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This collection has access restrictions. For details, please see the restrictions.
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held in the Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in our reading room, and not digitally available through the World Wide Web. See the Duplication Policy section for more information.
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Collection Overview
| Size | 16.0 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 12,000 items) |
| Abstract | Howard Anderson Kester was a theologian, educator, and administrator active in Christian movements relating to race relations, pacifism, and economic reform in the South from the 1920s until his retirement in 1970. The collection contains correspondence of Howard Kester and his wife, Alice Harris Kester, together with writings, reports, leaflets, pamphlets, newsletters, organization reports, photographs, and other items. Much of the material relates to civil rights, desegregation, sharecroppers, and labor struggles; there is some material relating to lynching. Included are materials about Kester's association, beginning in the 1930s, with such organizations as the YMCA, the Fellowship of Reconciliation, the Committee on Economic and Racial Justice, the Fellowship of Southern Churchmen, the Southern Tenant Farmers' Union, the Socialist Party, the NAACP, the Delta Cooperative Farm, and others active in the movement for social change. Also included are materials relating to Kester's work, beginning in the 1940s, with such institutions as the Penn School, the John C. Campbell Folk School, Eureka College, Christmount Christian Assembly, and Montreat-Anderson College. There is also material relating to Kester's later work as an educational innovator and about Kester himself and his development as a Christian radical, social reformer, administrator, and teacher. Among the correspondents are William Ruthrauff Amberson, Olive Campbell, Thomas B. Cowan, Elizabeth Gilman, Frank Porter Graham, Charles Houston, Thurgood Marshall, Harry Leland Mitchell, Nelle Morton, Reinhold Niebuhr, Howard Washington Odum, Arthur Franklin Raper, Clarence Senior, Celestine Smith, Norman Thomas, Walter White, and Roy Wilkins. |
| Creator | Kester, Howard, 1904-1977. |
| Curatorial Unit | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection. |
| Language | English |
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Information For Users
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Processing Information
Processed by: Edward Wayland and Mark Beasley, 1973 and 1987
Reprocessed by: Jessica Sedgwick, April 2009
Encoded by: Jessica Sedgwick, April 2009
Processing note: The Howard Kester papers are divided into two parts. Part I refers to the portion of the collection that was microfilmed and described in 1973. This portion represents the bulk of the papers. Part II refers to the smaller portion of the collection that was not microfilmed. The arrangement and description of materials in Part II corresponds to the pattern established when Part I was described.
The current arrangement and description of the Howard Kester Papers is based on the original order of the papers as received as on earlier processing work. Because information on various topics may be scattered throughout the collection, researchers are advised to check all likely series for materials of interest.
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Subject Headings
The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.
Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.
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Biographical Information
Howard Anderson "Buck" Kester was a theologian, educator, and administrator active in Christian movements relating to race relations, pacifism, and economic reform in the South from the 1920s until his retirement in 1970.
| 21 July 1904 | Born, Martinsville, Va., son of William and Nannie Holt Kester |
| 1916 | Kester family moved to Beckley, W.Va. |
| 1921-1925 | Attended Lynchburg College |
| Summer 1923 | Traveled with other students on an American Pilgrimage of Friendship to European Students |
| 1925-1926 | Attended Princeton Theological Seminary |
| 1926-1927 | Attended Vanderbilt University School of Religion |
| 18 February 1927 | Married Alice Harris |
| 1927-1934 | Worked for Fellowship of Reconciliation |
| 1929-1931 | Attended Vanderbilt University |
| 1931 | Awarded B.D. degree by Vanderbilt University |
| Fall 1931 | Joined Socialist Party |
| 1932 | Ran for Congress on Socialist Party ticket |
| 1932-1933 | Involved with striking coal miners, Wilder, Tenn. |
| January 1934 | Left Fellowship of Reconciliation |
| 1934-1941 | Worked for Committee on Economic and Racial Justice, Reinhold Niebuhr, chair |
| 27 April 1934 | Nancy Kester born |
| May 1934 | First meeting of Conference of Younger Churchmen of the South (later Fellowship of Southern Churchmen), Monteagle, Tenn. |
| 1935-1941 | Worked with Southern Tenant Farmers' Union |
| 1936 | Revolt Among the Sharecroppers published |
| 1937 | Elected to National Executive Committee, Socialist Party |
| 1939 | Built house in High Top Colony, Black Mountain, N.C. |
| 1941-1943 | Worked as executive secretary for the Fellowship of Southern Churchmen |
| 1944-1948 | Worked as principal, Penn School, Saint Helena Island, S.C. |
| May 1949-May 1950 | Worked as director of the Congregational Christian Church Displaced Persons Program in New York City, N.Y. |
| July 1950-January 1952 | Worked as headmaster, John C. Campbell Folk School, Brasstown, N.C. |
| February 1952-August 1957 | Served as executive secretary, Fellowship of Southern Churchmen |
| 1957-1960 | Served as director of student life, professor of history, dean of students, Eureka College, Eureka, Ill. |
| 1960-1965 | Served as executive director of Christmount Assembly, Black Mountain, N.C. |
| 1963-1965 | Part-time instructor at Montreat-Anderson College, Montreat, N.C. |
| 1965-1971 | Full-time instructor at Montreat-Anderson College, Montreat, N.C. |
| 1968-1970 | Dean of students at Montreat-Anderson College, Montreat, N.C. |
| April 1970 | Alice Harris Kester died |
| 1972 | Howard Kester died |
Full biographical note on Howard Kester (PDF)
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Scope and Content
The collection contains correspondence of Howard Kester and his wife, Alice Harris Kester, together with writings, reports, leaflets, pamphlets, newsletters, organization reports, photographs, and other items. Much of the material relates to civil rights, desegregation, sharecroppers, and labor struggles; there is some material relating to lynching. Included are materials about Kester's association, beginning in the 1930s, with such organizations as the YMCA, the Fellowship of Reconciliation, the Committee on Economic and Racial Justice, the Fellowship of Southern Churchmen, the Southern Tenant Farmers' Union, the Socialist Party, the NAACP, the Delta Cooperative Farm, and others active in the movement for social change. Also included are materials relating to Kester's work, beginning in the 1940s, with such institutions as the Penn School, the John C. Campbell Folk School, Eureka College, Christmount Christian Assembly, and Montreat-Anderson College. There is also material relating to Kester's later work as an educational innovator and about Kester himself and his development as a Christian radical, social reformer, administrator, and teacher. Among the correspondents are William Ruthrauff Amberson, Olive Campbell, Thomas B. Cowan, Elizabeth Gilman, Frank Porter Graham, Charles Houston, Thurgood Marshall, Harry Leland Mitchell, Nelle Morton, Reinhold Niebuhr, Howard Washington Odum, Arthur Franklin Raper, Clarence Senior, Celestine Smith, Norman Thomas, Walter White, and Roy Wilkins.
