elliot gave to a retreat for Christian women in Pine Mountain, Georgia in 1987 (folder 2-5 through 2-7), covering topics such as obedience to God’s will and the Christian view of sexuality (see the May 18, 2001 letter in folder 1-2). Another are the several audio recordings of a program entitled The Auca Story. These were produced and broadcasted by HCJB Radio in Quito, Ecuador from about 1959 and told the then ongoing story of the killing of Elliot’s husband Jim and four other men in 1956 when they were trying to begin a Christian ministry among the Waorani people of Ecuador (called “Auca” by their enemies) and the later efforts of Elliot, Rachel Saint, and others to continue that work. For more information on these recordings, see the collection inventory.

Box 3 contains a notebook Wismer created as a memorial to her friendship with Elliot. It consists of personal letters, prayer letters, postcards, notes, and photographs that she received from Elliot over the years of their friendship, starting in 1979 and continuing until 2004. There is only one letter from Wismer (February 10, 2001, along with a 1/16/88 letter which quotes extensively from her). The last letter, February 23, 2004, is mostly by Lars Gren, with a postscript by Elisabeth. (Other letters by Lars at March 1986 and February 25, 1987) Similar materials are in folder 1-2.

The materials start when Wismer was single as Janet Anderson, before she married Lauren Anderson. There are also magazine an articles about Elliot by Anderson, as well as articles that Elliot was sent to Anderson/Wismer about, sometimes annotated with Elliot’s comments. There is one 1955 photo of Elisabeth and Jim Elliot with their daughter Valerie and several photos of Elliot and Wismer together at conference in 1987 where Elliot spoke. Also in the notebook is a script for Gateway to Joy with Elliot’s corrections and an early form letter to be sent to listeners. A section of the notebook contains enclosures that Elliot sent with her letters, although there is no indication of which enclosures went with which letter. These include verses and mottos, tracts, poems, booklets, and personal notes.

The archivist made some changes in the notebook to enhance its readability. The materials were put into another notebook cover in which the pages moved with greater ease. Mrs. Witmer had put each separate document in it own stiff paper holder, which meant that the back of many pages could not be read. The archivist put everything with writing on the back in so that both sides could be read. Items that had nothing on the back or only and address were left in their original holders. The materials are in their original holder, including the table of contents and other pages Mrs. Wismer included.

The major content of the material in the notebook concerns the friendship between the two women. Anderson apparently first got in touch with Elliot in 1979 when she wrote a letter expressing appreciation for her books. The letters that followed dealt with Elliot’s writing and travels, the family life of her daughter Valerie married to Walter Shepard, her grandchildren and her advice and comments on Anderson’s single state, her marriage, and her children.

Scattered throughout the letters are Elliot’s comments on the Christan life, God’s working in the life of believers, and the Biblical view on the roles of men and women, courtship and marriage (see especially 1/18/88), motherhood and child rearing. She also often writes about her travels as a conference speaker and her husband Lars Gren management of these events. . She could be dismissive of Evangelical religiosity (see 12/14/87 and 1/15/89) and efforts to make her into a missionary icon (7/8/1987). The 2/5/99 letter has interesting comments on the life of missionary Gladys Aylward, as portrayed in the film, The Inn of the Sixth Happiness. The letter dated 12/7/99 contains her memories of hearing about the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor.

Among the topics in the notebook: The beginnings, development and management of Gateway to Joy: 12/14/87, 1/2/88, 3/2/88, 6/27/88, 2/28/89. 3/18/91, 10/23/91, 12/28/97, 2/4/98, 2/99, 12/7/99, 3/31/00, 2/10/01, 2/21/01

Her brother Thomas Howard: 1/81, 7/3/87, 6/11/90, GTJ script for 12/16/88

Her husband Lars: 1/83, 12/14/87, 2/20/89, 11/15/1997, 12/7/99

Her travels to India and China: 6/23/1997