This collection contains announcements, annual reports, applications, architectural drawings and specifications, brochures, bulletins, constitutions, contracts, correspondence, handbooks, manuals, membership lists, minutes, programs, scrapbooks, time reports, and work plans. The records document the activities of the office from 1903 to 1989. From 1908 to 1974, the office of Religious Affairs was nearly synonymous with the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA), as the records indicate. Hence, the collection also includes the records of the Danforth Chapel from 1955 to 1976, the International Student Center from 1955 to 1965, and the Self-Help Bureau from 1932 to 1941.
The Office of Religious Affairs grew out of the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) and the leadership of Edward S. King, who served North Carolina State College (later North Carolina State University) through the YMCA from 1919 to 1955. The campus branch of the YMCA was established in 1889 and was the site of the following activities and events: regular Sunday services; Bible study classes; a published montly paper; a handbook for freshmen and prospective students; speakers and discussion groups; a game room for students; a barbershop; and the Self-Help Bureau, which helped students secure employment while in college. The YMCA branch existed on campus until 1982.
The Office of Religious Affairs grew out of the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) and the leadership of Edward S. King, who served North Carolina State College (later North Carolina State University) through the YMCA from 1919 to 1955. In the fall of 1889 a branch of the YMCA was established on the campus. The YMCA conducted regular Sunday services and Bible study classes, published a monthly paper and a handbook for freshmen and prospective students, and brought carefully chosen and nationally known speakers to the campus. Members of the YMCA gave programs at neighboring colleges and representatives were sent to the annual Southern Student Conference near Asheville and to various other student volunteer conferences. Other activities and services of the YMCA included the provision of a game room for students, a barbershop, and the Self-Help Bureau, which helped students secure employment while in college. Members of this organization met new students at the depot and escorted them to the campus with the intention of becoming the students' servant, friend, and moral guide. The YMCA branch existed on campus until 1982.
In 1975, a copper box was found in the cornerstone of the King Religious Center (also known as the YMCA), where it had been for around sixty years. The contents of this time capsule are primarily documents from the early years of the YMCA and are in this collection.
This collection contains announcements, annual reports, applications, architectural drawings and specifications, brochures, bulletins, constitutions, contracts, correspondence, handbooks, manuals, membership lists, minutes, programs, scrapbooks, time reports, and work plans. The records document the activities of the office from 1903 to 1989. From 1908 to 1974, the office of Religious Affairs was nearly synonymous with the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA), as the records indicate. Hence, the collection also includes the records of the Danforth Chapel from 1955 to 1976, the International Student Center from 1955 to 1965, and the Self-Help Bureau from 1932 to 1941.
The collection is organized into ten series:
The nature of the NC State University Libraries' Special Collections means that copyright or other information about restrictions may be difficult or even impossible to determine despite reasonable efforts. The NC State University Libraries claims only physical ownership of most Special Collections materials.
The materials from our collections are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study, pursuant to U.S. Copyright law. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Any materials used for academic research or otherwise should be fully credited with the source.
This collection may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations. Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which North Carolina State University assumes no responsibility.
[Identification of item], North Carolina State University, Division of Student Affairs, Office of Religious Affairs records, UA 016.036, Special Collections Research Center, North Carolina State University Libraries, Raleigh, NC
Transferred from the Division of Student Affairs
Transferred from the North Carolina State University Division of Student Affairs. Consult the University Archivist for additional information.
Processed by Carolyn Chesarino, 2010 April
The collection is organized into ten principal series:
The YMCA building and its staff were involved with more than religious services and retreats. At one time or another, the YMCA had a working relationship with a barber shop, the Bar Jonah Coffee House, Hopeline Crisis telephone service, the McKimmon Residence Village, the Presbyterian Campus Chirstian Life Center, Vetville and its community center, and the International Student Center.
This series contains a variety of records that document these relationships from 1947 to 1970 and includes contracts, reports, bulletins, posters, and correspondence.
The records in this series document the activities of the YMCA Board of Directors from 1909 to 1973. The Board was the primary and legal authority of the YMCA and derived its powers from the Articles of Incorporation and Constitution. All other boards, committees, councils and task forces received their authority by delegation of this board. Professional staff members were assigned and approved by the Board. The records in this series include personnel records, annual reports, budget planning, and correspondence.
The records in this series document the history of North Carolina State University's campus YMCA bulding from 1910 to 1973. The bulding was built from 1912 to 1913, renovated in the 1950s, renamed the E. S. King Religious Center in 1959, and demolished in 1975 to make room for an addition to the College of Design. These records document the planning, fundraising, and effort to save the building. Included in this series are architectural plans, committee records, correspondence with donors, contracts, insurance policies, and ceremony brochures.
The records in this series document the activities of the YMCA's Cabinet from 1903 to 1986. The Cabinet was comprised of the program's student officers. These elected officers conducted Cabinet meetings and open meetings; served on committees such as the Children's Committee and the Freshman Committee; and planned retreats. This series includes newsletters, correspondence, handbooks, minutes, installation service bulletins, and other internal documents.
Religious Affairs (through the YMCA and the Cooperative Campus Ministry) sponsored many conferences, camps, and programs at North Carolina State University. This series includes meeting minutes and planning records for the various confferences and retreats that Religious Affairs sponsored from 1908 to 1983.
