An Inside Look at the Billy Graham Archive & Research Center

by BGEA Staff   |     |  
Will Graham welcomes the media on Monday to the Billy Graham Archive & Research Centre in Charlotte, North Carolina. “It’s never been about Billy Graham. This place is about telling the message of Jesus Christ and what He’s done for humanity.”
Will Graham talks about one of the very early recording technologies—that looks similar to fishing wire—used in the late 1940s to archive the famous “Canvas Cathedral” Los Angeles tent Crusade in 1949.
Some of the items available to study include this Bible that Billy Graham preached from.
Over a million artifacts are housed in the state-of-the-art facility that has an advanced fire-suppression system.
The centre is 30,000 square feet and is a short walk from the Billy Graham Library, where a sampling of archives are on display to the public.
Dr. David Bruce, executive vice president of the Billy Graham Archive & Research Centre and Billy Graham Library, shares a story about boots from the Vietnam/Korea War era.
A collection of Billy Graham’s pulpits are housed at the centre, including this one that was used for his final New York Crusade in 2005.
A close-up of Billy Graham’s notes in the book of Galatians.
Dr. David Bruce, who also served as Billy Graham’s executive assistant, explained that the center’s rooms are kept at optimal humidity levels and temperature—59 degrees—for archive preservation.
On what would have been his grandfather’s 104th birthday, Will Graham told some personal stories on Monday—some funny and some poignant. “We would never talk about shop or how to do a sermon. We would talk about what granddaddys and grandkids talk about—what’s going on in our lives. He never talked about his work.”
Some of the film footage of Billy Graham’s early Crusades was on display Monday.
A handwritten letter from Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II.