Processing Note: The Howard Kester papers are divided into two parts. Part I refers to the portion of the collection that was microfilmed and described in 1973. This portion represents the bulk of the papers. Part II refers to the smaller portion of the collection that was not microfilmed. The arrangement and description of materials in Part II corresponds to the pattern established when Part I was described.
The current arrangement and description of the Howard Kester Papers is based on the original order of the papers as received as on earlier processing work. Because information on various topics may be scattered throughout the collection, researchers are advised to check all likely series for materials of interest.
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Series Quick Links
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Part I
Processing Note: Part I of the Howard Kester papers includes materials that were microfilmed and described in 1973. Note that there is a detailed index to correspondence with individuals and organizations found in the following series of Part I: Series 1. General correspondence and related materials, and, to a lesser extent, Series 2. Penn School and Series 3. John C. Campbell Folk School. Currently, this index only exists in digital form, and appears in the container list at the beginning of Series 1.
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Part I. Series 1. General correspondence and related materials,
1923-1972.
Arrangement: chronological.
Correspondence relates to Howard Kester's work with organizations such as the Fellowship of Reconciliation; the Southern Tenant Farmers' Union; the Socialist Party; the Workers' Defense League; the Fellowship of Southern Churchmen; the Congregational Christian Service Committee; and several colleges, including Eureka College, Christmount Assembly, and Montreat-Anderson College. To locate correspondence related to these organizations and institutions, refer to the rough year ranges described below and the subsequent chronological folder list.
Included with the correspondence are mimeographed minutes, reports, and statements issued by these organizations. Also included in this series are a number of reports written by Kester specifically for organizations that employed him. These deal with his activities, problems, and recommendations relating to his work. There are also reports written by others concerning special investigations or areas of knowledge, such as the report written by Hollace Ransdell for the American Civil Liberties Union on the Scottsboro case, 27 May 1931. Throughout this series, there are also a number of letters inviting Kester to speak, debate, or attend conferences. These invitations are followed by correspondence concerning details and final arrangements for the meetings, as well as reports and minutes of the meetings. There are also letters, dated most regularly during the late 1930s and early 1940s and again during the 1960s, from students working on various projects relating to the South. These letters request information on areas of Kester's work or interviews with him.
Topics addressed throughout the correspondence include:
The Communist Party: There are a number of references to the Communist Party in the correspondence, particularly in connection with the Southern Tenant Farmers' Union and the Socialist Party. There is an interesting exchange of letters between Kester and Francis P. Miller concerning the use of Miller's name without his permission by the Southern Conference for Human Welfare, reputedly a Communist-front organization. Kester had correspondence with Frank Porter Graham, president of the University of North Carolina, regarding this organization. A letter of 16 September 1948 from Lucien Koch, a former director of Commonwealth College in Mena, Ark., illustrates the difficulties faced by former Communist Party members, sympathizers, and even those merely suspected of being sympathizers.
Labor unions: Kester's involvement in the problems of labor and unionization is treated in a number of documents in this series. In a letter to Alice on 7 June 1929, he described the situation at Gastonia, N.C., which he visited at the height of the disturbances surrounding the strike against the Loray Mills. Correspondence and reports during the period from December 1932 to fall 1933 describe the miners' strike in Fentress County, Tenn., and the Kesters' involvement in it.
Correspondence between Howard and Alice Kester, primarily letters from Howard to Alice, begins in 1926 and continues into the 1960s. This correspondence is particularly heavy for the period 1926-1943, when Kester was traveling extensively. It is useful as a source for the kinds of activities in which he was involved, the people with whom he dealt, problems he had to confront, and his perceptions of events. There is one group of letters from Alice to Howard, written during his fall 1928 trip, which includes insights into contemporary life. During this period, Alice commuted to New York City to work as a sales clerk at Gimbels. Her letters are filled with comments on the city, the presidential election, dress styles, people and events, the radio, and popular music.
In 1939, the Kesters moved from Nashville, Tenn., into their new home at High Top Colony, outside of Black Mountain, N.C. Their correspondence with friends at the colony prior to 1939 and with their neighbors thereafter is included in this series. There are a number of letters dealing with life at the Colony, including correspondence with C. B. Loomis, Ed S. King, Herbert King, and Dagnall F. Folger, as well as minutes from several of the Colony's annual business meetings.
Note that correspondence relating specifically to Kester's work with the Penn School and with the John C. Campbell Folk School is filed separately as Series 2. and 3.
Below is a rough chronological guide to correspondence related to some of the organizations and efforts with which Kester was involved.
