Records of Mission Aviation Fellowship - Collection 136

[Note: What follows is a description of the documents in this collection which are available for use at BGC Archives in Wheaton, Illinois, USA. The actual documents are not, in most cases, available online, only this description of them. Nor are they available for sale or rent.]

Table of Contents

Brief Description of This Collection

Title Page and Restrictions

Historical Background of Mission Aviation Fellowship

An Essay on the Contents of the Collection (Scope and Content)

I.       President (no records)
II.     Chief Operating Officer (no records)
III.    Board
IV.    International
         A.  MAF in Other Countries
         B.  Area Offices (no records)
V.     Development (also Ministry Partnership or Partnership Development or Partner Services)
         A.  Staff [prayer] letters
         B.  General correspondence
         C.  Publications
VI.    Research & Planning Office
VII.  Technical
VIII. Finance
IX.    Personnel
         A.  D-2 Personnel Correspondence
         B.  Human Resources (no records)
X.     Other Missions
XI.    General
         A.  Old Correspondence
         B.  Other Correspondence
XII.     Miscellaneous

Other Information Which Will Be Helpful to the User of This Guide

Lists of Audio Tapes, Negatives, Oversize Materials, Photo Album and Photographs in This Collection (Location Records)

Audio Tapes
Negatives
Oversize Materials
Photo Album
Photographs

List of the Contents of Boxes of Paper Records in This Collection (Box List)
Addendum: List of Contents (folder-level description for boxes 1-78, 104-109)
Addendum: List received from MAF of Contents (folder-level description for boxes 123-133, Research & Planning

Scope and Content

The documents in this collection include correspondence, memos, reports, newsletters, flight reports, accident reports, medical reports, radio data, personnel affairs, policy statements, handbooks, presentation manuscripts, aircraft technical booklets, incorporation documents, financial reports, reference articles, meeting agendas and minutes, assessment questionnaires, lists, strategic plans, prayer letters, publications, audio tapes, photographs and MAF films. These documents reflect its operation, flight service, policies, personnel management, relations with governments and other organizations, outreach to a wide financial support base, stewardship of finances, and publications to maintain communication with financial and prayer. Other topics documented throughout the collection include missionaries' adjustment to foreign climates and cultures; exacting technical aspects of aviation, especially concerned with small aircraft; evaluation of aviation and radio as mission tools; political and cultural affairs of Africa, South America, and Southeast Asia; and inter-mission relations and cooperation. The collection was initially arranged alphabetically (see original folder-level container list). The collection has been rearranged into series that reflect the organizational divisions of MAF; major portions of the original arrangement have been integrated into that structure, while a few remaining files have been consolidated into the Miscellaneous series.

The collection is arranged according to the following series:
I.         President (no records)
II.        Chief Operating Officer (no records)
III.       Board
IV.      International
           A.        MAF in Other Countries
           B.        Area Offices (no records)
V.        Development (also Ministry Partnership or Partnership Development or Partner Services)
           A.        Staff [prayer] letters
           B.        General correspondence
           C.        Publications
VI.      Research & Planning Office
VII.     Technical
VIII.    Finance
IX.      Personnel
           A.        D-2 Personnel Correspondence
           B.        Human Resources (no records)
X.        Other Missions
XI.      General
           A.        Old Correspondence
           B.        Other Correspondence
XII.     Miscellaneous

The MAF collection is especially rich in documentation about the murder of five missionaries by the Huaorani Indians of Ecuador in 1956 (the so-called “Auca Incident”), because one of the victims was MAF pilot Nate Saint. Virtually any folder in the collection bearing the date 1956 has some reference to the incident, as do later files concerning victims' families, publishing houses, motion picture companies, etc.

Series I: President (no records)
Series II: Chief Operating Officer (no records)

Series III: Board
Arrangement: Chronological
Date Range: 1980-1988
Volume: .3 cubic feet
Boxes: 103
Type of documents: Minutes and attached reports
Notes: This files document the office deliberations and decisions by MAF’s board during most of the 1980s. Among the issues documented were: long-range goals, organizational restructuring, area and committee reports, finances, personnel, equipment and facilities, board functions, internationalization of MAF, divorce, role of women, membership, presidential search, relations with other MAF bodies around the world and opening offices in international locations, changes in by-laws, establishment of the MAF Foundation.