Of particular note is the Climate of Learning Conference, where faculty from all facets of the University would brainstorm at a retreat on how to foster a better learning environment at NC State University. These folders document the faculty's attempts to understand students' concerns and their rejection of "in loco parentis" university regulations. There are meeting minutes, committee reports, and student questionnaires in these folders.
The records in this series document the activies of the Cooperative Campus Ministry (CCM) from 1922 to 1989. The Chaplains' Cooperative Ministry (formerly the Cooperative Campus Ministry) at North Carolina State University is an interfaith organization which both supports individual programs of faith and plans jointly sponsored campus ministries for students, faculty, and staff. Its members, both ordained and non-ordained, strive to be leaders within the University as inquiry, dialogue, development, and truth are pursued with trust at all levels. Each member group, while not denying its own beliefs, is willing to cooperate with and support the other members as they develop their own communities. Its members pledge to respect the established religious convictions of all individuals and to avoid language and behavior whose real or perceived purpose is to pressure or deter persons who are already committed to living out their chosen faith heritage.
Of particular note is the folder entitled "Human Relations," which refers to interracial tensions in the Raleigh area during the 1950s and 1960s. This folder contains correspondence and essays that respond to the lunch counter sit-in movement. More immediate to NC State University, this folder contains records in response to international students from African and Middle Eastern countries being denied admission to Chapel Hill's Varisty Theater.
The records in this series document the history of the Danforth Chapel from 1952 to 1976. The Chapel was named for the generous benefactor, William H. Danforth, who died before the building was completed. The Chapel was used by the Cooperative Campus Ministry and the YMCA for contemporary and traditional worship services as well as wedding ceremonies. The records include architectural plans, fundraising correspondence, service bulletins, and information on the couples who were married in the Chapel.
These records document the activities of the YMCA at North Carolina State University from 1907 to 1983. The records include the constitution of the NC State University YMCA, certificate of incorporation, correspondence with alumni, memorandum, newsletters, programs, agendas, time capsule memorabilia, and essays.
The YMCA was a voluntary organization that was controlled by the students under the direction of a general secretary, who was employed with funds subscribed by the Board of Directors. On December 8, 1905, the Board appropriated $300.00 to employ a full-time Y secretary. The first general secretary, E. R. Walton, served for two years. He was succeeded by John W. Bergthold in 1908.
A copper box was recovered from the King Religious Center (also known as the YMCA) cornerstone, in 1975 after a respite of nearly sixty years. This time capsule was found to contain numerous items relating to the college. These items (including) were put in the University Memorabilia collection but then transferred to this collection.
The records address a range of topics including guidance for young men during the Vietnam War draft about concientious objectors and appeals, a folder entitled "Student Revolutions" which documents student and faculty reactions towards criticisms of "in loco parentis" rules in universities, as well as the general internal documents of the YMCA.
A significant aspect of the Relgious Affairs office was to facilitate dialogue. The records in this series document the lectures, classes, and performances that this office sponsored from 1908 to 1976. The records include posters, calendars, announcements, transcripts, and correspondence.
One of the most well known, popular and sometimes controversial program that the office sponsored was Ethel Nash's Courtship and Marriage lecture series. Records pertaining to these lectures include correspondence, advertisements, newspaper articles, and posters.
The Self-Help Bureau, which was a subsidiary of the campus YMCA, helped students secure employment while in college. Particularly in the 1930s due to the Great Depression, students had to leave the university in alarming numbers due to financial hardship. The Self-Help Bureau appropriated funds and/or set students up with jobs through the following New Deal-era programs: Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), National Youth Administration (NYA), Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), and Public Works Administration (PWA).
The FERA was a Roosevelt Administration relief program enacted in 1933 and terminated in 1935. FERA was the first direct-relief operation under the New Deal. This relief effort emphasized work and its main goal was to alleviate adult unemployment. In order to achieve this goal, FERA provided state assistance for the unemployed and their families. From when it began in May 1933 until it closed its operations in December 1935, it gave states and localities $3.1 billion to operate local work projects and transient programs. The records from FERA in this collection include: newsletters, applications, departmental time allotments, statistics, and other internal records.
The NYA also operated out of Self Help office of the YMCA. The primary purpose of the NYA was to help high school and college students from low-income families to stay in school by giving them part-time paid work.
The TVA was created in 1933 to provide navigation, flood control, electricity generation, fertilizer manufacturing, and economic development in the Tennessee Valley, a region particularly affected by the Great Depression. The records in this folder document the TVA's recruting efforts of high-achieving NC State University students from 1934 to 1936.
The PWA concentrated on the construction of large-scale public works such as dams and bridges, with the goal of providing employment, stabilizing purchasing power, and contributing to a revival of American industry. There is one cicular (number 144) from this organization from 1935 in this collection.
This collection is open for research; access requires at least 48 hours advance notice. Because of the nature of certain archival formats, including digital and audio-visual materials, access to digital files may require additional advanced notice.
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[Identification of item], North Carolina State University, Division of Student Affairs, Office of Religious Affairs records, UA 016.036, Special Collections Research Center, North Carolina State University Libraries, Raleigh, NC
The nature of the NC State University Libraries' Special Collections means that copyright or other information about restrictions may be difficult or even impossible to determine despite reasonable efforts. The NC State University Libraries claims only physical ownership of most Special Collections materials.
The materials from our collections are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study, pursuant to U.S. Copyright law. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Any materials used for academic research or otherwise should be fully credited with the source.
This collection may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations. Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which North Carolina State University assumes no responsibility.