English
Gift of Patty Crowley and Monsignor Reynold Hillenbrand.
Young Christian Workers Records (YCW), University of Notre Dame Archives (UNDA), Notre Dame, IN 46556
Correspondence of national headquarters with local YCW groups all over the United States; subject files, training courses, answers to survey questionnaires, financial records, reports, inquiry programs, manuals, mimeographed material, pamphlets, periodicals, photographs, and papers of national chaplain Monsignor Reynold Hillenbrand and Caroline Pezzullo, president of the women's YCW, 1949-1953; with material on civil rights, credit unions, labor unions, Catholic Action, and the international Jocist (Young Christian Workers) movement founded by Canon Joseph Cardijn.
An organization of the Catholic lay apostolate for young working people; it had parallel organizations for men and women, a national headquarters, and local groups of leaders who would meet to read scripture, discuss and judge what they had observed in the workplace or neighborhood, and decide how to act to make their community more Christian, according to the teachings of papal encyclicals urging Catholic social action.
The Young Christian Workers organization is the American branch of the Jeunesse Ouvriere Chretienne, an organization founded by Joseph Cardijn, a Flemish Belgian priest who was elevated to the College of Cardinals by Pope Paul VI in 1965. The movement,which grew out of Cardijn's interest in young workers, was officially launched in 1924.
In 1938, Msgr. Donald Kanaly organized the first American cell in Ponca City, Oklahoma. Other groups using the "observe, judge, act" method appeared in Chicago, San Francisco, Detroit, and San Antonio. The movements gained added impetus after World War II, when a national headquarters was established in Chicago following the 1947 International YCW Congress held in Montreal. The name of the organization was changed to Young Christians Movement in 1965.
I. Correspondence: Miscellaneous letters and reports filed by region (city or state) or by topic (imprimatur, discrimination). Boxes 5 and 7 contain material from 1954; all others from 1955. Most of the material is routine correspondence; however, box 7 contains a questionnaire given out at the 1954 study week at Notre Dame asking name, age, address, education, occupation, employer, interests, reading, and organization and union membership. The same container includes copies of an evaluation form on the 1954 national study week. File drawers 89, 92, and 96 contain miscellaneous correspondence from 1958-59, and 1961-62. (boxes 1-7; 42; 88; 92; 96.)
II. Central file: Material similar to that in series one, but dating from 1959-1960. There is a greater number of topical files in this group. It includes: reports on a trip to Africa by Msgr. Cantwell (box 8); report of the Covington, Kentucky YCW federation to the (Kentucky) Governor's Conference on Human Rights, and copies of testimony on migrant labor given before a House Subcommittee by Michael Coleman, YCW President (box 10). Box 56 contains a folder of correspondence from 1960; a file on a 1961 regional convention; and a file on the National Council of Catholic Men. (boxes 8-110.)
III. Section files: Reference files from 1959-1960 on activities, problems, procedures and section status. There are a few reports on particular activities, such as a campaign to revise the laws governing the Bracero program. Box 11 holds files containing information on the membership and activities of various sections in 1958. Similar material for 1959 is in boxes 12 and 15. Other files provide a brief background on specific problems, such as "U.S. Health and Nutrition" (box 16). Box 17 contains copies of AIM (YCW's newspaper) and results of a survey on the 1958-1959 preparation for marriage program. Boxes 18-22 contain correspondence and monthly reports, from the sections filed by state, 1959-1960. Boxes 30-32 contain monthly activity reports of the sections for 1961, recorded on standardized forms. The status of the movement in the late fifties is also depicted in the area reports to the council in box 29 and binders 25A and 25B. (boxes 11-22; 25a-b; 29-32.)
IV. National Individual Survey: In 1959, YCW conducted a survey of 18-30 year old single workers for a White House Conference on Children and Youth. Series four contains the results of this survey. Not names were taken. The questions covered age, sex, home town, national origin of self, father and mother, religion, home life, occupation, education, leisure time, politics, work and opinions of labor union activity. The questionnaires are arranged by diocese in boxes 23 and 24; the results are complied in box 26. (boxes 23-24; 26.)
V. International: International correspondence, reports project material and publications dating from thoughout the sixties, but especially from the early sixties. File drawer 89 contains earlier material. Box 33 contains copies of international publications (there are additional copies scattered throughout the series). Box 34 includes a folder on the organization of the Commission for International Development; file drawer86 also contains C.I.D. material. File drawer 86 also holds material relating to the second international YCW council held in Rio de Janeiro in 1961. It includes a newsletter reporting the American delegates' observations in several Latin-American cities. Other international material included in 86: mimeographed fliers and some correspondence, 1962-1965; French J.O.C. publications; file on international four-year plan of action covering urbanization, migration of workers, and leisure time activities of young workers; bulletin on third international YCW council held in Bangkok, 1965, published by Action, the international YCW magazine; and a report on a North American tour by Romeo Maione, International YCW material: program of the International Congress held in Montreal in 1947; international reports from the early fifties; and several copies of Phillipines' YCW publications fro 1959: Worker, and Rouse up! Other material in the series: file on international training course (box 35); biographical sketch of Cardinal Cardijn (box 37); correspondence regarding the lay missionary program, 1959-1961 (box 39); files on individual extension workers, (box 40); files on migrant labor, and on the role of women in YCW, (box 41). (boxes 33-41; 86; 89.)