Subseries IV.A: MAF in Other Countries
Arrangement: Alphabetical by folder title
Date Range: 1945-1973, n.d.
Volume: 2.3 cubic feet
Boxes: 51-53, 93
Geographic coverage: Australia, Great Britain, Indonesia, New Zealand, South Africa, South Pacific (especially Dutch New Guinea), Sudan
Type of documents: Correspondence, reports, memos, newsletters, insurance correspondence, flight reports, accident reports, medical reports, radio data, personnel affairs, MAF films and some accounts.
Correspondents: Grady Parrott, Charles Mellis, James Truxton, Charles T. Bennett, executives of MAF’s sister organizations in Africa (S. Sendall King, Russell Morton, Brian Winter), Australia (Vic Ambrose, William S. Clack, Stanley W. Fairfull, Bruce Lumsden, Doug McCraw and Charles W. Rout), Great Britain (Stuart King, Jack Hemmings, Murray Kendon, William H. Knights, Alistar Macdonald, Gordon Marshall and Steve Stevens) and New Zealand
Notes: The documents in this subseries consist of correspondence files with MAF's sister organizations: Africa (folders 51-36 and 93-5), Australia MAF or AMAF (folders 51-38 through 52-4), British MAF or BMAF (folders 52-5 through 53-5, 93-6), MAF of Canada (folder 93-7) and New Zealande MAF (folder 53-4).
Exceptional items: Among the Australian MAF materials are documents about visits in 1952 by Grady Parrott (folder 51-38) and Marj Saint (folder 51-40), mention of Billy Graham’s 1959 Australia and New Zealand Crusade (folder 51-42), relations with Anglican Lutheran missionaries (folder 51-43), flight service to non-Evangelicals (folder 51-44), a survey of the British Solomon Islands (folder 51-47) and correspondence about the 1969 MAF International Conference (folder 52-4).

The early files of British MAF cover the post-World War II era and the beginnings of MAF organizations. Folder 52-7 includes discussion of a possible merger between the English and American MAFs and a proposal for an MAF International; the options of founding of MAF groups in South Africa, Switzerland and Sweden are seen in folders 52-7 and 51-38. Folder 52-7 also touches on Billy Graham's 1954 London Crusade. BMAF's major field was Africa, and its files reflect a detailed account of its work there. Sudan was an early area served (folder 52-7, see also folder 51-37, containing an early 1950s survey of Sudan, dividing the country into a Muslim north and a pagan south). Civil problems in Sudan are discussed in folder 52-8 and another survey (along with one of East Africa and Kenya) is in folder 52-9. Sudan data appears in almost all the BMAF folders, including a report in 1959 showing that government requests there accounted for twenty-five percent of BMAF's Sudan traffic. Folder 52-15 contains the 1962 Sudan Missionary Act that expelled missionaries; folders 52-16 and 19 discuss BMAF's demise in that country. The Congo became a field for BMAF (folders 52-14,15) until civil war there forced a missionary retreat for a time (folders 52-18,19). (See also later work there in folders 52-21 and 53-3). The Congo material concerns Africa Inland Mission as well (folders 52-17,19). Ethiopia was an area of BMAF Service from 1958 onward (folders 52-10 through 14,16,19) as were Kenya (folders 52-9,14,16,17 and 53-3), Nigeria (folders 52-19,21), and Tanganyika (or Tanzania, folders 52-13,14). There are surveys on Nepal (folders 53-13,14) and Somalia (folder 52-12). A visit from Marj Saint and reports about the converted Huaorani or Auca Indians are documented in folder 52-12; the film Mid-Century Martyrs is discussed in folders 52-9 and 52-10 as well as a French version for Canadian distribution (folder 52-16). Inter-mission relations are a topic of concern, especially those with the Seventh Day Adventist Church (folders 52-11, 14,18) and the Roman Catholic Church (folder 52-14,18). Policies on providing ferrying service to governments are found in folders 52-11 and 52-13. Opposition from Communist governments is discussed in folder 52-19; (also see a Moscow-based report on "Church and Missions in Africa" attempting to attribute mid-1960s political problems to the work and influence of missionaries (folder 52-20). Also see folder 115-3 for information on British MAF in the 1982 Partnership Development series.

