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billy graham center archives
2009 & 2010 annual report

Researcher Reports for 2009 and 2010

Below are reports from some of the people who used the Archives in 2009 and 2010, giving examples of the different kinds of research that was done. The reports have been edited slightly in some cases to ensure that they are all in the same format:

2009

Mr. Paul K. Betts
Topic: Family history, an ancestor who was a missionary in Ohio

I am researching the life of one of my ancestors, Alfred Hanford Betts, my great-great-great grandfather, who became a missionary in the “far northwest territory” of New Connecticut or, more commonly, Ohio. It turns out that he was a pretty powerful force, at least on his local “turf” in that he was not only a medical doctor, but also an ordained minister. Sometimes investigating your family roots becomes a direct continuation of one’s spiritual journey as well, and through what I have been able to access at the Billy Graham Center Archives, I am enjoying my own revival of my evangelical roots. I found reference to the various correspondence between the Connecticut Missionary Society (CMS) and its missionaries on the Internet and noted that the originals are housed in Connecticut (and not available to the public), but available via microfilm at the BGC.Upon contact with the staff at the BGC Archives, I was encouraged to come and take a look. While I have a pretty good ability to manipulate electronic data, the staff was most knowledgeable and encouraging of my work. I have only covered a portion of my work there and already know that I can come back anytime! I was stunned to find so much information about not only the CMS, but also my ancestor as well as one of his sons and his brother, all CMS missionaries. I was surprised to see that there were hundreds of missionaries at that time and that “my Alfred” was one of the most loquacious, with 103 letters on file. I very much appreciate the opportunity to visit the Archives and work with the staff there.

Dr. J. D. Bowers
Associate Professor of History, Northern Illinois University
Topic: Unitarianism and Evangelicalism

My research in the BGCA was centered on the Billy Sunday papers and other related American evangelical writings during the early 1900s. I am working on an article, which will also be part of a larger book project on the Unitarian response to Billy Sunday and evangelicalism and the issue of why and how Unitarian groups sought to challenge Sunday*s message and what components they accepted. While working in the archives I discovered that while Unitarians and evangelicals differed quite dramatically in their religious beliefs (no surprise) that they often had some common goals, even if they were loathe to admit as much. These included the quest to end religious infidelity and the desire to see religious precepts and principles applied to political and social affairs. In addition, I discovered that Unitarians were divided in their response to evangelical revivalism, with some advocating counter-revivals, others wanted to simply ignore the revivals, and still others found that they could capitalize on the revivals and denunciations to increase their own efforts at conversion. The Boston-based leadership struggled to maintain a cohesive and coherent stance in the face of such varied responses. I was especially pleased with the microfilm reader that allowed me to efficiently read the film, have images scanned directly from it and stored onto a hard drive for later use. It was fast and effective and allowed me to maximize my research time.

Drs. Elizabeth and Ken Fones-Wolf
West Virginia University
Topic: Protestantism and labor unions and social movements

We are working in collaboration on a book that examines the intersection of Protestantism and working class social movements in the post World War II South, a critical area of social, industrial and religious conflict. Our work fits with the growing interest within labor history in religion. With much of the North organized by the end of the war, both employees and unions looked to the South, a growing center of economic development and the last bastion of anti-unionism. To the labor movement, the South seemed ready for change. War-time industrialization promised a more modern society with the possibility of altered class and race relations. Leading the way was the Congress of Industrial Organizations which hoped to transform both the low-wage economy and the conservative political culture of the South through its ambitious organizing drive, Operation Dixie. At the same time, employers hoped to maintain current economic and social relations. Both the labor movement and business recognized the importance of Protestantism in the lives of Southern workers. One of the ways that business hoped to connect with its workers was through the industrial chaplain movement, which involved putting ministers on the company payroll. While relatively few companies actually implemented industrial ministries, there was widespread interest among elements within the church and industry about this phenomena and the prospects for its further spread seemed promising. For the church it offered access to laboring people untouched by the conventional ministry. For strongly religious employers like R.G. LeTourneau, it harkened back to earlier paternalistic traditions of supporting evangelical religion. The emphasis on religion in the workplace also dovetailed nicely with other postwar managerial initiatives, in particular, sophisticated managerial strategies like human relations, which promised to increase productivity and loyalty to the firm. Indeed in some firms, industrial chaplaincy was part of a broader effort to stymie the growing union challenge to corporate authority. Billy Graham was perhaps the leading evangelical of postwar America and the NAE was the principal organization of fundamentalists. Evangelical Protestantism is one of the pillars of Southern culture and we believe that through the papers of the NAE [in the Wheaton College Library’s Archives and Special Collections, a separate department from the BGC Archives] and papers in the Billy Graham archives as well as the library’s collection of religious journals that we would gain a better understanding of evangelical response to labor organizing and employers counter efforts. This research will provide primary documentation for a book manuscript. In the NAE papers, we learned more about the social policies of that organization, including for stand on the debate over Fair Employment Policies legislation. The H. J. Taylor Papers gave us insight into the early years of the NAE and its relationship with business leaders as well as its attitude towards the Federal Council of Churches. In both the Taylor Papers and the NAE papers we learned more about the NAE concerns about communism. Both collections were also particularly helpful in helping us understand the NAE’s promotion of industrial chaplaincy. During World War II, the NAE established a Commission for Industrial Chaplaincy. We learned more about the seminars held at Wheaton College for the special training of Chaplain Counselors in 1945 and 1946. Various NAE board minutes helped us trace the history of this Commission, which was active until the early fifties. We also learned that interest in a industrial chaplaincy reemerged in the late fifties. The NAE commissioned a survey of industrial chaplains and the questionnaires provided some useful material on industrial chaplains attitudes towards their positions.We also used the microfilm collection of the J. F. Norris Papers and learned more about Dr. E.G. “Parson Jack” Johnson, who was among a small group of Southern clergy who actively fought the spread of industrial unionism.We had hoped to learn more about Billy Graham’s attitude towards labor but did not find any helpful material aside from one a sermon. We were pleased to find issues of United Evangelical Action in the library and from this journal learned more about the Christian Labor Association, and the NAE’s attitude towards organized labor. We found the archives staff to be very friendly and helpful and we enjoyed our visit.

