Holy Bible Belonging to Elisabeth Elliot Leitch

Collection ID: BIB.005078
Type: Bible - Printed Book
Date: 1952
Geography: United States
Language: English
Medium: Printed on Paper
Dimensions: 7.5 × 5.4 × 1 in. (19.1 × 13.8 × 2.5 cm)
Exhibit Location: Not on View

This Bible belonged to Christian author and speaker Elisabeth Elliot (1926–2015), who was a missionary to the Waodäni people of Ecuador in the 1950s with her husband, Jim Elliot. Elisabeth chose to stay and live with the tribe after a Waodäni hunting party killed Jim and four other missionaries in 1956. She returned to the United States in 1963. In January 1969, Elisabeth married Addison Leitch, a professor at Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary. The Bible was gifted to Elliot on her birthday, December 21, 1969, by her friend and fellow missionary, Eleanor Vandervort (who went by Van). The inscription reads, “Elisabeth Leitch — who is Bet, my friend. Van.” The blank pages of the Bible are filled with notes, quotes, and scripture references from Elisabeth.

Created in 1952 by Thomas Nelson & Sons, New York, New York. Acquired by Eleanor Vandervort; Gifted in 1969 to Elisabeth Elliot (1926–2015);[1] Via death in 2015 to Lars Gren, Little Rock, Arkansas; Donated in 2020 to Museum of the Bible, Washington, DC.

Notes: [1] From the inscription on the front flyleaf.