There is only a little on MAF Africa work. Folder 51-36 contains correspondence, mostly related to Sudan but also to South Africa. Folder 93-5 relates to a joint-mission project in Africa called ACROSS (Africa Committee for the Rehabilitation of Southern Sudan) that MAF was a partner in with nine other organizations including Africa Inland Mission, Sudan Interior Mission and World Relief. Folders 126-2,3 in the Research & Planning series are also about MAF Africa.

Folder 93-7 includes the minutes from the organization meeting MAF of Canada, and copies of the charter, by-laws and statement of faith. Folder 126-1 in the Research & Planning series also contains documents from MAF Canada.

Subseries IV.B: Area Offices (no records

Series V: Development (also Partnership or Partnership Development or Partner Services)
Subseries: A. Staff prayer letters, B. Operations, C. Publications
Date Range: 1982-2006
Volume: 12.4 cubic feet
Boxes: 94-103, 110-142
Notes: The largest part of this series consists of prayer letters written to supporters; accompanying these are documents related to the prayer letter production. These letters express partnership with financial and prayer supporters and convey in an ongoing way the purpose of the mission. Wings of Praise and Prayer and Praise and Prayer Briefings, long-standing prayer publications from the mission expressed prayer needs at a mission-wide or country-wide level. Prayer letters from individuals and families are also spread throughout the collection, including in the D-2; beginning in the early 1980s, however, these letters from individuals were compiled by the mission in the way they appear here in this series.

Also see the MAF Staff Prayer Cards photo file, compiled and sent by the Partner Services department.

Subseries V.A: Staff [prayer] letters
Arrangement: Chronologically in annual segments, alphabetical within a year (often from back to front)
Date Range: 1982-2006
Volume: 11.2 cubic feet
Boxes: 94-103, 110-114, 118-142
Type of documents: Prayer letters and accompanying production information, mailing lists, pledge cards from prayer and financial supporters.
Notes: The largest part of this series consists of prayer letters written by MAF missionaries and staff to their prayer and financial supporters; accompanying these are documents related to the prayer letter production. These letters express partnership with supporters and convey in an ongoing way the purpose of the mission and the details of the work of individual missionaries. Prayer letters from individuals and families are also spread throughout the collection, including in the D-2 portion of the Personnel series. The earliest documents in this subseries begin in 1982, but the 1972 and 1975 sections of the D-2 correspondence (boxes 74-78 and 104-109) appear to be the bridge to this subseries (those files contain very little interdepartmental or administrative correspondence, but are rather almost exclusively prayer letters with accompanying production information). Some of the folders include a photograph or photo prayer card of the corresponding person or family; these were transferred to the photo files and are described in the Photograph Location Record. Some of these files were received in very thin folders by family name; all files of a given alphabet letter were consolidated into one or several folders; others were received unfoldered and have been grouped by alphabet letter in one or several folders. Many of these folders also contain mailing lists of each MAF staff person or family. In some case duplicates and multiple prayer letter production versions were removed as noticed.

Subseries V.B: General correspondence
Arrangement: Alphabetical
Date Range: 1982
Volume: 1.2 cubic feet
Boxes: 115-117
Type of documents: Correspondence and memos
Correspondents: MAF senior administrators and other staff, MAF current or potential supporters (whether individuals, churches or foundations).
Notes: This subseries provides a record of MAF communication with existing or potential supporters, expressing thanks for a gift or suggesting an additional gift, or answering questions.