Dr Tim Grass
Associate Tutor, Spurgeon's College, London, United Kingdom
Topic: Biography of theologian F. F. Bruce

I visited the BGC archive in order to examine some papers relating to Professor F. F. Bruce, whose biography I am writing for publication in 2010, the centenary of his birth, as a follow-up to a book I wrote on British Brethren. I wanted to look at correspondence relating to his consultant editorship of Christianity Today and at material concerning him in the files of Harold Lindsell. Although there wasn't a great deal of material, what there was will be useful, and I particularly appreciated the facility for feeding documents into a photocopier in order to receive scans of them by e-mail. Staff were not only helpful but also interested, and I hope to keep in touch. What I saw of the archive whetted my appetite and I'd like to find an excuse to make a return visit, even if I did get distracted watching the trains out of the window!

Mrs. Laurel Griffith
Publisher of Wiregrass Christian Family of Dothan Alabama
Topic: The 1965 Billy Graham evangelistic campaign in Dothan, Alabama

While visiting our son, a student at Wheaton, my husband and I spent several hours researching the 1965 Billy Graham campaign that took place in Dothan. Only one month after the Selma civil rights march and the violence of bloody Sunday, Dr. Graham addressed a peaceful, racially integrated crowd at the high school football stadium. I am interested in the actual campaign, surrounding events and the significant impact to the Dothan community. Before our research at the Billy Graham Center, we knew that the campaign had come at a critical time in Alabama. We knew that Dr. Harper Shannon had been instrumental in organizing Dr. Graham’s visit. Using scrapbooks and the files of newspaper clippings, we were able to see the time line of the event as well as grasp the significance of what actually occurred. We learned the invitation was issued to Dr. Graham soon after the Selma marches took place and that the invitation was controversial. We learned Dr. Graham cancelled the London campaign to preach in Dothan the next month. By reading various newspaper articles, some local, some in state, others national, we found the interpretation and significance of the days’ events depended upon the perspective of the observer. My family and I are members of First Baptist Church, Dothan, the same church where Dr. Harper Shannon served in 1965. We were pleased to note the deacons of First Baptist Church gave unanimous support to the Dothan campaign. I plan to feature this remarkable story in a 2010 issue of Wiregrass Christian Family. The article will include information gained from research conducted at the Archives in addition to interviews with people who were instrumental in bringing Dr. Graham to Dothan. We spent several hours one afternoon at the Archives and returned the next morning to complete our research. Staff members were enthusiastic and proactive in their assistance. Their expertise and efficiency made it possible for us to gather a great deal of information in a short period of time.

Mr. Bruce Henderson
Topic: Family history, an ancestor who was a missionary to China

As part of a broader family history project, I have been researching the life and work of Henrietta Henderson, a member of the China Inland mission from 1923 - 1952. Henrietta was born to a farming family in a rural part of Scotland, and devoted her life to bringing Christ to China. After scouring what records I could from sources on the internet, it became clear that further information would come from consulting the records held at the Billy Graham Center Archive. The staff was incredibly helpful and was able to do some up front information gathering to assist me. During her tenure on the staff at the CIM's Chefoo school, she was taken prisoner by the Japanese at the start of World War 2, and spent several years at the Weihsien prison camp. Upon her release she spent a few months in Briton recovering, and then returned to China to continue her missionary work. During the early 1950's as the communists were taking power, Christian missionaries were a favorite target for hardship, scorn and imprisonment. Thanks to the records held at the Billy Graham Center, I was able to find the exact days she was finally able to flee to Hong Kong and depart China.The Billy Graham Center was incredibly valuable in discovering important data about her life, and the important work of the China Inland Mission.

Ms. Natalie Henshaw
Masters candidate, University of Tulsa
Topic: The history of the Society of Friends of Moslems in China

When researching for my master's thesis, I stumbled upon a missionary organization called the Society of Friends of Moslems in China. No one had written about this Society, although it issued a quarterly journal (Friends of Moslems). Wheaton College has every issue on microfilm, and the Billy Graham Center had the personal papers of several Society members, so I spent my entire Spring Break in the BGC Archives. The BGC's staff gladly helped me sift through nearly 20 collections, and even took an interest in my research, suggesting new leads and asking about my progress. Through listening to the oral interviews and reading personal papers, I gained a more intimate knowledge of the Society's field work in China. It was founded in 1926 and disbanded in 1951 when the Chinese Communist Party forced all foreigners out of China. During its life, it recruited current missionaries in China to proselytize China's Muslims. The Society was not terribly successful, with approximately 100 converts after twenty-five years of work. My thesis explores the reasons behind the Society's difficulties. I could not have written this thesis without the assistance and material from the BGC. I hope to conduct related research in the future so I can return to Wheaton College.