VI. Study weeks - projects - Training Courses - Organizers: Material on training and organizational activities, dating primarily from the late fifties. Boxes 42-43 contain miscellaneous folders from the early fifties. Box 49 contains reports on the discussions held at various sections of the training courses between 1956 and 1959. Boxes 50-51 contain application forms from those attending the training courses between 1956-1961. There is also some correspondence regarding arrangement for speakers, and other matters connected with the training courses. Other material in the series includes file on the National Catholic Social action Conference, 1960-63; memos and reports on national headquarters office meetings, 1958-60; extension volunteers training course, early sixties; and correspondence and reports from Covington, Kentucky, (box 52). Box 57 contains files on organizing (recruiting) activities, 193-54, and typescripts of various talks given during the early fifties. Box 67 holds numerous newspaper clippings, notes and mimeographed fliers. The large file drawers in this series contain detailed material on various training week-end, study weeks, and organizing efforts. The training week and study week material covers the years 1958-1967. The recruiting material comes mainly from 1960- 1967, with one file on Fr. Kenney's 1951 organizing trips in drawer 87. Drawer 88 contains extensive material on the National Conventions of 1961 and 1962. See shelf list for a more detailed listing of the contents of the large file drawers. (boxes 42-43; 49-52; 57; 67; 86; 88; 89; 91-93.)
VII. Programs, publications: Rough drafts of social inquiry programs, 1957-1963; also some scattered program committee minutes from the same period; editorial positions for Aim; and copies of social inquiry programs used during the fifties (box 44). Boxes 27-29, and 65-66, contains copies of miscellaneous publications, and layouts for publications. Number 64 is a bound volume of Impact magazine, a YCW publication, covering November, 1945 to August, 1949. Box 27 also contains material relating to the business details connected with the publications. File drawer 87 contains a large quantity of material related to the inquiry program for armed servicemen. (boxes 44-47; 64-66; 27-29;86-87; 89-96.)
VIII. National Headquarters material, minutes: One box containing some of the files of Fr. James Halpine, assistant national chaplain during the early sixties; four ring binders containing reports, minutes, agendas, and miscellaneous printed matter; and headquarters records scattered in file drawers 89, 91, and 93. Fr. Halpine's files include sketchy material on YCW Chaplains, scattered notes on various staff meetings, and large folders of financial statements and program material. The collection covers the early sixties, the bulk of it dating from 1965. Binder 61A contains detailed minutes from the national council meetings of 1956-64, which were held twice yearly at some location near Chicago. Binder 61B hold minutes of team meetings for the same period. These were meetings of smaller groups of national leaders, usually about twelve, who met at least once a year. The minutes average twenty pages in length. YCW attempted to compile results produced by the annual program. Binder 61C contains these reports on the programs from 1957 to 1961; YCW report for White House Conference on Children nd Youth, 1960; and a report to Archbishop Meyer, undated. Binder 61D, "YCW Information," contains a diverse group of materials briefly explaining the YCW program: mimeographed leaflets; short articles for almanacs and directories; and guides for prospective leaders. File drawers 89, 91, and 93 contain scattered copies of team and national officers's meetings from 1951, 1959, and 1961. (boxes 48; 61; 89; 91; 93.)
IX. Photographs: Miscellaneous photographs, most of them unlabelled. Those contained in box 63 are in folders labelled by subject, but the individual pictures are often unidentified. The bulk of the photos appear to date from the fifties. (boxes 62-63.)
X. Finances and Treasurer's File: Financial records, including check stubs, cancelled checks, financial reports from sections, receipts receipts for bills, dues reminder letters, copies of donor acknowledgments, ledgers, and some scattered correspondence. Box 75 contains a folder of Treasurers' correspondence; other letters are scattered in the series. Most of the material is from the fifties. (boxes 68-85.)
XI. National Chaplain's Files: Kept by Monsignor Reynold Hillenbrand, national chaplain of YCW, until his death. They came to the Notre Dame University Archives along with Hillenbrand's personan papers and were separated from them and put on the shelf at the beginning of 1987. Hillenbrand's own files on YCW, YCS, and CFM remain with his personal papers (CMRH). (boxes 121-142)
XII. Ted Zelewsky's YCW Files: Donated to the archives in 2008. (accession 2008-52.)
XIII. Young Christians Movement files (post 1965): In 1965 the Young Christian Workers changed the name of the organization to Young Christian Movement. (CYCW M1-M106.)