| 1927-1933 | Kester's work with the Fellowship of Reconciliation is the subject of much of the correspondence during the period 1927-1933. The correspondence is generally with other Fellowship of Reconciliation members or sympathizers and concerns meetings, conferences, and the work of the organization. Included is information on international activities supplied through correspondence with Irene and Donald Grant. Information from the Fellowship of Reconciliation national headquarters in New York City appears in correspondence with J. Nevin Sayre and J. B. Matthews. Kester's correspondents in the local group in Nashville included Alva Taylor, Dagnall F. Folger, Mr. and Mrs. Charles S. Johnson, and Albert Barnett. The minutes of the council and the executive committee of Fellowship of Reconciliation are most complete for the years 1930-1933. These minutes include accounts of the meetings of these groups, reports of the various secretaries, financial and membership records, and some of the official correspondence of the organization. Following his departure from Fellowship of Reconciliation in early 1934, Kester maintained contact with the organization chiefly through its southern secretaries, Harold Fey, Claude Nelson, and Constance Rumbough. In the late 1930s, Kester was elected to the Fellowship of Reconciliation executive committee and again received some of the organization's published minutes and announcements. |
| 1930s | Periodically during the 1930s there are letters from Walter White, Roy Wilkins, Thurgood Marshall, and Charles Houston of the NAACP asking Kester to investigate reported lynchings at various places in the South. The reports themselves have been filed separately in Series 4. There is a good deal of correspondence throughout the 1930s concerning investigations for which Kester wrote reports and several others which, for various reasons, Kester was unable to undertake or to complete. There is also scattered correspondence with Celestine Smith of the YWCA during this time period. |
| 1931-1941 | Kester joined the Socialist Party in the fall of 1931, and Party matters are reflected in the correspondence for the next ten years. There is little reference in the correspondence to his involvement in the 1932 campaign, although he was a candidate on the Party ticket for Congress. Most of the correspondence relating to the Party during 1932-1933 concerns the organization of the Tennessee local. Correspondents include G. H. Braun, J. K. Stockton, and Kate Stockton. For the most part, this correspondence deals more with organizational plans than with Party issues. One exception is Kester's letter to George Jackson of 9 February 1933 outlining Kester's views on the need for the Party locals to be interracial. During this period, there is also correspondence with people and organizations in which the Socialist Party had an interest, such as Dorothy Detzer of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom; Louise Leonard McLaren of the Southern Summer School for Women Workers in Industry; and James Dombrowski, Myles Horton, Eugene Sutherland, and Don West, all associated with the Highlander Folk School. |
| Following the organization of the Southern Tenant Farmers' Union in 1934, there is a great deal of correspondence with Socialist Party leaders Clarence Senior and Norman Thomas concerning the union. In 1937-1938, Kester served as a member of the Party's national executive committee. In this capacity, he received volumes of reports, resolutions, statements, and mimeographed letters relating to the power struggles within the party, as well as the minutes of the national executive committee meetings. The committee meetings in September 1937, when the Trotskyite group was expelled from the Party, are described in letters Kester wrote to Alice and others at this time. Following 1938, the number of documents referring to the Party decreases, although Kester's work with other groups dominated by Party members, such as the Southern Tenant Farmers' Union and the Workers' Defense League, kept him in touch with the party into the early 1940s. | |
| 1933-1940 | Kester's work with the League for Industrial Democracy lecture circuit program, 1933-1940, is documented in correspondence with Dagnall F. Folger and Guy Sarvis in Nashville, Tenn., and Mary Hillyer and later Mary Fox in New York. These papers include information on the finances and organization of the Nashville League for Industrial Democracy group lecture circuit as well as Kester's own involvement as a circuit speaker every winter during these years. Alice Kester participated in the correspondence relating to the Nashville League for Industrial Democracy program, as well as in making arrangements for Howard's travel schedule. As his official secretary, she dealt with much of Howard's correspondence, especially during 1934-1943 and 1952-1957, making speaking arrangements for him, presenting his viewpoints when possible, and establishing herself as a leader in her own right of groups such as the Fellowship of Southern Churchmen. |
| 1934-1941 | Correspondence relating to the Southern Tenant Farmers' Union, sharecroppers, and Kester's work with them, is heaviest during the years 1934-1941. This is primarily correspondence between Kester and union leaders such as H. L. Mitchell, J. R. Butler, Evelyn Smith, and Arthur Raper. There is also considerable correspondence relating to the organization and promotion of the Delta Cooperative Farm in Rochdale, Miss. Correspondence with Sam Franklin, Sherwood Eddy, W. R. Amberson, and Reinhold Niebuhr, 1936-1942, and with David Minter and Eugene Cox in the 1950s deals with the Farm, its operation, and its problems. In 1940, there are a number of documents relating to an investigation of the Farm by a board appointed by the Southern Tenant Farmers' Union and chaired by Kester. Other information relating to the Union is contained in minutes and notes on Union meetings, reports, and articles written by Kester and other union leaders, and in correspondence with people outside the South relating to the Union's financial needs, such as letters to Harriet Young and Paula Marray of the National Sharecroppers' Fund. In addition, documents relating to the Workers' Defense League, the official legal representative of the Union, contain information on the Union. There is also scattered correspondence with Arthur Raper of the Commission on Interracial Cooperation. |
| Most of the activities in which Kester was involved during 1934-1941 are discussed in correspondence with Reinhold Niebuhr, chair of the Committee on Economic and Racial Justice, and Elizabeth Gilman, Committee on Economic and Racial Justice treasurer. Letters between Elizabeth Gilman and Alice Kester are particularly detailed in their description of Kester's work. | |