Ms. Annette Horton
Missionary with Africa Inland Mission and student at the Wheaton Grad School
Topic: Women missionaries in community development

While taking a "Cross-Cultural Research Methods" course at Wheaton Graduate School, one of the assignments was to spend some time in the BGC archives researching something that would be of interest to us as students and/or of help to our organization or to others. Initially I was hoping to find information on a single female missionary within AIM who worked in community health or community development. After a few unsuccessful attempts, and with the imminent deadline of the assignment, I chose to look through the Laura Belle Barr Collection [Collection 481]. I met Laura Belle and her sister, Lila, at AIM's retirement center in Florida while I was filling an interim position there for a few months in 1999. Using excerpts from her diary that told of being kidnapped in Uganda, along with some other materials from the collection that chronicled earlier events in her ministry, I chose to write a letter of encouragement to a friend who was preparing to begin serving as a single missionary in 2011. Having met Laura Belle in person made reading her diaries and other articles about her especially interesting and encouraging. I was surprised to learn of the kidnapping which took place fairly close to her retirement. I was also grateful to see how God protected and provided for her during that experience in ways that continue to encourage those who read or hear about it. Had time allowed, I would have done more reading in this particular collection. My experience in the BGC Archives Reading Room was very positive.

Dr. Markku Ruotsila
University of Helsinki, Finland
Topic: Anticommunist activities of Carl McIntire and the American Council of Christian Churches and the International Council of Christian Churches

In this project, I try to add to our knowledge of the theological bases and global networking of fundamentalist Christian anti-communism during and before the Cold War and to investigate the ways in which this form of anti-communism paved the way for the contemporary Christian Right in the U.S. I came to Billy Graham Center Archives to seek information on New Evangelical views on McIntire and his organizations. In the end I found so much useful material on the broader evangelical anticommunist witness that my research will likely now cover its non-fundamentalist forms as well.

Dr. Tu Yichao
Fudan University, People’s Republic of China
Topic: Impact of contemporary Christian missions on international relations

Two years ago, I spent two weeks at the BGC and read many first hand documents on Rev. Billy Graham and American evangelicals. These were very helpful for me as I finished finish my doctoral dissertation, “American Evangelicals and International Relations: A Case Study of Rev. Billy Graham.” I decided to come back to BGC this summer to read the documents about American evangelicals and China. I found some materials on this subject. What is more, the correspondence between the American evangelicals and the officials of Kuomingtang regime provides me a new perspective to think further about the role American evangelicals played in the political arena during the cold war period. I am so grateful for the BGC Archives staff’s sincere help. I am very thankful for the Xerox machine, which made it possible for me to copy many documents within my two week’s stay.

Dr. Jacqueline Wenger
Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life
Topic: Study of the make-up of attendees at previous Lausanne Congresses (1974, 1989)

The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life plans to survey participants who will attend Cape Town 2010, a global meeting of approximately 4000 evangelical leaders scheduled for October 2010. There have been two earlier meetings of this size and scope, one in 1974 and one in 1989. Archived papers of both of these earlier gatherings are housed at the BGCA. As a research associate on this Pew Forum project I had the pleasure of searching the archives for information about the two earlier meetings.

Specifically, I was searching for:
  • Lists of participant demographics or other identifiers from Lausanne I (1974) and Lausanne II (1989) to compare with the data Pew Forum will collect for Cape Town 2010 (the third Lausanne Congress)
  • Questionnaires completed for the 1989 Congress to determine if questions asked or data collected had been summarized or analyzed for comparison with 2010 data.
I found:
  • Questionnaires for 1989 (more than 4000) filed in the archives but not compiled so we cannot readily access the data
  • A printed list of the participants who were registered for Lausanne I that identifies their country and their status.
  • From the 1974 archives a summary by geographical region of the number of participants that have accepted the invitation to the Congress.
  • A list of the countries represented at Lausanne II and the number of participants per country (hand-compiled).
The archive staff were extraordinarily helpful. They took my bewildered self under their collective wing and made my visit and search successful and enjoyable. Thank you!

Ms. Bethany Wilson
Wheaton College undergraduate student
Topic: The ministry of Moody Church of Chicago among the children of immigrants

I was given an assignment for my Children's Ministry class to analyze the children's ministry evidenced in one of the BGC archive collections. I chose to critique ministries done with foreign children by Moody Memorial Church between 1910-1941, shown by the correspondence letters between Moody missionaries and church leaders. I wasn't sure exactly what I would find or in what manner I would analyze it, but after perusing several of these letters I started to notice patterns of ministry that were affected, I suspected, by underlying theologies of spirituality and cultural mind sets of the Moody church missionaries. My task was to try and reconstruct these theologies and perspectives on culture from the dialogues I found in these letters and then offer an alternative approach to ministry done in their context. Being enrolled in a children's ministry course, it was hard not be critical of the various methods and values of these missionaries, and the thesis of my paper became the argument that critical assessment of ministry practices is *crucial * for anyone who wants to reduce hindrances to the spread of the Gospel. I greatly enjoyed stepping back in time through the help of the BGC archives and I cannot think of anything that was a hindrance to my research, except that some of the handwriting in the letters was very difficult to read. Ministry to children is a new area of interest to me, so I was grateful to have a place where I could explore the historical nature of this area.