Subseries V.C: Publications
Arrangement: Alphabetical by title
Date Range: 1945-1971
Volume: .4 cubic feet
Boxes: 53, 61, 62, 78
Type of documents: Publications, newsletters
Notes: MAF was involved in several publications, some for public consumption, others for internal communication. Missionary Aviation was a bi-monthly magazine (1945-1969). Another publication intended for wide circulation was Wings of Praise and Prayer, a newsletter appearing monthly that reported general news of MAF personnel and kept alive the public interest so vital to the MAF financial structure. Praise and Prayer Briefings was a mimeographed letter, usually appearing monthly. In-house newsletters were used to keep the far-flung members of the MAF network in touch with each other. Other technical mimeographed newsletters were those to Mission Aircraft Operators. Member Letters (1945-1967) were distributed to MAF members and associate members. D-2 and D-3 newsletters (see D-2 subseries IX.A for The Policy Page and  MAF Staff) reported general information; the D-2 issues were of a chatty, human-interest type, while the D-3 issues were technical in scope.

Series VI: Research & Planning Office
Arrangement: Alphabetical
Date Range: 1945-2002
Volume: 4.9 cubic feet
Boxes: 61, 123-134
Type of documents: Reports, memos, policy statements, handbooks, presentation manuscripts, aircraft technical booklets, incorporation documents, financial reports, reference articles, meeting agendas and minutes, assessment questionnaires, lists, correspondence, incorporation documents, strategic plans
Notes: The series consists of Bob Gordon’s files in his role as Director of Planning & Research. The files provide an extensive record of MAF’s policy and operational statements and background research on a wide variety of topics relevant to its operation, including other mission and aviation agencies. Topics range from safety and personnel to Marxism, AIDS and In some cases individual folders bring together documents on a particular topic showing MAF’s development or emphasis in a particular area or function over time; in others the contents reflect Gordon’s gathering background information to assist MAF in formulating its own position or plan of action in that area. (See an appended folder list consisting of an extensive folder list prepared by MAF staff of selected highlights of each file in the series.) Also included are several files attributed to Dave Swanson (during the period when he was manager for the East Africa, South Africa and Central Asia regions).
Exceptional items: A few highlights include...

•    Folder 123-2 records MAF’s initial response to the AIDs epidemic by communicating information and recommended actions to its field staff throughout the world

•    MAF’s 1945 articles of incorporation appear in folder 123-5

•    MAF’s risk assessment worldwide and contingency planning during the 1980s are documented in folder 123-7; also see the emergency notification file in folder 123-14 and forecasting in folder 124-7.

•    Folder 123-10 contains an internal publication, Crossfeed: Ideas and Opinions By MAF Staff.

•    Executive Management Team (EMT) meeting agendas, minutes and supporting documents

•    Assorted internal evaluation tools, results and analysis in folder 124-2

•    International conferences including MAF’s 1984 meeting in Canada (folder 125-8)

•    “A Survey for SIM International on the State of Outreach to Muslims in Central African Republic, Cameroon, Chad, Ginea-Bissau and Gambia” and Odo Siahaya’s “Communicating in a Muslim Context” (folder 125-9)

•    Folders 126-4,5,8 and 127-1 consist of files on MAF’s history and organizational development

•    Folder 127-3 consists of policy statements, while folder 127-4 contains purpose statements and folder 127-6 contains statements of the mission’s values. See folder 128-10 for MAF strategic plan statements

•    Statistics compiled by the mission over five decades are found in folder 127-5

•    See folder 128-3 for MAF’s Mexico earthquake relief project in 1985

•    Folder 131-7 documents MAF’s periodic self-assessment

•    Folder 132-4 documents the work of Southwest Missions Air Ministry in Arizona

•    Folder 133-8 contains selected pages from various editions of the MAF staff handbook

•    Folder 133-4 consists of several memos to MAF staff at the time of the transition from the presidency of Max Meyers to Gary Bishop in 1997-1998. Among these are Meyers’ introduction of Bishop to the staff, Meyer’s farewell memo on December 31, 1997, and Bishops’ first memo to the staff in early 1998