| 1934-1958 | One of the organizations with which the correspondence deals most fully is the Fellowship of Southern Churchmen, from its organization as the Conference of Younger Churchmen of the South in 1934 to its dissolution in 1958. Kester's papers document the growth of the organization and the thinking of its leaders, people such as Thomas B. Cowan, Eugene Smathers, Walter Sikes, Abram Nightingale, and Melvin Watson. The correspondence for the period 1944-1949 deals almost exclusively with Fellowship of Southern Churchmen: its projects; the publication of its magazine, Prophetic Religion; and its problems, notably the financial onces. Leaders from this period whose correspondence is included are, in addition to those named above, Nelle Morton, Charles Jones, and David Burgess. From 1944 to 1948, Kester was inactive in Fellowship of Southern Churchmen since he was serving as the principal of Penn School. |
| 1949-1950 | From May 1949 to June 1950, there is correspondence relating to the Kesters' work with the Congregational Christian Service Committee in New York City, where Howard served as director of the Displaced Persons Program. There are a number of letters complimenting Alice Kester on her efforts as hostess of the International Service Center. There is also a report by Kester, dated 10 May 1950, detailing the progress of the Displaced Persons Program under his administration. |
| 1952-1957 | From 1952 to 1957, Kester returned to Fellowship of Southern Churchmen to serve as executive secretary. His papers for this period deal with the financial condition of the organization as well as several projects with which he was involved. The Fellowship of Southern Churchmen continued the development of the fellowship center at Swannanoa, N.C., which was being built mainly during summer work camps, 1952-1957. There are letters from participants in the work camps, correspondence with Charles Brown and Nancy Kester relating to the organization of the camps, and lists of participants in these work camps. In 1955, the Kesters took a trip across the South to survey the reaction to the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision on the desegregation of public schools. This trip was reported in the November 1955 newsletter of the Fellowship of Southern Churchmen. Kester organized two conferences dealing with the problems of desegregation, which were held in Nashville, Tenn., 10-11 January 1956 and 23-25 April 1957. The collection includes a number of mailing lists for these conferences. The Kesters left the Fellowship of Southern Churchmen in the fall of 1957. |
| 1957-1972 | Correspondence covering the years 1957-1972 deals mainly with Howard Kester's work at three institutions: Eureka College, 1957-1960; Christmount Assembly, 1960-1964; and Montreat-Anderson College, 1963-1971. Among the papers relating to the colleges are faculty memos and committee reports, correspondence with students, schedules, announcements, and documents generally detailing Kester's work. The papers concerning Christmount relate to Kester's attempts to organize and effectively operate the assembly grounds for the Disciples of Christ. During this period, there are letters from old friends, such as H. L. Mitchell and Eugene Cox, containing information on their earlier work and present positions. |
| Digital Folder DF-3834/1 |
Index to correspondence |
| Folder 1 |
Correspondence, 1923-1927 |
| Folder 2 |
Correspondence, 1928 |
| Oversize Paper OP-3834/1 |
"Tammany Democrats Raise Negro Issue," Democratic State Anti-Smith Committee political advertisement, 1928 |
| Folder 3 |
Correspondence, 1929 |
| Folder 4 |
Correspondence, 1930-1931 |
Folder 5-6
Folder 5Folder 6 |
Correspondence, 1931 |
Folder 7-8
Folder 7Folder 8 |
Correspondence, 1932 |
| Folder 9 |
Correspondence, 1933 |
Folder 10-13
Folder 10Folder 11Folder 12Folder 13 |
Correspondence, 1934 |
Folder 14-19
Folder 14Folder 15Folder 16Folder 17Folder 18Folder 19 |
Correspondence, 1935 |
Folder 20-25
Folder 20Folder 21Folder 22Folder 23Folder 24Folder 25 |
Correspondence, 1936 |
Folder 26-46
Folder 26Folder 27Folder 28Folder 29Folder 30Folder 31Folder 32Folder 33Folder 34Folder 35Folder 36Folder 37Folder 38Folder 39Folder 40Folder 41Folder 42Folder 43Folder 44Folder 45Folder 46 |
Correspondence, 1937 |
Folder 47-64
Folder 47Folder 48Folder 49Folder 50Folder 51Folder 52Folder 53Folder 54Folder 55Folder 56Folder 57Folder 58Folder 59Folder 60Folder 61Folder 62Folder 63Folder 64 |
Correspondence, 1938 |
Folder 65-79
Folder 65Folder 66Folder 67Folder 68Folder 69Folder 70Folder 71Folder 72Folder 73Folder 74Folder 75Folder 76Folder 77Folder 78Folder 79 |
Correspondence, 1939 |
Folder 80-90
Folder 80Folder 81Folder 82Folder 83Folder 84Folder 85Folder 86Folder 87Folder 88Folder 89Folder 90 |
Correspondence, 1940 |
Folder 91-103
Folder 91Folder 92Folder 93Folder 94Folder 95Folder 96Folder 97Folder 98Folder 99Folder 100Folder 101Folder 102Folder 103 |
Correspondence, 1941 |
Folder 104-110
Folder 104Folder 105Folder 106Folder 107Folder 108Folder 109Folder 110 |
Correspondence, 1942 |
Folder 111-112
Folder 111Folder 112 |
Correspondence, 1943 |
| Folder 113 |
Correspondence, 1944 |
| Folder 114 |
Correspondence, 1945 |
| Folder 115 |
Correspondence, 1946 |
| Folder 116 |
Correspondence, 1947 |
Folder 117-120
Folder 117Folder 118Folder 119Folder 120 |
Correspondence, 1948 |
Folder 121-125
Folder 121Folder 122Folder 123Folder 124Folder 125 |
Correspondence, 1949 |
| Folder 126 |
Correspondence, 1952 |
| Folder 127 |
Correspondence, 1953 |
| Folder 128 |
Correspondence, 1953 |
| Folder 129 |
Correspondence, 1954 |
Folder 130-133
Folder 130Folder 131Folder 132Folder 133 |
Correspondence, 1955 |
Folder 134-138
Folder 134Folder 135Folder 136Folder 137Folder 138 |
Correspondence, 1956 |
Folder 139-147
Folder 139Folder 140Folder 141Folder 142Folder 143Folder 144Folder 145Folder 146Folder 147 |
Correspondence, 1957 |
Folder 148-149
Folder 148Folder 149 |
Correspondence, 1958 |
Folder 150-151
Folder 150Folder 151 |
Correspondence, 1959 |
Folder 152-153
Folder 152Folder 153 |
Correspondence, 1960 |
| Folder 154 |
Correspondence, 1961 |
| Folder 155 |
Correspondence, 1962 |
| Folder 156 |
Correspondence, 1963 |
| Folder 157 |
Correspondence, 1964 |
| Folder 158 |
Correspondence, 1965 |
| Folder 159 |
Correspondence, 1966 |
| Folder 160 |
Correspondence, 1967 |
| Folder 161 |
Correspondence, 1968 |
| Folder 162 |
Correspondence, 1969 |
Folder 163-164
Folder 163Folder 164 |
Correspondence, 1970 |
| Folder 165 |
Correspondence, 1971-1972 |
| Folder 166 |
Correspondence, undated |
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Part I. Series 2. Penn School, 1924-1971.
Arrangement: by material type, then chronological.
The Penn School material includes correspondence, reports, financial records, printed matter, and miscellaneous files covering the development of the school from the early 1930s to the early 1950s.
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Subseries 2.1. Penn School correspondence, 1932-1971 (bulk
1932-1954).
