Records of BGEA: Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, Ltd.; 1955- - Collection 9

[Note: What follows is a description of the documents in this collection which are available for use at BGC Archives in Wheaton, Illinois, USA. The actual documents are not, in most cases, available online, only this description of them. Nor are they available for sale or rent.]

Table of Contents

Brief Description of This Collection

Title Page and Restrictions

General Historical Background of Billy Graham and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association

Historical Background of BGEA: Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, Ltd.

An Essay on the Contents of the Collection (Scope and Content)

List of the Contents of Boxes of Paper Records in This Collection (Container List)

---

Collection 9
[November 30, 2004]
BGEA: Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, Ltd.; 1955-
Records; 1954-1976, n.d.
4 Boxes (2 RC, 2 DC; 2.8 cubic feet)

Restrictions
All materials in this collection are on deposit from the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and may not be copied without written permission from the BGEA. Any researcher who wishes to request permission must get the required form from the Archives staff. It is the responsibility of the researcher to fill out the form and send it to the BGEA.

Historical Background

The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, Limited, was the office of the Billy Graham Association in Great Britain. It was established in 1955 for the London Crusade in May of that year and continued handling the Association's affairs in that country. Maurice L. Rowlandson, who supervised the showing of the film Souls in Conflict after the 1954 London Crusade, was the first director.

Scope and Content

[NOTE: In the Scope and Content description, the notation "Folder 2-5" means Box 2, Folder 5.]

This collection includes correspondence, telegrams, press releases, and counseling letters. Most of the materials are concerned mainly with the various responsibilities of the British office of the BGEA and specifically with the responsibilities of the director of the office. These responsibilities included responding to inquiries from the general public about BGEA activities, arranging for the showing of World Wide Pictures films, issuing publicity releases, making arrangements for visiting BGEA personnel from the United States, arranging for the publication of books and generally overseeing the BGEA's activities in Great Britain. The materials are arranged in folders, first alphabetically by title and then chronologically. Material within folders are arranged alphabetically by name of correspondent and then by date. Folder titles were usually supplied by the processing archivist. The container list sets forth all the folder titles in alphabetical order.

Some of the folders contain information about specific crusades. Folder 4-1 holds a scrapbook which has pasted in it letters and telegrams of encouragement sent to Graham on the occasion of the BGEA's first English crusade, the Greater London Crusade of 1954. Besides receiving messages from churches in Korea and India, Graham also heard from evangelical leaders in the United States and Great Britain such as Robert Cook, W. A. Criswell, Horace F. Dean, Victor Raymond Edman, Richard Halverson, Richard Hillis, J. Palmer Muntz, Stephen Olford, and Alan Redpath. Folders 3-6 and 3-51 hold correspondence between Rowlandson and Ian St. John Lawson Johnston Luke and Donald James Wilson-Haffendon. The latter two were, respectively, a member of the executive committee and the chairman of the Greater London Crusade of 1966. These folders contain a great deal of information on the detailed planning for that meeting. Folder 3-42 contains memos and letters from Harvey Thomas and his preparation work for Eurofest '75.

Most of the rest of the files contain letters about the office, crusade, and film activities. Of special interest are: the correspondence with Coca-Cola about the use of that company's logo by the BGEA; the letters to Mrs. Fred Dienert and from Bishop Jack Dain about activities relating to the 1974 Lausanne Congress on Evangelism; the transcript of an interview between then President Gerald Ford and several evangelical journalists on a wide variety of subjects, including Ford's faith; letters to Billy and Ruth Graham about personalities and events in England; a letter from BGEA staff member Arthur Matthews on the problems involved in estimating crowds at crusade meetings; correspondence with George Wilson, business manager, on administrative matters; and many letters with Sherwood Wirt and Roger Palms, editors of Decision magazine, about articles for that publication. Other correspondents include: Cliff Barrows, James Collier, Lois Ferm, Leighton Ford, John Corts, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Esther LaDow, Harold Lindsell, the National Assembly of Evangelicals, Victor Nelson, John Pollock, Paul Rees, George Beverly Shea, Walter Smyth, and Grady Wilson.

Also of interest is the Compendium of Extracts from Spiritual Counselling Letters Written on Behalf of Billy Graham in box 1. This is a selection of replies written by Rev. C. Alan Stephens in answer to letters written by citizens of Great Britain to Billy Graham. Stephens was authorized to answer these letters, whose topics ranged from doctrine to personal problems to politics to the organization and rationale of BGEA crusades.

Provenance

The material in this collection was received by the Center from the BGEA in September 1975 and May 1977.

Accession 75-11, 77-8
March 9, 1976
June 17, 1977
March 10, 1980
Robert Shuster
M. Hilton
S. Kouns
S. Short

March 23, 1993, Revised
M. L. Wohlschlegel

Send us a message

Return to BGC Archives Home Page
Expiration: indefinite