Paul leading a workshop in Hong Kong on
how to start and maintain a church archives

1/99 "Thank you for all the info and picture. I will use it for a bulletin board in my classroom. We are reading the biography of Sunday by Elaine Cunningham (5th and 6th graders at a Christian school) Thanks again!!!! God bless you for your efforts." E-mail from a teacher at a Christian secondary school, about information she had received on Billy Sunday

Notes:

• All categories are exclusive. That is, if a phone caller asks for an inter-library loan, the request is counted under "Inter-Library Loan" or Phone" but not under both.

• BGEA: Requests for information from the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association

• Classes: Lecture given to a group in the Reading Room

• Presentations: Lectures given anywhere outside of the Reading Room

• Personal Contacts: Assistance given by staff to a researcher on a one-to-one basis, outside of the Reading Room.

• Before 1991, all assistance that was not for the BGEA or was not given in a letter or over the phone was lumped together as "Personal Contact." Also, before 1991, if a staff member spoke to a class of 30 people, that was counted as 30 Personal contacts. Now it would be counted as 1 class.

Paul at a darkened podium in Barrows Auditorium delivering the BGC Archives part of the annual Treasures of Wheaton
program. Every year in May, each of the three archives on campus makes a
presentation based on documents from their holdings. This year, Paul's talk
(which was illustrated with video clips and other materials from our
Web site exhibit) was entitled: Flickering Images and the Timeless Gospel:
Percy Crawford and the Birth of Televangelism.
The three archives on campus began this year to meet regularly
to discuss common problems and investigate solutions.

In February, Paul represented the Archives in its ongoing interaction with and contribution to developing archives. At the invitation of Hong Kong Baptist University, from which Irene Wong had come for a half year of training during 1999, he relocated to Hong Kong for two weeks to present lectures and a workshop, observe and evaluate the HKBU's Archives of Christianity in China, and become familiar with the context in which archives in Hong Kong function.

This phase of interaction between HKBU and the BGC Archives was a two-way street to which both archives contributed. Paul offered lectures to history students, archivists and the public on oral history methodology and missions in China in the mid-1900s, while the HKBU Library hosted these public events to provide public exposure for its collection (see inset from promotional poster at left). The Library also sponsored an all-day seminar on developing a simple congregational archives. Attended by 155 participants, Paul spoke and interacted with participants while Wong translated and provided relevant clarification for Hong Kong archivists and church leaders. Paul later commented that...

"...The enthusiasm expressed in the attendance figures at the workshop was matched by questions which revealed a growing understanding of archives theory, recognition of the implications of these on archival practice in the Hong Kong context, and a determination to find workable solutions. The collaboration between the Archives of Christianity in China, other University departments and Christian agencies in Hong Kong to sponsor these events becomes an additional resource for HKBU's collecting and outreach."

In his consultation with the Archives of Christianity in China, Paul found a young program anticipating the arrival of its first collection of private papers and working to finalize its collection policy. HKBU had already coordinated training for Wong, its first archivist, and was now seeking to strengthen links in the Hong Kong Christian community to assist church archives and gather new material. As for local context, in addition to Paul's conferring with Hong Kong church leaders and administrators, he participated in the HKBU-sponsored tour to the Public Records Office (HK's government archives) and the Catholic diocesan archives, which added to the many highlights of his visit. Paul as he looks back now adds:

"I hope our contribution to the ongoing development of HKBU's Archives of Christianity in China will be lasting, but a personal benefit of the trip for me was in observing archives in another culture, helping them consider and apply archival principles in their context, and engaging in professional interaction with a common goal."