How do you do historical research in an archives? What is it like to work with actual fragments from the past, to reconstruct a picture of past from documents such as newspaper clippings, letters, diaries, photos, and film? These are some of the general themes of the Archival Research Lectures. Every year a scholar who has worked in the BGC Archives talks about his/her own experiences doing research (at the BGC Archives and other places) and describe some of the fruits of that researchBilly Graham (1918-) ranks as one of the most influential Christians of the twentieth century. This talk suggests that Graham’s achievement lay in the blending of two streams. The first consisted of exceptional personal gifts, including looks, voice, poise, sincerity, integrity, professional ambition, and personal humility. The second one involved his uncanny ability to adapt trends of the age for his evangelization and moral reform aims. Those trends included the “Southernization” of American culture, the rise of mass media, and the post-World War II quest for consensus, among others. The talk will consider how the two streams, flowing together, helped a farm boy become the pre-eminent leader for many years of the evangelical movement in the United States and in many other parts of the world.

Dr. Wacker is Gilbert T. Rowe Professor Emeritus of Christian History at Duke Divinity School. He specializes in the history of Evangelicalism, Pentecostalism, World Missions and American Protestant thought. The most recent of his eight books is America’s Pastor/ Billy Graham and the Shaping of a Nation (Harvard University Press, 2014). Along with the lecture, there will be an exhibit of material relating Billy Graham's life and ministry, drawn from the holdings of the BGC Archives. There will also be a reception following the lecture. The lecture is free and open to the public.