•    Folder 133-1 contains conference material from the International Association of Missionary Aviation’s annual meeting in 1999 hosted by MAF

•    A small section of files (folders 61-19 through 28) includes major works on the topic of mission aviation, all written in the 1940s and 1950s, including theses or papers by MAFers Elizabeth Clarke (later Mrs. Jim Truxton), Charlie Mellis, Grady Parrott, Nate Saint and Jim Truxton, master's and doctoral theses by William Earl Martin, research notes by Russell T. Hitt for his Nate Saint biography, and Jungle Pilot (folder 61-21).

Series VII: Technical
Arrangement: Alphabetical
Date Range: 1946-1969
Volume: .7 cubic feet
Boxes: 1, 62
Type of documents: Correspondence, bills of sale, schematics for modifications, purchase agreements, engine logs, inspection reports, weight and balance reports, legal papers and papers to and from the Civil Aeronautics Administration, the Federal Aviation Agency or their counterparts in countries where MAF was purchasing or flying aircraft.
Correspondents: Charles Mellis
Notes: This brief series, most folders titled "Aircraft", concerns the technical aspects of the aircraft used by MAF. Some files concern wrecked planes, especially folder 1-82; folder 1-1 also concerns downed planes. The folders in folders 62-27 through 29 are wholly 1969 correspondence. The writers are primarily MAF staff and D-2 personnel and the content of the letters concerns radio evangelism, amateur radio's value in missions, airplane data, commercial meat transport via MAF planes and other such matters. Of special interest is a letter by Jim Hurd in folder 62-27 concerning MAF's future in Venezuela amid the trend for "Latinization" or nationalism, and a letter by Jean Hildebrandt (folder 62-27) recommending a reorganization of the MAF office filing system.

Series VIII: Finance
Arrangement: Alphabetical
Date Range: 1945, 1955-1961
Volume: .1 cubic feet
Boxes: 19
Type of documents: Financial statements
Notes: This very small compilation of early financial records are in folders 19-39 and 40. Other financial data appears in the Operational and Financial Reports (folders 53-15 through 53-27) and Shipping Bills (folders 61-29 through 62-5).

Series IX: Personnel
Subseries: A. D-2 Personnel correspondence, B. Human Resources
Date Range: 1944-1973
Volume: 28.7 cubic feet
Boxes: 1-19, 63-78, 94, 104-109
Notes: This series consists entirely D-2 files of correspondence by all active MAF staff on a wide range of practical and policy issues. See note under next subseries (IX.A) for description of D-2 files.