Dr. Kevin Xiyi Yao
China Graduate School of Theology, Hong Kong
Topic: The history of the Hunan Bible Institute

After publishing of my book entitled The Fundamentalist Movement among Protestant Missionaries in China, 1920-1937, I decided to focus on personalities and institutions associated with the same movement. One of the most important institutions of theological education was the Hunan Bible Institute (HBI) founded as a branch of Biola [Bible Institute of Los Angeles]. I am currently doing research on the history of HBI, and hopefully write a series of essays or even a book. At the BGC Archives. I found some letters written by R. A. Torrey Sr. from Collection 107 regarding HBI. The amount is not very large, but within my expectation. I also came across some materials about China Inland Mission (Collection 215) , which I found quite interesting. The fundamentalist movement in China is a new field, and my work a pioneering one. My work helps Chinese evangelicals, whom my seminary serves, to remember and understand their own history and identity better.

2010

Mr. Steven Barleen
Doctoral candidate at Northern Illinois University
Topic: Working class response to the Prohibition movement

I am writing a dissertation about how the working class in Illinois responded to the war on the saloon. The prohibition movement has primarily been told from the point of view of prohibitionists, and I am trying to tell the story from the other side. Unfortunately my subjects did not leave behind a great deal of their thoughts on the subject. I visited your archive in order to look at your papers from the Anti-Saloon League (The Ernest Cherrington Collection) and the WCTU [Woman’s Christian Temperance Union]. I was looking for descriptions of saloon goers and their families from the point of view of reformers. One of the things I found particularly helpful was a series of letters that were sent to union leaders regarding their position on prohibition. Fortunately several of them responded, and I made copies of these letters. I also found several articles in the Union Signal about statewide local option elections that took place in Illinois from 1908 onward. I found your staff to be very kind and helpful.

Dr. Paul S. Boyer
Merle Curti Professor of History Emeritus, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Topic: Images of American Evangelicals in American society and politics

I visited the Billy Graham Center Archives on October 27, 2010, on a quest for photographs to illustrate a forthcoming book from the University of Wisconsin Press, Counter-cultural Conservatives: Evangelicals in American Politics and Society Since World War II (this is the working title) by Dr. Axel Schaefer, director of the David Bruce Center for American Studies at the University of Leeds in the U.K.  This book will appear in a series I edit for the UW Press, Studies in American Thought and Culture. 

The trip was highly successful, and I found a number of photos that Dr. Schaefer will be using in his book, including some candid shots of NAE (National Association of Evangelicals) conventions, and volunteer projects of the Voice of Calvary Ministries in the South in the 1970s.   I had contacted the staff in advance, indicating the individuals and organizations I was particularly interested in, and they had already carted into the reading room boxes from the relevant photo collections.  The staff made me feel welcome, and facilitated my use of the copy machine and the transfer of boxes to and from my work table.  Subsequently, the staff was equally helpful in making high-resolution digital copies of the photos that Dr. Schaefer chose for inclusion in the book.  Dr. Schaefer has reported a similarly positive experience in his own earlier research at the BGCA on manuscript collections relevant to his topic. The BGC Archives is an ideal facility for researchers seeking to make use of its rich collections.

Ms. Eileen Chambers
Author and screenwriter
Topic: Film on the life of missionaries Jim and Elisabeth Elliot

My research focused on finding first-hand materials related to Wheaton alumni, Jim and Elisabeth Elliot for the purpose of a future feature film project.  I was tremendously excited to find substantial, original material in great condition.  We came to the Wheaton archives based upon the BGC internet site and because of the recommendations of individuals associated with the Elliot story and were hopeful to find items such as Jim's journals.  What we found was much more extensive.  The archives had letters, newspaper articles and reviews, yearbooks, original 16mm films and even a copy of an old bible tract.  During our short stay at Wheaton, it was evident  that these archives are an irreplaceable storehouse of Christian history.  To be honest, I was surprised at the depth of knowledge and passion exhibited by the archives staff.  Top to bottom, they were knowledgeable about the material and how to access it in the archive / university system.  They were extremely helpful, kind and generous.  Even patient.  Who could ask for more? The only hindrance was that I didn't allow sufficient time given the volume of information available.  Nothing about the policies were a hindrance. I respected the fact that systems were in place to protect archives materials.  As an author and screenwriter, being able to do this kind of research makes all the difference between imagination vs. re-creating the world (and the characters involved) authentically.  For historical pieces such as this current project, having access to accurate material is immeasurable. 

Dr. Alister Chapman
Professor of History, Westmont College
Topic: John Stott and the Lausanne movement

I came to the Billy Graham Archives for the second time in May 2010 as I was finishing off a book on John Stott. The archives hold the records of the Lausanne movement, which Stott helped to lead, as well as copies of some of Stott's personal papers. I spent a couple of happy days trawling through your wonderfully organized holdings, unearthing a few, final, important tidbits for my book. In addition, I was hunting for a photo to go on the cover of the book, and came away with several possibilities. The book is entitled Godly Ambition: John Stott and the Evangelical Movement, and it will appear with Oxford University Press in late 2011. Of the many archives I visited during the course of my research the Billy Graham Center Archives were the most enjoyable to visit and by far the best organized. The staff were all extremely helpful. I am in their debt.

