Collection 604 [August 6, 2008]
Crawford,
Dan Duvall; 1941-
Interview;
2004
Audio tapes
(.01 cubic feet)
Restrictions: None
Brief Description. Oral history interview in which Crawford talked about his parents, Percy and Ruth (Duvall) Crawford, and especially about Percy’s evangelistic ministry at meetings, on radio and television, and at the camps he founded.
Full name |
Dan Duvall Crawford |
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Birth |
1941 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA |
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Family |
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Parents |
Percy Bartimus and Ruth Marjorie (Duvall) Crawford |
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Siblings |
Donald Bruce (1937), Richard Torrey (1939), Dean(1944), Donna Lee (1949) |
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Marital Status |
Married to Sidnie White Crawford in 1994 |
Education |
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1951-1956 |
Germantown Academy, Germantown, Pennsylvania |
| 1956-1959 | Briarcliffe Manor High School, Briarcliffe Manor, New York | |
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1959-1961 |
The King’s College, Briarcliffe Manor, New York |
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1961-1963 |
Transfer to Haverford College, Haverford, Pennsylvania, USA. B.A. in Philosophy |
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1963-1966 |
Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, USA. M.A. in Religion |
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1966-1970 |
University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. Ph.D. in Philosophy |
Career |
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From a young age he and his brothers made up a quartet that sang at his father’s evangelistic meetings and on his radio and television program. The group was known as “The Four Ds.” |
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1970-1973 |
Taught philosophy at Bucknell University, Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, USA |
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1974-1978 |
Taught philosophy at Muhlenberg College, Allentown, Pennsylvania, USA |
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1978-1997 |
Taught philosophy at Albright College, Reading, Pennsylvania, USA |
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1997- |
Senior lecturer in philosophy and the classics, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA |
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19??- |
Part owner, with his brother Richard and others, of Christian radio station WDAC in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, USA |
Other significant information |
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Author of a biography of his father, A Thirst for Souls: the Life of Evangelist Percy B. Crawford (1902-1960). Manuscript was finished in 2007. |
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Dan Crawford was interviewed by Bob Shuster on August 3, 2004, at Mr. Crawford’s home in East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania. The events described in the interview cover the time period 1920s-1960.
T1 (93 minutes). Dan Crawford’s home in barn that used to belong to Pinebrook, Pinebrook after Percy Crawford’s death managed by Richard Crawford, then Ross Rhoads, childhood in Philadelphia (Mount Airy); involvement in his parents’ ministry at Pinebrook, meetings, radio, and television; his enjoyment overall of the experience; reflections on the family being in the limelight; being a “preacher’s kid;” description of his father’s radio programs (Sunday afternoon, Young People’s Church of the Air and daily weekday morning, Pinebrook Praises); broadcasting live from the Crawford home from 1943 to 1961; memories of the broadcasts; response to the radio program; Percy as a pioneer of television evangelism; memories of the early days in television; careful scripting of the shows; use of testimonies from sports figures; Shorty Yeaworth and other floor producers; Percy’s temperament; influence on Billy Graham and Jack Wyrtzen; the informal family image on the program; Ruth Crawford’s musical to contribution to Percy’s ministry; contrast of Ruth and Percy in the program; the characteristics of the music of the ministry; more on the partnership of Percy and Ruth; frequent absences of his parents as they traveled to meetings and the influence of his grandmother, Nancy Duvall; examples of love between Percy and the children; Percy’s driving habits; thin spiritual life of the family; Percy’s dislike of dry, passionless church services; Percy’s street meetings in Philadelphia as a model for this his radio and television programs; possible influence of Paul Rader on Percy; influence of R. A. Torrey and T. C. Horton on Percy when he attended the Bible Institute of Los Angeles (BIOLA); Jack Wyrtzen as Percy’s protégé; Wyrtzen’s Saturday night rallies in Madison Square Garden in 1944; competition between the two men; exchange of visits between Pinebrook and Word of Life camp; Percy’s influence on and support of Billy Graham; Percy’s avoidance of controversy; his ordination as a Baptist during his Wheaton days and later ordination as a Presbyterian; the origins of Pinebrook camp and models for it; Pinebrook as an alternative to churches; description of the camp staff and Percy’s micro-management; a typical week at Pinebrook; attendance at the camps; origin’s of The King’s College; its importance to him; Billy Sunday; Percy and the Youth for Christ movement of the mid-1940s; Percy’s frustrations with radio networks and stations
T2 (39 minutes). Percy’s purchase of WPCA (Channel 17) in Philadelphia in 1958 as a very early example of a Christian television station; the King’s Korean Mission; Percy’s devotional time and sermon preparation; Ruth’s devotional life and faith; Percy’s assurance of salvation and his faith ventures; Ruth’s music and faith; preaching in Percy’s life; his means of relaxation (vacations, a day off, boxing); Percy’s heart attacks; end of the coast-to-coast programs in 1953; Percy and Ruth’s 1953-1954 world tour; memories of Percy’s death; reaction to his death; attempts to maintain the radio broadcasts, the camps and the college; Bob Cook; Percy’s effectiveness in using radio and television; Percy as an example of the centrality of fundamentalism to American values and traditions; Ruth’s life and ministry after Percy’s death; marriage to Robert Porter and the last decades of her life; William Drury; Dan’s education and career following Percy’s death; his spiritual development
Provenance
The materials in this collection were given to the Archives of the Billy Graham Center by Dan Crawford in August 2004.
Accession: 04-39
July 25, 2008
Bob Shuster
Accession: 04-39
Type of Material:
Audio Tapes
The following items
are located in the AUDIO TAPE file.
Item# - Reel or cassette, speed, length, number of sides, contents (title of session, participants) according to the program, date.
# |
R/C |
speed |
length |
Sides |
Contents |
Dates |
T1 |
C |
-- |
92 |
2 |
Oral history interview of Dan Crawford by Bob Shuster |
8/3/2004 |
T2 |
C |
-- |
39 |
1 |
Conclusion of T1 |
8/3/2004 |