“Dusty records don’t serve any purpose,” he said.
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But he also said the main purpose of the archives is to further Graham’s ministry.
“While we’re open to everybody, our key market is people wanting to learn what God has done and can do in the future that might encourage a young man or woman to take up the same task: a proclamation of evangelism,” he said.
Graham’s archive in Wheaton was visited by more than 19,000 scholars, journalists and other researchers during its nearly 40 years there.
The Charlotte archive will also be a crucial stop for many academics.
Graham is important not only to future evangelists but to scholars of all fields, including scholars of American politics, said Heath Carter, professor of American Christianity at Princeton Theological Seminary.
“There’s wider interest in evangelicalism and an acknowledgment that the trajectory of white evangelicalism in the mid- to late-20th century had really significant implications for American politics,” Carter said. “He was a key figure in a movement that would become a strong base of support for the likes of Donald Trump.”
Graham’s views on race and gender and his international reach are also being reexamined.
For now, Bruce said, the first researcher to visit the archives will be a Ph.D. student at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, who is studying Graham’s reach to the former Soviet bloc.
On Monday, reporters were invited to tour the building. It opens to researchers on Tuesday.
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This article originally appeared on ReligionNews.com.