Subseries IX.A: D-2 Personnel Correspondence
Arrangement: Chronologically in annual segments (except initial 1944-1949 period in alphabetical order); alphabetical by author of correspondence
Date Range: 1944-1973
Volume: 28.7 cubic feet
Boxes: 1-19, 63-78, 94, 104-109
Type of documents: Correspondence, memos
Correspondents: MAF staff
Notes: This subseries consists of correspondence of missionaries (whether on the field or on furlough) with the MAF home office. "D-2" stood for "Distribution-2" and indicated active member status. (D-1 referred to administrative staff and D-3 was for technical bulletins and memos.) The information in these files covers the entire spectrum of mission activity: finances (especially monthly financial reports from MAF's beginning), accidents, building projects, political situations, relations with other missions, adjustment of missionaries to the field, furloughs, the flow of supplies for personal use and for equipment maintenance, and missionaries' personal lives (births, etc.). Many files include mass-produced prayer letters prepared for supporters and constituents other than MAF workers (see also the extensive prayer letter files in the Development series for the years 1982-2006). These files include sketches of potential MAF personnel, and evaluations of staff and potential staff by MAF executives. The mission’s officers themselves are included in the D-2 series, both their inter-office correspondence and that to MAF workers and others in the outside world. The D-2 files constitute one of the most substantial sections of this collection, documenting all facets of MAF operations. The 1972 and 1975 subseries of the D-2 files are unlike all the preceding D-2 files in that they do not contain a record of personnel correspondence and memos with MAF administration but rather contain almost exclusively prayer letters and related production information. Although designated as D-2, these two final years in the subseries appear to be the beginning of the Partnership Development department’s staff prayer letter subseries. Several exceptions remain in this subseries, such as those of MAF administrators like Jean Hildebrandt (folder 106-6), Norm Olson (folders 107-26 and 108-1) and Jim Truxton (folder 109-14). Many duplicate copies of prayer letters were removed from these files; only samples of returned pledge cards with donor information were retained.
Exceptional items: The early D-2 files contain information about the embryonic MAF (then known as CAMF) and its early close relationship with Navigators, another Christian organization with roots in the U.S. military. See especially the James C. Truxton folders (folders 2-11 through 2-16) that contain almost all of the earliest files of what later was designated by MAF as General correspondence; also see and the early files of correspondence between Truxton and Dawson Trotman (folders 1-85 through 1-88). Truxton's membership card – #1 – is in folder 2-11. The creation of CAMF amid attacks of other, doubting, Evangelical bodies, and defenses of CAMF are documented in folder 2-12. The first contacts with men destined to lead MAF – Charlie Mellis and Grady Parrott – are located in folders 1-92 and 2-2, respectively. Betty Greene's early correspondence file (folder 1-92) gathers letters concerning original MAF personnel and general solidifying of policies, goals, and methods. A notice dated July 8, 1946 (folder 1-101) documents the name change from CAMF to MAF. The D-2 series is extensively interwoven because the D-2 material is filed by writer with most letters being written to individuals who also had their own D-2 folders. Therefore, volleys of correspondence can be reconstructed by searching through more than one D-2 file, made easier since material within folders is arranged chronologically. Since the D-2 series is arranged year by year (with an individual’s files spread over many boxes, the best access to the D-2 files is by browsing through the box-folder list in this guide. As these files are listed only by staff member's name, the “Addedum: MAF Personnel” matches names of staff with the geographical areas they served in. Although gathered around individual staff, D-2 correspondence often reflects current political, cultural and religious situations in the countries where those individuals were serving.

Folders 62-34 through 48 consist of the D-2 files of James Truxton, 1956-1966. Since Truxton was Vice President of the organization throughout this time, and since his correspondence in these D-2 files is wholly with other members of MAF, these folders are important documentation. Truxton’s 1956 correspondence (folder 62-34) concerns MAF's relations with Wycliffe Bible Translators (see also folder 62-36) and the Summer Institute of Linguistics' work among the Huaorani or Auca Indians in Ecuador, relations with the Ecuador government and the missionary murders by the Indians in January 1956. The murders and their aftermath are a major theme of the correspondence for the next three years (folders 62-35 through 37) that includes material about the survivors, especially widow Betty Elliot and sister Rachel Saint. Folder 62-35 has letters about Mexico and British Guiana, while folder 62-37, about Brazil; folder 62-38, about Brazil and the Congo.

The D-2 files of Nate Saint include a letter with advice on the young organization's business practices – advice that MAF took seriously (folder 2-7; some letters in this same folder were used by Russell T. Hitt for his biography of Saint, Jungle Pilot). The 1947 Saint file (folder 2-8) documents the opening of Ecuador to MAF service; folders 2-14 and 2-15 concern these early days in Ecuador, as do many of the 1948-1949 D-2 files (see especially folder 1-100 that has a letter about an earthquake there). The other original MAF field was Mexico, and many pre-1950 D-2 files concern this area (see especially folders 2-1 and 2-5). The D-2 files through 1948 contain letters annotated in a red felt-tip pen with underlining and cryptic notations in the margins. This seems to point to research done in these files prior to their coming to the BGC Archives. The annotations do not appear to be contemporary with the manuscripts, and are not to be confused with the red pencil or fountain pen notations made for original office use.