Dr. Seth Dowland
Lecturing Fellow & Associate Director, Thompson Writing Program, Duke University
Topic: Christianity and masculinity

I am beginning research on a book project about war, sports, masculinity, and Christianity in the twentieth century. This project will build on research I have completed for my first book, Family Values: Gender, Authority, and the Rise of the Christian Right (forthcoming from U. Penn Press). I visited the Billy Graham Center Archives in October 2010 in order to look at materials about sports ministries and ministries with soldiers. I expected to find materials showing how evangelicals, especially in the second half of the twentieth century, have used sports as a platform for spreading the gospel (following the model of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association). And I did find material showing that, particularly in the Champions for Life collection. Led by former Cleveland Browns star Bill Glass, Champions for Life ran evangelistic crusades along the model of BGEA. Watching videos of Glass from the archives video library demonstrated his distinctive combination of power and persuasion, amplified by his 6'5", 250-lb. frame. I was surprised to learn that Glass went to seminary in the off-season while he was still playing the NFL, partly because I cannot imagine a contemporary football player doing that! I also did research in the OC International, SEND International, Fellowship Foundation, BGEA History Project, and Billy Sunday collections. As during my first visit, the BGC Archives staff provided wonderful assistance and a congenial environment in which to work. I expect to return as I continue working on this project in coming years.

Mr. David Harper
Harper-Sherwood family history researcher
Topic: Life of his ancestor, Sarah Belknap "Belle" Sherwood Hawkes, a missionary to Persia

I have been working more and more seriously on my family history the last dozen years or so. I had long heard from my mother hints of "Aunt Belle's" exotic adventures as a late nineteenth century missionary in Persia and had played on the Persian carpets she had shipped back to Granny Sherwood's house. Recently, a Google search revealed a collection of letters and photos from Sarah Belknap "Belle" Sherwood Hawkes' missionary days, at the Billy Graham Center Archives. My first opportunity to see them in person came in October 2010. The letters reveal the fascinating daily details of adapting, teaching, marriage, funding, horse-travelling, and living in general in Hamadan, Persia, in the 1880s and 1890s, and added much to my understanding of Belle's character. I was much impressed by the personal and personable attention given by the archives staff. I offered to contribute additional letters and memorabilia from Belle to the collection, but Bob generously steered me toward the more extensive collection at the Presbyterian Historical Society in Philadelphia. Given time, I hope to write a synopsis of Belle's life and character, as part of a collection of essays on other colorful family members.
P.S. Interestingly enough, the first report in 2008 is from someone from Seattle who looked at Belle's materials also.

Dr. Bianca Horlemann
Associate Researcher, Central Asia Seminar, Humboldt University , Germany
Topic: Tibetan-Muslim Relations in Northwest China from the 1850s to the 1950s

I am presently working on a book on Tibetan - Muslim relations in Northwest China from the mid-19th to the mid-20th century. Since the BGC Archives keep documents on and by Protestant missionaries from different missionary societies formerly active in Gansu and Qinghai Provinces , I was hoping to find written sources which also mention Tibetan - Muslim relations in the respective mission fields.

I did indeed find a variety of sources such as letters, reports, diaries and publications in missionary journals. Although very few of these materials directly touch on Tibetan - Muslim relations, they still provide a considerable amount of valuable background information on the general political, economic and social situation in Northwest China from the late 19 th to the mid-20 th century. Furthermore, I was greatly surprised to find a number of audio-visual materials such as photos and even home movies by missionaries which provide some very rare, firsthand glimpses on a number of ethnic groups living on the Sino-Tibetan border. Also the collection of taped interviews with missionaries who formerly worked on the Sino-Tibetan Frontier, is extremely interesting and helpful. The staff of the BGC Archives cannot be lauded enough for the great foresight shown in preserving these rare eye witness accounts by missionaries?now most of them already deceased?who often lived and worked for years if not decades in extremely remote areas in Northwest China.

As a side product of my archive research I intend to write a bibliographic article on the great variety of source material on Northwest China provided by Protestant missionaries.

The staff of the BGC Archives was very professional and thus extremely helpful in making the utmost use of my two short days in the archives in August 2010.

Rev. Bruce R. Johnson
Pastor, Scottsdale Presbyterian Church, Scottsdale, Arizona
Topic: C. S. Lewis work with Air Force chaplains during World War II

My research on the World War 2 work of C.S. Lewis with Air Force chaplains led me to the Billy Graham Center Archive. From 1941 to 1945, Lewis served as a Lay Lecturer on the Staff of the Chaplains' Department of the Royal Air Force. One of the many chaplains with whom Lewis worked in the wars years was A. W. Goodwin-Hudson. The Billy Graham Center Archive houses two of perhaps only three recordings in which Goodwin-Hudson discusses this experience. The staff at the Archive was extremely helpful during my visit in April. I hope to make good use of that research this coming summer when I am scheduled to present a paper at the Armed Forces Chaplaincy Centre in Hampshire , England.

