Lucy S. R. Austen, "The Actual True is the Sum of All These": Archival Materials and the Life of Elisabeth Elliot
What is it like to do historical research in the Archives? How do researchers use scrapbooks, newspaper clippings, oral history interviews, and other materials to construct an historical narrative? What are the benefits of using these physical fragments to understand the past? Every year, the Archival Research Lecture features a scholar whose research in Archives & Special Collections addresses these questions.
Writer, speaker, and missionary Elisabeth Elliot (1926-2015) is one of the most influential American Christians of the 20th and 21st Centuries, but until recently there has been a dearth of scholarship exploring the impact of her life and work. As we consider Elliot's story and legacy, archival research is essential, even though—or perhaps especially because—Elliot published extensive autobiographical material during her lifetime. In this lecture, biographer Lucy S. R. Austen considers how archival materials enrich our understanding of Elliot and the cultures that shaped her, and offers a challenge and encouragement for our own lives.
Lucy S. R. Austen is an editor and writer, currently based in the Pacific Northwest. Her book Elisabeth Elliot: A Life, which is the first full-length single-volume biography of that remarkable woman, appeared in the summer of 2023. S. R. Austen’s work has also been featured in Christianity Today, the Gospel Coalition, the Oxford Centre for Life Writing, and more.
Watch the video recording for this October 10, 2024 event here.