Included are correspondence, memos, and printed School programs. The bulk of the correspondence ends in the fall of 1948 when Kester left the School. However, there are some letters dealing with the School in the early 1950s, and one woman continued to write to the Kesters about the School until 1971. The correspondence generally contains information on the internal organization and operation of the School and its search for financial stability. Prior to the Kesters' arrival in 1944, the most important correspondent on behalf of the School was the principal Rossa B. Cooley. Most of her letters relate either to the search for money with, for example, W. W. Brierley and Leo M. Favrot of the General Education Board, or to the operation of the teacher training program at the School. Following the Kesters' arrival, there is extensive correspondence with a number of the School's trustees, notably Ethel P. Moors, Grace Smith, W. E. Cadbury, and John Silver. Correspondence between the Kesters and Rossa Cooley, Francis Cope, and the board of trustees covers the Kesters' relationship with the School from their initial visits and interviews through their acceptance of the position, their years of work there, their dissatisfactions, and finally their resignations. Minutes of the board of trustees meetings are also included. There is also correspondence between Alice Kester and various southern teacher placement agencies, as she attempted to arrange for a larger, more highly trained faculty. Correspondence with the School staff kept the Kesters informed of events at the School during the summer break, which they usually spent at their home in Black Mountain. There are also letters with former students of the School and with friends of the Kesters concerning their lives at the School.
| Folder 167 |
Penn School correspondence, 1932-1942 |
Folder 168-169
Folder 168Folder 169 |
Penn School correspondence, 1943 |
Folder 170-175
Folder 170Folder 171Folder 172Folder 173Folder 174Folder 175 |
Penn School correspondence, 1944 |
Folder 176-179
Folder 176Folder 177Folder 178Folder 179 |
Penn School correspondence, 1945 |
Folder 180-183
Folder 180Folder 181Folder 182Folder 183 |
Penn School correspondence, 1946 |
Folder 184-185
Folder 184Folder 185 |
Penn School correspondence, 1947 |
Folder 186-188
Folder 186Folder 187Folder 188 |
Penn School correspondence, 1948 |
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Subseries 2.2. Penn School reports, 1931-1948.
Reports consist chiefly of descriptive and evaluative accounts of the operation of Penn School, the operation of various School departments, and the operation of certain Penn School programs. Reports by Trudelle Wimbush, covering the period from September 1937 to April 1944, concern the establishment and operation of the cooperative teacher training program at Penn, a program designed to offer student-teacher training to qualified African American students from the colleges at Orangeburg and Hampton. Annual reports from each of the School's vocational departments for the years 1944 and 1945 are also included. These reports document the number of students enrolled, the amount of work done or products produced, and sales or income. There is also some evaluation of the department's operation. Also included are Kester's reports to the board of trustees concerning the operation of the School. The reports, 1946-1948, are generally concerned with assessment of the School's resources, its potential, and its operation with a view toward changes in the School structure. The most detailed of these reports, and the report that the board of trustees used as the basis for the changes in School structure initiated in 1948, was prepared by a team from Clemson College and other educational institutions, under the direction of sociologist Ira De A. Reid (19 February 1948).
| Folder 190 |
Penn School reports, 1931-1940 |
| Folder 191 |
Penn School reports, 1939-1943 |
| Folder 192 |
Penn School reports, 1944-1945 |
| Folder 193 |
Penn School reports, 1945-1948 |
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Subseries 2.3. Penn School financial records, 1938-1948.
Financial records include accounts from various Penn School departments, statements of income and expenditures, reports on projects, and other reports concerning the financial condition of the School and its activities during the period of Kester's administration.
| Folder 194 |
Penn School financial materials, 1942-1948 |
| Folder 195 |
Penn School financial materials, 1948 |
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Subseries 2.4. Penn School printed matter, 1924-1954.
Included are promotional pamphlets concerning Penn School and its operation, 1933-1950. Issues of the "Penn School News," 1943-1954, a newsletter mailed primarily to trustees and donors to the School precede issues of the "Penn School Journal," 1943-1946, a newsletter prepared and issued by the students at the School. The published annual reports of the Penn School, which generally included a statement of events at the School during the preceding year and a detailed financial statement, cover the years 1924-1947. Also included are undated published writings concerning the School, some fiction based on island life that was written by School headmistresses, pamphlets, and products of the School print shop.
Folder 196-200
Folder 196Folder 197Folder 198Folder 199Folder 200 |
Penn School printed matter, 1924-1954 |
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Subseries 2.5. Penn School miscellaneous files, 1940s.
Included are documents relating to School life, forms, information on course work, regulations governing student life, the School song, announcements, and a copy of the School catalog for 1945-1946. Also included are a series of lists of names; a set of application forms for teaching and nursing positions at the School; and Rossa B. Cooley's personal notebook, circa 1941-1943, containing mainly a schedule of appointments, some notes, and memos.
Folder 201-203
Folder 201Folder 202Folder 203 |
Penn School miscellaneous files, 1940s |
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Part I. Series 3. John C. Campbell Folk School, 1925-1952.
Arrangement: chronological.
The documents that deal with the John C. Campbell Folk School prior to the Kesters' arrival in 1950 consist primarily of financial correspondence, financial reports, and budgets relating to the School's operation. Included also are reports from George Bidstrup and Dagnall F. Folger relating to the administration of the School. Most of the correspondence following the Kesters' arrival consists of letters between the Kesters and correspondence they carried on with several members of the School's board of directors, notably Fred Brownlee, Margaret Stanley-Brown (Peggy Sellers after January 1951), and Eva Eastman. Correspondence between the Kesters and Olive Dame Campbell and Richard Coolidge documents the events that led to Kester's resignation in 1951. Also included are reports and correspondence relating to the running of the School. There is also a group of documents relating to the 25th anniversary celebration at the School, held in the late spring of 1951.
| Folder 204 |
1925-July 1949 |
| Folder 205 |
July-December 1949 |
| Folder 206 |
January-July 1950 |
| Folder 207 |
July-September 1950 |
| Folder 208 |
October 1950-April 1951 |
| Folder 209 |
May-October 1951 |
| Folder 210 |
November 1951-January 1954 |
| Image Folder PF-3834/1b |
John C. Campbell Folk School picturesIncludes a postcard booklet and a few photographs of crafts and craftsmen. |
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Part I. Series 4. Writings by Howard Kester, 1924-1972.
Arrangement: by category, then chronological.