Ms. Maria Alexandria Kane
Phd candidate at the College of William and Mary

[Ms. Kane for the recipient of a Torrey M. Johnson Sr. research grant from the Archives.  This is the report she turned in after her visit.]

My dissertation, “‘Pretty Girls and Fascinating Boys’: Gender, Sexuality, Race, and Evangelical Youths, 1960-2000,” chronicles the growth of evangelicalism in the United States from the 1960s through late 1990s by examining how evangelicals understood and transmitted ideas about sexuality, gender construction, and the family to children and adolescents across cultures. As an African American women who grew up in a solidly evangelical community I originally became interested in the differing emphases between what I heard in my predominately black evangelical church and the predominately white neighborhood in which I lived and attended school as a young adult. While the theology did not differ across cultures, what was stressed and how it was shared was different. Since these early experiences as a child, teenager, and young adult, I have also developed a growing interest in the spiritual formation of young people, especially in our technology-driven culture. These interests, along with my passion in history and commitment to the reconciliation of faith communities divided by race, have led me to pursue my current dissertation topic.

Through the generosity of the Torrey M. Johnson Research Grant I was able to travel to Wheaton, Illinois, for a little over a week to spend time at the Billy Graham Archives and live among the Wheaton College community. Together, I found myself formed both academically and spiritually.

Academically, my research in the Billy Graham Archives introduced me to a wide selection of Christian film and videos that have become a crucial factor in understanding the culture and climate of the early period that my dissertation covers. In addition, the collections on the “Atlanta ‘88 Conference” and Voice of Calvary Ministries afforded me the chance to understand the many facets of evangelism that the African American community has embraced. At the same time, the Pioneer Girl Collection provided insight into similar evangelistic efforts in predominately white communities. Together, I have been able to create a broad portrait of American evangelicalism in the mid to late twentieth century, which will serve as the backbone for the growth of evangelicalism in the late twentieth century and how people were nurtured in their faith once they became committed followers. Along with the many individual letters, documents, and accounts of other leading figures, such as Lemuel Nelson Bell, I have been able to create a framework through which I can understand and process the changes taking place during the twentieth century and how Christians responded. It has afforded me insight into what was given importance and what was deemed secondary.

Along with the great research opportunities I was afforded during my week at Wheaton, I was also able to benefit from living and working among a community of people firmly and passionately committed to living and sharing the redeeming message of salvation in Jesus Christ. This perhaps was one of the greatest gifts of my time in Wheaton, for it allowed me to be affirmed in my work as an educator grounded in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ as both the truth and hope for the world.

Mr. David King
Doctoral candidate, Emory University
Topic: A cultural history of World Vision

I came to the BGC archives to research my doctoral dissertation, a cultural history of World Vision and its impact on evangelical missions and American evangelicalism. I spent over a week in two separate trips to absorb the enormous resources of the archives for my particular project. Particular collections on the Lausanne movement and the EFMA/IFMA proved helpful in situating my project within the larger context of evangelical missions. I also was excited to find on many occasions personal correspondence between many leading evangelical leaders and key figures within World Vision that filled several gaps in my research. I also found a number of video and audio recordings helpful in my project. A wide variety of BGC collections had retained early World Vision magazines, appeal letters, and annual reports I have found valuable in my study. I could not have found the staff at the BGC archives more helpful. I kept staff members busy with my number of requests, but they always proved wonderful to work with. As an out-of-town researcher with only limited time in the archives, they even allowed me to stay late in order to finish my research.
I believe my project intersects with a growing interest in understudied evangelical parachurch groups of post-World War II America. I also hope my project will demonstrate the specific connections and influential interactions between American evangelicals and a growing global Christianity.

Ms. Rebecca A. Koerselman
Doctoral candidate, Department of History, Michigan State University
Topic: Evangelical summer camps in the 1940s and 1950s

For my dissertation, I am researching evangelical summer camps in the 1940s and 1950s. While at the BCG Archive, I hoped to find documents about youth education curriculum, camp themes, crafts, songs, verses, and schedules as well as information about the churches that advocated for more youth education and encouraged summer camp attendance.

The BGC Archives confirmed many of my research ideas and provided me with an enormous amount of materials and data to further explore evangelical summer camps in the postwar era. I was able to look through all the collections I planned to examine. I also watched film strips, listened to oral interviews, and reviewed documents from camping manuals to Inter-Varsity and Youth for Christ prayer letters, constitutions, and statements of purpose. I was especially excited to discover the wealth of materials about the Pioneer Girls and the establishment of Camp Cherith, their regional summer camp. The oral interview with Pioneer Girls founder Betty Bouslough as well as the curriculum, manuals, promotional materials, personal testimonies and stories, radio interviews and programs, and the records of churches and church attendance provided valuable insight into the purpose and intent of the this organization.
The Archive staff was inordinately helpful in suggesting materials that I had not thought to examine, such as the New England Fellowship monthly newsletter and the Christian Camping International Records from Wheaton College Special Collection. I really appreciated their friendliness, exceptional organization, and expertise. In addition, I was also able to avoid the expense of thousands of paper copies as the BGC Archives printer/copier was equipped to electronically scan materials and send them directly to my email.

