The Archives of the BGC collects material about evangelism and missions--efforts to spread
the Gospel. Included are collections that have information about foreign missions, many
of which have to do with missions to China and to Chinese communities in other countries. These records
are primarily concerned with the development of the church in China, as seen by foreign missionaries,
although some of these records also contain direct and indirect reports of the viewpoints of Chinese
Christians. They also contain information on political and social events over the years, particularly
as these affected the church. Besides these mission collections, the Archives also contains the files of various conference and congresses
which included representation from Chinese churches.
A list of various types of collections follows:
Records of mission boards--minutes, reports, clippings, correspondence, photos, etc.--describe
the work of missionaries, relations with governments, travel to and from, opportunities or hindrances
to the work.
Private papers of missionaries--letters, reports, scrapbooks, photos, slides, etc--describe their
work, their contacts with Chinese Christianity, and report to some extent on social, political and
economic events going on around them.
Oral histories with missionaries give information on the individual's background, faith, his or her
experiences as a missionary, and reflections on that experience.
Congress and conference collections contain some reports on the church in China and on results of
evangelistic work there with particular social, economic, ethnic or gender groups.
International organizations collections may include membership reports, activities of the organizations,
papers presented at international meetings, reports on organizational projects, etc.
Billy Graham Evangelistic Association materials include information on crusades Rev. Graham
has had in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Taiwan, etc., the work of associate evangelists, and other BGEA
activities.
For a list and description of some of the collections that deal with Christianity in China, click
here.
Please be aware that the purpose of this page is to provide information on some of the most relevant Archives holdings relating to this often-asked question. Because of staff and time limitations, the BGC archivists can spend no more than a half-hour helping an individual researcher; we have to focus our efforts on gathering the material and making it available. In order to find all the materials in the Archives on this particular topic, you will need to personally go through the guides to the various Archives collections available at this Web site and in the Archives Reading Room in the Billy Graham Center building in Wheaton, Illinois. If your request will take longer than the half hour we can provide, you will either need to come to the Archives yourself to do the necessary research in our collections, arrange for someone to come and do the research for you, or pay to use the Archives' research services.
You can also do further independent searching of the online database to explore what the Archives has on a wide variety of subjects. You will find only a very small sampling of the Archives actual documents on this Web site. Most of our Web pages only describe what is at the Archives in Wheaton. In most cases you must visit the Archives to use our collections, unless a collection (or portion of it) is available through inter-library loan or as a short-term loan for a fee. You may also find it helpful to visit Wheaton College's online catalog to its libraries and archives (including the Billy Graham Center Archives).