Manuscripts and printed copies of writings by Howard Kester.
| Folder 211 |
Articles"War Stands Condemned Before the Bar of Reason!" 1924 "Need for Social Security," 1935 "Acts of Tyranny and Terror," 1935 "Life and Death in Arkansas," 1936 "Religion--Priestly and Prophetic--in the South," 1936 "The Fellowship of Southern Churchmen: A Religion for Today," 1939 Preface, To Establish Justice ...: Pamphlet, published by the Workers Defense League, 1940 "The Problem of Man's Relationship to the Soil..." "The Call to Righteousness, " 1940? Untitled, March 1934 "Summons for Americans," March 1946 Untitled, 1957 |
| Folder 212 |
Books: Untitled manuscript and other fragments |
| Folder 213 |
Books: "Revolt Among the Sharecroppers" |
| Folder 214 |
Ceremonies"A Statement of Faith" "Ceremony of the Land" "Ceremony of the Prophets" "Ceremony of the Soil" "Darkness: An All-too-Ordinary" "Litany for the Installation of the Student Council" |
| Folder 215 |
Interviews and poetry |
Folder 216-217
Folder 216Folder 217 |
Reports: LynchingsVarious reports regarding cases of lynchings. The following reports are included: "The Maddox Murder," 1933; "The Lynching of Claude Neal," 1934; "Lynching by Blow Torch: A report upon the double lynching at Duck Hill, Miss.," 13 April 1937; "Report of forced labor in Warren County, Ga.," 1938; and "Notes relating to an investigation of a lynching in Columbia, Ala." |
Folder 218-219
Folder 218Folder 219 |
Reports"A Statement Concerning Farm Tenancy Submitted to the Farm Governor's Commission on Farm Tenancy by the Executive Council," Southern Tenant Farmers' Union (and supplement), 1936 Farm tenancy: Testimony to President's Commission, 1937 Farm tenancy: Brief, on farm tenancy and alternative policies, submitted to the President's Committee on Farm Tenancy, 1937 Farm tenancy: "Problems of Farm Tenancy," 1937 Farm tenancy: Testimony before the Senate Special Committee to investigate unemployment and relief, March 1938 |
| Folder 220 |
Other reports and reviewsReports: "The Interracial Situation," 1933 Southern Tenant Farmers' Union convention report, January 1936 Southern Tenant Farmers' Union convention report, 2 February 1935 Southern Tenant Farmers' Union convention report, February 1938 Bealle, James, Dixie Needs No Cotton Picker, 1936 Harold Isaac's review of Harry Ashmore's An Epitaph for Dixie, 1957 Caudill, Harry M., Night Comes to the Cumberlands, 1964 |
Folder 221-224
Folder 221Folder 222Folder 223Folder 224 |
Sermons, 1924-1964 |
Folder 225-227
Folder 225Folder 226Folder 227 |
SpeechesUntitled, delivered at Teachers College, Columbia University, New York City, N.Y., 1928 "Why United States Should Join the League," 1929? "We have come to the end of an era," outline, circa 1934 "The Struggle Against Peonage," address delivered before the 26th annual conference of the NAACP, Saint Louis, Mo., June 1935 "The Human Side of Cotton Tenancy," 1936 "Problems of the Rural South" "Landless Farmers," 1940 Untitled, fall 1942? "The Christian Church and the Building of Tomorrow's World," 1943 Untitled: Graduation speech, Penn School, May 1944 Untitled: Founders Day speech, Penn School, March 1946? Untitled: Graduation speech, Adventure School, June, 1948? Untitled, circa 1950 Memorial to Charlie J. Brown, 1956 "Some Things of Value, " circa 1956 Untitled: Address to a conference, 25 April 1957 "Toward an Understanding of These Days at Eureka College," 1957 "Race Prejudice is Everybody's Business," circa 1958 "Responsibility in a Democratic Society," 1958 "Man's Mad Vision," 1959 "If I Were Young," circa 1960 "A World Money Won't Buy," Fall 1960 "On Reinhold Niebuhr," 1961 "For a Better Self and Society under God," circa 1960 Untitled, circa 1964 Presentation: Dedication of Encyclopedia Britannica to Dr. Weatherford for the board, 28 August 1965 "Laws Physical and Laws Spiritual," 1966 Installation of New Student Government Officers, 1969-1970 Appalachian Week, Montreat-Anderson College, 1972 |
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Part I. Series 5. Publications edited by Howard Kester, 1924-1957.
Arrangement: by publication.
This series includes five serial publications for which Howard Kester wrote and/or edited. Volume number and corresponding dates are very irregular for some of these serials, particularly Prophetic Religion. Most of this series consists of Fellowship of Southern Churchmen publications, specifically the magazine Prophetic Religion and the "Fellowship of Southern Churchmen Newsletter." Prophetic Religion continued publication, irregularly, from 1937-1955, but Kester's involvement with the magazine was minimal after 1942. All of the issues of the magazine that were in his possession, both in draft and printed states, have been included in this series. Prophetic Religion contains writings by Fellowship of Southern Churchmen members or friends on a number of topics relating to southern life, the role of the church in the South, perceptions of world events, social and economic institutions, and on the demands upon Christianity as a "prophetic religion." The "Fellowship of Southern Churchmen Newsletter," a mimeographed publication written largely by Kester, except for the period from 1944 to 1951, is also included here. The "Fellowship of Southern Churchmen Newsletter" served as a supplement to and often a substitute for Prophetic Religion . It details the growth of Fellowship of Southern Churchmen projects, the activities of Fellowship of Southern Churchmen members, and offers commentary on southern problems of the time.
| Folder 228 |
Publications: "Prophetic Religion" and other publications, 1924-1938 |
Folder 229-233
Folder 229Folder 230Folder 231Folder 232Folder 233 |
Publications: "Prophetic Religion," 1938-1955 |
| Folder 234 |
Publications: "The Fellowship of Southern Churchmen Newsletter," 1942-1957 |
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Part I. Series 6. Writings about Howard Kester, 1940-1964.
Arrangement: chronological.
This series contains material directly concerning Howard Kester and his work. It includes the beginnings of an autobiography, written by Kester in early 1940, a biographical sketch written by Henry Busch, and several brief articles outlining some of Kester's work.
| Folder 235 |
Written material about Howard Kester, 1940-1964 |
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Part I. Series 7. Writings by others, 1926-1960.
Arrangement: alphabetical by author.
This series contains articles, essays, speeches, and poetry written by people who worked with Kester or whose work was related to his.
Folder 236-238
Folder 236Folder 237Folder 238 |
Writings by others, 1926-1960 |
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Part I. Series 8. Financial records, 1934-1957.
Arrangement: chronological.