Mr. Kenny Krestan
Missionary with South America Mission
Topic: Dissertation on SAM's shift to urban ministry

I have served with the South America Mission now for 24 years. I am currently working on a doctoral writing project to research the urbanizational shift in ministry of South America Mission in the country of Peru. Our mission began ministry in Peru in 1928 originally to the indigenous people groups in Northern Peru. Today we are mostly located in urban areas. The intriguing factor is that most mission organizations have done this as well and I hope to see what led to this shift and how it has helped SAM towards accomplishing its vision and goals. I was excited to hear that the BGC Archives holds the history of South America Mission. I received great personal attention and appreciated the professionalism and care of the records. I plan to return shortly.

Dr. Kevin M. Kruse
Professor of History, Princeton University
Topic: Religion and American political culture during the Cold War

I am currently conducting research for a book on the relationship between religion and American political culture during the early decades of the Cold War. During these years, America underwent a profound religious revival, marked by record levels of church membership and the transformation of American political culture through changes like the addition of "under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance in 1954 and the changing of the nation's motto to "In God We Trust" in 1956. Originally, I was drawn to the BGC Archives to find materials that would help me tell the story of the central role that the wildly popular Billy Graham Crusades played in fostering this religious revival. While I found a wealth of materials detailing the operation and impact of the Crusades, I also found an incredible amount of interesting material in the papers of the National Association of Evangelicals [in the holdings of the Wheaton College Archives and Special Collections, a different department]. My trip was wonderful -- the collections were organized clearly and were easily accessible and the staff was unfailingly friendly and helpful. My only complaint was that my own schedule meant that I could only spend a week there, and not a month.

Mr. Jay Learned
PhD Candidate, University of Rochester
Topic: American messianism and anti-communism

I am nearing completing of research on the ideology of American messianism and anti-communism espoused by evangelicals, 1945-1962. Billy Graham, the most visible evangelical and national spokesman of this ideology, is my focus. I first examine the effort of Torrey Johnson and Youth for Christ ministers to evangelize postwar Europe to prevent the spread of communism there. The study then follows Graham’s and the role that anti-communism played in it, detailing how Graham used Hour of Decision to educate Americans and recruit them to the Christian-American cause. Finally, I explore Graham’s response to Cold War developments and his impact on American anti-communism during the Eisenhower and early Kennedy presidencies.

Although I had originally hoped to determine the actual sources through which Graham came to understand communism, I have uncovered rich sources that document both the steps he took to stop communism and the ideology he presented. In the end I had far more material than I needed, including material from the Wilbur Smith and Carl Henry archives at TUI. So valuable were BGCA materials that I wrote 300 pages almost exclusively from these primary sources. Particularly useful were YFC documents from Europe, which nicely contrast American and European attitudes toward communism; this was more than I expected.

Obviously the restrictions hindered me somewhat, but I was able to find material that worked just as well. I also discovered a few gaps, such as 3-4 years of material missing in certain files—such is the nature of personal collections.

Recent studies by Angel Lahr, William Inboden, Andrew Finstuen, and Jason Stevens suggest increased interest in the impact of religious ideas in shaping the Cold War. I hope to add to this by looking at the role messianic ideologies in both the US and Soviet Union.

Mr. Joseph Logan
Independent researcher and journalist
Topic: Missions of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions in Turkey and elsewhere in the Middle East

I am a freelance journalist and independent researcher based in Istanbul; I visited the BCG archives in the framework of a book proposal dealing with ABCFM missions in Anatolia and elsewhere in the Middle East in the early 20th century. I hoped, and was able, to familiarize myself with the portion of the ABCFM archive that BGC has which may be relevant for my purposes. My brief survey of those holdings helped me identify sets of materials which I subsequently examined at greater length at another institution which has the same set of microfilms. It gave me enough of a sense of the holdings to save considerable time in subsequent searches; I anticipate that it will be equally valuable for further research in the full ABCFM holdings.

I was particularly interested in correspondence and administrative records that touch on the careers of individual missionaries in Istanbul, as well as those of students in ABCFM schools who subsequently emigrated to the United States. I expected to find a great deal of material relating to both points; I did, and also identified similar material from other cities in Anatolia which helped to refine the scope of my inquiry. Missionary activity and its intersection with migration history is an expanding subfield of the modern history of the Middle East. I am aware of at least five dissertations in progress or recently completed which deal with some aspect of the topic; research in ABCFM archives typically figures prominently in these studies.

BGC staff extended every courtesy to me and made it possible for me to have a fruitful research trip to Wheaton on very short notice. I would welcome and look forward to the opportunity to conduct more research in the archive.

Mr. James Lutzweiler
Archivist, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary
Topic: The early film ministry of World Wide Pictures

I came to the Archives with two projects - a book or article on the roots and fruits of Billy Graham, and a look into my own spiritual roots. In particular I wanted to see the hard-to-find early films of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, Mr. Texas and Oiltown USA. I watched the films and were both fascinating. I saw them both many years ago at Youth for Christ meetings. I have always found the Archives’ collections, policies and staff to be among the best –and I get to a lot of archives. I do a lot of Texas Baptist history, and both movies fit into my research paradigm. These movies equip me better to conduct the kinds of oral histories I do in Texas and elsewhere. They have also helped me to understand my own religious roots and current evangelistic practices.

