Chester R. Young Papers

Collection — Multiple Containers

Identifier: BCA 0111 SAA 111

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The collection includes material related to the education, work, research, writing, and personal life of Chester R. Young. These materials include correspondence, clippings, photographs, manuscripts, research notes, publications, documents, and audio recordings of church services.

Listen To Recordings

These materials cover a wide range of subject matter, including mission work, some Hawaiian archives and history, Kentucky and Virginia history, religious topics, and education. Portions of Young’s Hawaiian material were transferred to the Hawaiian Collection at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Library in 2011.

Dates

Other: Majority of material found in 1931-1998
Other: Date acquired: 07/00/1996

Creator

Young, Chester Raymond -- 1920-1999 (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

Records can be accessed through the Reading Room, Berea College Special Collections and Archives, Hutchins Library, Berea College.

Conditions Governing Use

Certain records within the collection are restricted (as noted on the Box List). Federal copyright regulations apply to all materials.

Extent

74.00 ms_boxes

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

Chester Young was born July 2, 1920 in rural Adair County, Kentucky to parents Joseph and Sarah Young and moved to Columbia, Kentucky at the age of three. During his childhood, Young was a member of Columbia Baptist Church, the Royal Ambassadors and the Boys Scouts, later becoming a Scoutmaster and a Star Scout.

Young graduated from Columbia High School in 1938, then graduated from Lindsey Wilson College in 1940, received his B.A. from Berea College in 1943 and briefly attended American University in Washington, D.C., studying archival practices. He received a Masters of Divinity from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1949 and his Masters of Theology in 1959, a Masters in History from the University of Hawaii in 1964 and his Ph.D. in History from Vanderbilt University in 1969. Young served in the U.S. Army, stationed in Washington, D.C. and in Hawaii from 1942-1946 and joined the Southern Baptist Convention Foreign Mission Board as a missionary to Hawaii in 1949 where he lived with his wife Florence and three children, Charlotte (Cookie), Virginia and Chester Jr., until moving back to the mainland in 1964. While in Hawaii, he edited the Hawaii Baptist from 1949-1952, served as President of the Hawaii Baptist Convention from 1952-1954, and pastored Kalihi Baptist Church from 1950-1964. After living in Nashville and Jellico, Tennessee, Young moved to Williamsburg, Kentucky to teach history at Cumberland College, a Baptist college. He started the Upsilon Upsilon chapter of Phi Alpha Theta, a history honors society, and served as advisor of the organization from 1974-1985. The chapter received the Best Chapter in the Nation award for 18 out of 19 years. He retired from teaching in 1985.

Young was the author of three books: Westward Into Kentucky: The Narrative of Daniel Trabue, published by the University Press of Kentucky in 1981; To Win the Prize, a history of the First Baptist Church of Williamsburg, Ky. published in 1983; and Baptists on the American Frontier, the edited work of John Taylor, published by Mercer University Press in 1995. He also wrote historical and religious articles for various publications, including entries for the Encyclopedia of Southern Religions. He was awarded the Certificate of Commendation from the American Association for State and Local History in 1982 for Westward into Kentucky, and the DAR National History Award by the Office of the Historical General, Washington, D.C. in 1996 in recognition of his scholarship and commitment to American history.

Chester R. Young died in 1999.

Arrangement Note

The collection has been arranged in the following series and subseries:

Series 1: Correspondence

Series 2: Personal documents and records

Subseries 1: Boy Scouts

Subseries 2: Family History

Subseries 3: General

Series 3: Personal education

Subseries 1: High School and undergraduate

Subseries 2: Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

Subseries 3: University of Hawaii

Subseries 4: Vanderbilt University

Series 4: Mission work

Subseries 1: Foreign Mission Board

Subseries 2: Community mission work

Subseries 3: Hawaii religions

Subseries 4: Kentucky Baptist Convention

Series 5: Cumberland College

Subseries 1: General

Subseries 2: Phi Alpha Theta, Upsilon Upsilon chapter

Subseries 3: Kentucky History class

Series 6: Manuscripts

Subseries 1: Research and notes

Subseries 1-Sub-subseries 1: Dictionary of Oceania

Subseries 1-Sub-subseries 2: Westward into Kentucky

Subseries 1-Sub-subseries 3: To Win the Prize

Subseries 1-Sub-subseries 4: Baptists on the American Frontier

Subseries 1-Sub-subseries 5: “The Effects of the French and Indian War on Civilian Life in the Frontier Counties of Virginia, 1754-1763”

Subseries 1-Sub-subseries 6: Cumberland College History

Subseries 1-Sub-subseries 7: Baptist History

Subseries 1-Sub-subseries 8: American history

Subseries 1-Sub-subseries 9: Kentucky history

Subseries 1-Sub-subseries 10: Miscellaneous research

Subseries 2: Publishing contracts and correspondence

Subseries 3: Marketing and public relations

Subseries 4: Manuscripts and typescripts

Subseries 5: Note cards

Series 7: Photographic materials

Series 8: Audio tapes

Series 9: Microfilm and slides

Source of Acquisition

Chester R. Young

Method of Acquisition

The Chester R. Young Papers were donated by Chester R. Young and accessioned into the Berea College Special Collections & Archives for disposition in the Southern Appalachian Archives in July 1996.

Other Descriptive Information

BCA 0111 SAA 111

Processing Information

The collection opened for research in August 2008 following arrangement and description by Janice Childers, graduate intern from the University of Kentucky. Additional arrangement and integration of found materials was conducted between 2009 and 2011. The finding aid was updated in January 2016.