Young, William H., (1883-1975). Papers, 1908-1973

Biography

William Harvey Young was a minister in the Congregationalist faith. He graduated from Union Theological Seminary in 1915, after receiving his degree from Grinnell College in Iowa. He spent most of his life as a congregational minister in the towns of Brimfield, Chillicothe, Thawville, and Galesburg, Illinois, from the early 1920s until his retirement in the early 1960s.

Social action was an integral part of his religion. While attending sociology classes at Columbia University in New York City, he lived on the East Side among the Bohemian people with whom he worked, and many of his sermons reflect the social concerns of the time. He was also involved the temperance movement and conducted an investigation of taverns in Illinois in the early 1930s as a member of the Anti-Saloon League. His interests included photography and theater, and he often wrote to playwrights seeking permission to host their plays.

Taking a respite from church duties, he sold law correspondent courses in the mid-west in the early 1920s. He converted to Congregationalism from Methodism in 1923, and took a pastorship at the Union Church in Brimfield, Illinois. He would remain a Congregational pastor throughout the rest of his ministry. He was concerned with the merger between Congregational Church and the Evangelical and Reformed Church the occurred in the 1950s, and was active in its opposition. He married Blanche De Bra in 1914. They had four children: Harvey Jr., Arthur, Barbara, and Katherine.

Scope and Content

The collection consists of papers concerning his education and ministry, including sermon notes, records of income and expenses, personal diaries, documents about the lives of the churches in which he served, and correspondence documenting the 1950’s merger between the Congregational Church and the Evangelical and Reformed Church, which he strongly opposed. Together these papers give considerable detail about church business and the economically difficult life of a minister in small Midwestern towns in the early 20th Century.

Series Description

Organized into the following series:

Box and Folder List