Financial records are from three different periods of Howard Kester's life.
| Folder 239 |
Committee on Economic and Racial Justice, 1935-1941; Congregational Christian Service Committee International Service Center, 1949-1950Two notebooks containing monthly statements of receipts and expenditures covering the period when Kester was employed by the Committee on Economic and Racial Justice. Petty cash accounts relating to Alice Kester's work as hostess of the International Service Center of the Congregational Church in New York City, N.Y. |
| Folder 240 |
Fellowship of Southern Churchmen, 1952-1957Monthly statements of receipts and expenses of the Black Mountain, N.C., office of the Fellowship of Southern Churchmen. During this period, Kester served as the organization's executive secretary. |
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Part I. Series 9. Lists of names.
Processing Note: Many of the lists of names found in the Kester Papers have been filed in Series 1 with their covering letters or at the dates they were compiled. However, several of these lists could not be accurately dated or connected with covering letters. Those lists appear in this series.
Several lists of names of people involved in the various organizations and projects with which Kester worked. The lists are often lengthy and are useful as a means of identifying the groups of people who became involved with a variety of social reform movements in the South.
| Folder 241 |
Lists of names |
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Part I. Series 10. Photographs, 1932-1959.
Arrangement: by subject.
This series contains photographs of people, places, and events with which Kester was involved. The majority of the photographs were taken by Kester in Arkansas, 1935-1936, and relate to the work of the Southern Tenant Farmers' Union and to conditions existing among Arkansas tenant farmers.
| Image Folder PF-3834/2 |
A. Howard Kester1. Passport photograph, 1932 2. Alice Harris Kester, passport photograph, 1932 3. Circa 1933 4. At Piney Moors, circa 1940 5. In "Ceremony of the Soil," circa 1942 6. With Alice Kester, Penn School, circa 1946 7. As director of Displaced Persons Program, circa 1950 8-9. At Buck Eye Cove, N.C., circa 1955 10. Living room, Piney Moors, circa 1956 11. Receiving Hobbs Award, Lynchburg College, 25 April 1959 |
B. People1. Ethel P. Moors, Memphis, Tenn. 2. Fellowship of Reconciliation conference, 1932 3. Fellowship of Southern Churchmen conference, Nashville, Tenn., 1957 |
|
| Image Folder PF-3834/3 |
C. Places and Events1. Miner's wife, Wilder, Tenn., circa 1932 2. Unidentified lynching, circa 1930s [MISSING] 3. Altar arrangement for the "Ceremony of the Prophets" 4. Fellowship House, Soddy, Tenn., 1941 5. Hampton House, Penn School, 1944 6. Penn School graduates, circa 1947 7. Piney Moors, circa 1948 8. Work camp, Swannanoa, N.C., circa 1954 9. Work camp, Buckeye Cove, N.C., circa 1955 10. Terrace at Inwood, home built by Mr. and Mrs. H. H. Strietmann for Christmount, circa 1957 11. View of Christmount entrance, circa 1957 |
| Image Folder PF-3834/4 |
D. Southern Tenant Farmers' Union: A. Leaders1. Ward H. Rodgers, 18 January 1935 2. Vernon Paul 3. H. L. Mitchell and E. B. McKinney 4. E. B. McKinney 5. E. B. McKinney and friends 6. H. L. Mitchell and Mr. and Mrs. W. H. Stultz 7. A. B. Brookins 8. Members of the Southern Tenant Farmers' Union, Marked Tree, Ark., February 1935, including A. B. Brookins and H. L. Mitchell |
Southern Tenant Farmers' Union: B. Sharecroppers and their families (21 photographs) |
|
| Image Folder PF-3834/5 |
D. Southern Tenant Farmers' Union: C. Sharecroppers' homes, Arkansas, circa 1935-1936 (29 photographs) |
| Image Folder PF-3834/6 |
D. Southern Tenant Farmers' Union: D. Planters' homes, Arkansas, circa 1935-1936 (6 photographs) |
| Image Folder PF-3834/7 |
D. Southern Tenant Farmers' Union: E. The environment: Scenes from Arkansas rural life, circa 1935-19361-2. Cotton gin plant 3. Saint Francis River 4. Man in rowboat, Saint Francis River 5. Winter ground 6. Church in Earle, Ark. 7. Union Church 8. Church in Birdsong, Ark. 9. Church or schoolhouse 10. Abandoned schoolhouse 11. Two men, Two mules, and a cart 12. Woman outside house 13. Two women cutting wood 14. Two mules and a cart 15-16. Men and mules plowing 17. Man and mule plowing 18. Evicted sharecroppers 19-21. Evicted family with all their possessions 22. Evicted sharecropper, Earle, Ark. 23. Evicted sharecroppers from the Dibble Plantation |
| Image Folder PF-3834/8 |
D. Southern Tenant Farmers' Union: F. Southern Tenant Farmers' Union, Arkansas, 1935-19361. Union fish fry 2. Leader speaking to a crowd 3-4. Union meeting 5. Trial of Dave Benson, union organizer, Forest City, Ark., 1935 6. Clearing land for the Delta Cooperative Farm, 1936, with Howard Kester on the left |
D. Southern Tenant Farmers' Union: G. March on Marked Tree, Ark., February 19351. Road to Marked Tree 2-5. Rally outside Marked Tree 6-7. Jennie Lee addressing the rally 12-15. In Marked Tree |
|
| Image Folder PF-3834/9 |
Howard Kester and others |
| Image Folder PF-3834/10 |
Camp Anderson |
Image Folder PF-3834/11-12
PF-3834/11PF-3834/12 |
Sharecroppers, homes, and marches |
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Part I. Series 11. Printed Matter, 1930s-1960s.
Arrangement: alphabetical by name of publishing organization.