A few other highlights from the series include:

•    A typical example of a membership application (folder 3-24)

•    The formation of the "bucket-drop" technique used to get supplies to mission stations where no airstrip existed (folders 3-23 and 4-13)

•    A proposed book about MAF (folder 4-25)

•    MAF's role in Billy Graham's 1960 African tour (folder 6-34)

•    Missionary Engineering, Incorporated's merger into MAF in 1962 (folder 6-103)

•    Political turmoil and missionary deportation in the Sudan (folders 7-54, 7-124), and in the Congo's 1964 political upheaval (folders 8-8, 8-9, 8-11, 8-58, 9-32)

•    Evaluation of missionaries from the Congo in 1967 (folder 14-12)

•    Nigerian politics (folder 13-10)

•    A medical report on Brazil (folder 8-11)

•    A fatal airplane crash in which MAF pilot Don Toberson was killed (folder 13-14)

•    A history of MAF plane wrecks in the 1950s (folder 13-22)

•    The general reorganization of MAF operation structure (folder 14-59)

•    Information about the murder of five missionaries by the Huaorani or Auca Indians of Ecuador in January 1956 (folders 4-43 through 5-7). This incident is discussed in greater detail below.

•    A 1969 brochure of D-2 staff, with pictures of each, is in folder 43-65.

Subseries IX.B: Human Resources (no records)

Series X: Other Missions
Arrangement: Alphabetical
Date Range: 1938-1969
Volume: 8.1 cubic feet
Boxes: 53-61
Type of documents: Correspondence, aerial surveys, promotional material, reports, prayer letters, newsletters, pamphlets and magazines
Correspondents: Charles Mellis, J. Grady Parrott, Elizabeth Greene, James Truxton, Gordon Sanders of Missionary Engineering, other MAF representatives, and executives and representatives of the other agencies represented
Notes: This series records the interaction and cooperation between MAF and other mission agencies based in or working around the world. These agencies were primarily those served by MAF aircraft, requesting aerial survey or purchasing service. The correspondence discusses aircraft selection and purchase, parts orders, shipping arrangements, studies of technical development and adaptations to mission needs. It also includes import-export regulations, radio licensing in foreign countries, procuring of missionary visas and relations with foreign governments, adaptation to changing political systems and laws, and settling of insurance claims. Full explanations are made of MAF policies, especially in strict aeronautical training, careful screening of pilot candidates, rules for load limits and curtailment of flight hours per pilot. Mention is made of the development of the "bucket drop" for supplies and initial contact with indigenous peoples in unevangelized areas. Aerial survey reports give detailed information on terrain, weather conditions, assessment of necessary flight hours, projected mission needs, and suitable locations for mission bases. Many letters discuss the Missavia radio and its use in inter-mission communication, flight contracts and medical emergencies. Individual mission files may cover the full scope of a mission's operation (especially its use of aviation), as well as it relationship with MAF. The researcher is advised to make use of the box-folder listing in this guide that gives access to these files via mission names.
Exceptional items: The files on the Evangelical Foreign Missions Association (folders 55-20 through 55-27) and the Interdenominational Foreign Missions Association (folders 56-3 through 56-24) are especially full:

•    The EFMA folders contain early records of that organization, including a letter from EFMA Executive Secretary Clyde W. Taylor to Christian Century magazine in response to a 1956 article published about the Auca incident involving Huaorani Indians (folder 55-22)

•    This same folder contains information about the Second Latin American Evangelical Conference, held in Lima, Peru in 1961

•    Latin America is one of the topics covered in the IFMA folders (especially folders 56-8 through 10 and 56-11 that touches on ecumenism in the region)

•    Other topics in the IFMA material are Cuba (folder 56-13), the 1966 Congress on the Church's World Wide Mission held in Wheaton, Illinois (folder 56-15), and the Evangelical “Christ for All Campaign” in the Congo, under the controversial Pastor Makanzu (folder 56-16)

The correspondence for 1967 and 1969 is filed out of sequence, appearing in the General Files (folders 25-59 and 48-84, respectively). The same is true for EFMA, 1965-1967 (folder 23-26).