Dr. Kendrick Oliver
Director of Programmes (History), University of Southampton
Topic: The growing presence of Evangelicals in prison ministry in the United States from the 1970s onward

I visited the BGCA twice in 2010. I had become interested in the relationship between the development of an major evangelical role in prison ministry from the mid-1970s onwards - particularly with Bill Glass's prison crusades and the establishment of Charles Colson's Prison Fellowship - and the increase dating from around the same time in U.S. incarceration rates. I wanted to explore the origins of evangelical prison ministry in the early 1970s, and also to consider the development of such ministry as a reflection of changing evangelical attitudes towards the state. A short visit in April yielded a quantity of fascinating material - drawn from Bill Glass's Champions for Life papers, the Prison Fellowship collection, and Charles Colson's own personal papers - which suggested that there was indeed something significant to be written on both those questions. Over the course of the summer, however, I also became interested in Colson's conversion, the way the news of it was received in late 1973, the way his own understanding of it changed during his time in prison, the way he wrote about it in his memoirs, and the changing attitudes towards the sincerity of the conversion in the media and broader society as he developed Prison Fellowship in the late 1970s. After first visiting the Southern Baptist Historical Library in Nashville to find out more about Baptist activities in the field of prison ministry, I returned to the BGCA in September for a second, more sustained and targeted survey of the Prison Fellowship and Colson papers. I was grateful to Bob Shuster for also pointing me in the direction of the Fellowship Foundation papers, which also contained some relevant material. I hope to write up my findings in the form of three articles over the course of 2011.

Mr. Owen Strachan
Doctoral candidate, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School
Topic: Post 1940 development of American Evangelical thought

I came to the Billy Graham Center Archives in December 2010 to conduct research in the papers of Harold Lindsell, J. Howard Pew, and the New England Fellowship for a dissertation at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School on the development of a new evangelical thought-program in 1940s America. My work, directed by Wheaton graduate Douglas Sweeney and supervised by alumnus John Woodbridge and ISAE board member George Marsden, builds off of monographs like Marsden’s The Soul of the American University and Reforming Fundamentalism, Mark Noll’s Between Faith and Criticism, Garth Rosell’s The Surprising Work of God, John A. D’Elia’s A Place at the Table, Joel Carpenter’s Revive Us Again, and Rudolph Nelson’s The Making and Unmaking of an Evangelical Mind.

During my stay, I found artifacts that related directly to my project, particularly on the crucial subject of the later development of the neo-evangelical intellect. The staff not only offered an exceptional professional environment for historical research but suggested additional resources that will be incorporated into my dissertation. There is a happy irony in my experience at the BGC, as the school itself represents one of the key institutions in the modern project to re-envision doctrinally conservative American Christianity as an intellectual movement. It was here that I made several felicitous discoveries in material that only Wheaton possesses.

Rev. Edward Tenhor
Presbyterian minister
Topic: Background for an evangelistic outreach to the 'Jersey Shore"

I wanted you to know of our modest effort, Monmouth and Ocean County New Jersey churches, to reach our Jersey Shore population with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Of late the term "Jersey Shore" has dubious connotations. Quite possibly our Jersey Shore/Will Graham/Celebration attempt to participate in God's rescuing lost souls can also be a reclaiming of the good part of the meaning of the words "Jersey Shore."

I have visited the Billy Graham Center in Illinois twice during the past year partly because my youngest son lives down the street from Wheaton campus and partly because I head the Prayer Committee for Southern Ocean County for the Jersey Shore Celebration churches and I was interested in finding out as much as I could find out of the background of the Graham organization with the Jersey Shore, specifically with the Great Auditorium in the old Methodist seaside town of Ocean Grove.

I grew up attending services each summer at Ocean Grove and indeed when I was 18 years old and searching for a way to express my Christian faith first saw 36 year old Billy Graham on the beach in Ocean Grove in his black suit and black tie walking with what seemed like a few pastors. He was already well enough known, Christian celebrity-wise, that an 18 year old sitting on the boardwalk bench would take notice and remember the event. Evidently Mr. Graham was the Sunday speaker at the Ocean Grove Auditorium, NJ, near the end of the summer of 1955, followed a year later by an eight day crusade there, Sunday to Sunday in 1956. The 1956 event is well documented in the files at the Center, but the 1955 speaking engagement is not well documented, though implied in some of the correspondence. Mr. Ericksen and I were not able to track down any further information at that time on 1955. It is interesting to note that Billy was 36 in 1955 at the auditorium and that grandson Will Graham will also be 36 years old when he speaks at the same auditorium in 2011, 56 years later!

Ms. Lauren Turek
Doctoral candidate, University of Virginia
Topic: Billy Graham's influence on foreign policy opinion in the United States

I visited the Billy Graham Center to conduct preliminary research on Graham and his influence on foreign policy opinion in the United States and to help narrow down a dissertation topic. While there, I discovered a wealth of information on the 1974 International Congress on World Evangelization, as well as some fascinating documents and oral history transcripts on Billy Graham's visits to the USSR in the 1980s. I drew on some of the materials that I found for a seminar paper on the debate that erupted at the [1980] Consultation on World Evangelization over missionary work in Africa, Asia, and Latin America and cultural imperialism. Although the topic of this paper doesn't reflect the direction of my dissertation research, I hope to make a return trip to the BGC, as the center houses a number of collections that will be very useful as I move forward with my research. I found the staff at the BGC to be incredibly helpful and welcoming.
 
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