The contents of the series reflect some of the raw edges of inter-mission relations, whether through doctrinal differences, territorial agreements, cooperation policies, personality problems or methods of arbitration:

•    Relations between the Seventh Day Adventists and other missions are shown in folders 58-11 and 59-18. Letters in folders 54-20 and 58-12 relate incidents when the Adventists were refused aid because of their doctrinal stands.

•    Relations between Evangelical missions and those operated by the Roman Catholic Church are described in documents in folders 56-9, 57-1 (Costa Rica), 60-11, 60-27 and 60-29. Folder 60-27 illustrates an impasse in Catholic-Protestant relations in Ecuador (see also folder 5-78) and discusses the use of the Catholic Bible. The Catholic-Protestant tensions often entered into government relations in countries predominantly Catholic (see folders 58-6, 59-7 and 59-9).

Folders 59-5 and 60-19 have material about relations between Evangelical missions:

•    Folder 56-1 contains information on the fundamentalist-modernist controversy

•    Bob Jones' general opposition to Wycliffe Bible Translators (and to Billy Graham) is seen in folders 60-11 and 60-27). See also folders 52-11,14,15,18,19 documenting the same problems in British MAF, and an interesting case study of MAF transportation and Catholic missions, folders 51-43 and 5-78.

In addition to inter-mission relations, these files contain records that explore mission-government relations in Brazil (folder 54-24), in Borneo (folder 55-7), and especially in the Congo, where political upheaval in the mid-1960's threatened the future of many missions (folders 54-23, 55-17, 55-28 and 59-14). Missions in China are discussed in folder 55-19; evangelism among Muslims is considered in folders 57-23 and 59-18. A letter from Guatemala (folder 54-31) tells how nationals expect all foreigners to be missionaries.

MAF's own history is seen in this series:

•    The file on Navigators (folder 57-17) is especially rich in MAF early history, as is that of New Tribes Missions (folder 57-20).

•    Folder 57-28 includes a description of a river trip by MAFers James Truxton and Hobert Lowrance in Venezuela.

•    Spanish and French versions of MAF's filmstrip Mid-Century Martyrs are discussed in folder 60-11.

•    Other files with MAF history are folders 59-37, 60-2 through 4 and 60-19,20.

•    MAF pilot Nate Saint's career is covered in folders 57-36, 59-30,31,32; his sister Rachel, worker for Wycliffe Bible Translators, has documentation in folders 57-36 and 60-26. A parachute device for MAF's "bucket-drop" is described in folder 58-32.

Aerial topographical surveys can be found in many folders: Central Africa (folder 54-30), French West Africa (folder 55-8), West Africa (folder 59-27), Africa (folder 55-31), Nigeria and the Philippines (folder 57-2), Philippines and Laos (folder 57-33), Guerrero (Yucatan) (folder 58-4), Southern Rhodesia and Venezuela (folder 58-34), Sinu River Valley (Colombia) (folder 59-21), and Orinoco River (Venezuela) and Bolivia (folders 60-19,20). Some miscellaneous items of note include:

•    A missionary description of a thick jungle in South America and a crash landing in a "grassy river" (folder 54-26)

•    A search for underwater plane wreckage in the South Pacific, with searchers protected from crocodiles by lightweight cages (folder 54-28)

•    A report on the use of pontoons for water landings (folder 57-6)

•    An account of a search for five missing New Tribes Mission workers in South America (folder 58-15)

•    Liberian mission radio station ELWA (folder 58-22)

•    the translation of MAF book Through Gates of Splendor into Japanese (folder 58-33)

•    An article about the famous nineteenth-century Baptist missionary Adoniram Judson (folder 57-20)

•    A diary of an expedition to the Waica Indianas of South America in 1958 (folder 59-5)

The series also contains significant information on Evangelical figures:

•    Material on Billy Graham is in folders 51-37, 56-25,26, 58-18 and 60-34

•    Navigators’ founder Dawson Trotman is described in documents in folders 57-17, including his death and funeral); also included is an article by Trotman.

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