Most printed and mimeographed material appears in Series 1, filed with a covering letter or by the date of publication. Printed matter that is undated or that relates to causes and organizations with which Kester was not involved have been filed in this series. These publications are mainly leaflets, pamphlets, and promotional material. There are a number of conference programs included in this series, among them, those issued by the Commission on Interracial Cooperation and its two offshoots, the Conference on Education and Race Relations and the Southern Commission on the Study of Lynching.
| Folder 242 |
Printed matter: Am-AnAmalgamated Clothing Workers of America American Civil Liberties Union American Committee for Non-participation in Japanese Aggression American Friends Service Committee American Seminar American Youth Congress Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith |
| Folder 243 |
Printed matter: Ass-ComAssociation of Southern Women for the Prevention of Lynching Blue Ridge Assembly Christian Rural Fellowship Christian Social Justice Fund, Inc. Commission on Interracial Cooperation Committee on Economic and Racial Justice Committee on Militarism in Education Communist Party |
| Folder 244 |
Printed matter: Com-ConCommunity Service, Inc. Conference on the Economic Status of the Negro, 11-13 May 1933 Conference on Education and Race Relations |
| Folder 245 |
Printed matter: Cou-EurCouncil for Social Action Delaware Statement, 3-5 March 1942 Delta Cooperative Farm Disciples of Christ Eureka College |
| Folder 246 |
Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America |
| Folder 247 |
Printed matter: FelFellowship of Reconciliation Fellowship of Southern Churchmen |
| Folder 248 |
Printed matter: Fr-InFriends of the Land Friends of the Soil Highlander Folk School Institute of Race Relations, Swarthmore College, July 1933 Interracial Committee of the District of Columbia |
| Folder 249 |
Printed matter: InInterracial Leadership Conference, 23-24 October 1956 |
| Folder 250 |
Printed matter: Ke-MoKirby Page Keep America Out of War Congress League for Industrial Democracy Montreat-Anderson College |
| Folder 251 |
Printed matter: Nas-NatNashville Typographers' Union 20 National Association for the Advancement of Colored People National Cooperating Committee on Christian Reconstruction National Intercollegiate Christian Council National Religion and Labor Foundation |
| Folder 252 |
Printed matter: Nat-RelNational Urban League Non-partisan Committee for the Defense of Fred E. Beal Kirby Page People's Institute of Applied Religion People's Lobby Religion and Labor Center of Cleveland |
| Folder 253 |
Printed matter: Soc-SouSocialist Party Southern Baptist Convention Southern Commission on the Study of Lynching |
| Folder 254 |
Printed matter: Sou-UniSouthern Conference for Human Welfare Southern Leaders Conference on Transportation, 10-11 January 1957 Southern Tenant Farmers' Union United Christian Council for Democracy |
| Folder 255 |
Printed matter: Un-WoUnited States Government Women's International League for Peace and Freedom Workers' Defense League |
| Folder 256 |
YMCA-YWCA |
| Folder 257 |
Other conference programs |
| Folder 258 |
Church services: programs and bulletins |
| Folder 259 |
Posters |
| Folder 260 |
Other printed matter |
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Part II
Processing Note: The Howard Kester papers are divided into two parts. Part II is comprised of the materials that were not microfilmed in 1973. The arrangement and description of materials in Part II corresponds to the pattern established when Part I was described.
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Part II. Series 1. General correspondence and related materials,
1931-1972.
Arrangement: chronological.
Correspondence relates to Howard Kester's activities, especially with the Southern Tenant Farmers' Union and the Fellowship of Southern Churchmen. Material, chiefly from the 1930s, documents Kester's activities with these two organizations, and relates to their publications, goals, and internal workings. Material circa 1937 relates to tensions among factions within the Southern Tenant Farmers' Union and other organizations, such as the United Cannery, Agricultural, Packing and Allied Workers of America.
Correspondence from late 1940 deals with investigations by the Southern Tenant Farmers' Union into the management of the Delta and Providence Cooperative Farms. A good deal of the correspondence circa 1946 relates to efforts Kester coordinated among the Fellowship of Southern Churchmen and other groups to transport cattle to Europe following World War II; this chiefly concerns staffing cattle boats with interracial crews of college-age men.
Kester's activities to promote the Conference of Christian Faith and Human Relations is documented in correspondence from early 1957. This interracial conference of southern churchmen was held in Nashville, Tenn., in April 1957, and attempted to develop a consensus among southern liberal churchmen on the subject of desegregation. Material from the 1960s relates chiefly to Kester's activities at Montreat-Anderson College, Montreat, N.C.
Prominent correspondents, appearing chiefly in the 1930s, include H. L. Mitchell, co-founder of the Southern Tenant Farmers' Union; J. R. Butler, president of Southern Tenant Farmers' Union; Norman Thomas, Socialist Party U.S.A. leader; and Nelle Morton, secretary of the Fellowship of Southern Churchmen. Other correspondents include Frank Porter Graham, president of the University of North Carolina; Howard W. Odum; Elizabeth Gilman, treasurer of the Committee for Economic and Racial Justice; Reinhold Niebuhr, chair of Committee on Economic and Racial Justice; Thomas B. Cowan, president of the Fellowship of Southern Churchmen; and Harry Hopkins, Work Projects Administration administrator.
| Folder 261 |
Correspondence, 1931-1935 |
| Folder 262 |
Correspondence, 1936 |
| Folder 263 |
Correspondence, 1937 |
Folder 264-265
Folder 264Folder 265 |
Correspondence, 1938 |
| Folder 266 |
Correspondence, 1939 |
| Folder 267 |
Correspondence, 1940 |
| Folder 268 |
Correspondence, 1941-1945 |
Folder 269-276
Folder 269Folder 270Folder 271Folder 272Folder 273Folder 274Folder 275Folder 276 |
Correspondence, 1946 |
| Folder 277 |
Correspondence, 1947-1949 |
| Folder 278 |
Correspondence, 1950-1954 |
| Folder 279 |
Correspondence, 1955 |
| Folder 280 |
Correspondence, 1956 |
Folder 281-282
Folder 281Folder 282 |
Correspondence, 1957 |
| Folder 283 |
Correspondence, 1960-1969 |
| Folder 284 |
Correspondence, 1970-1972 |
| Folder 285 |
Correspondence, undated |
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Part II. Series 2. Penn School, 1934-1948.
Arrangement: by material type.
Penn School materials include correspondence, reports, financial records, printed matter, and miscellaneous files. These sections cover the development of the School from the early 1930s to the early 1950s.
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Subseries 2.1. Penn School correspondence, 1943-1948.
| Folder 286 |
Penn School correspondence, 1943-1948 |
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Subseries 2.3. Penn School reports, 1937-1948.
| Folder 287 |
Penn School reports, 1937-1948 |
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Subseries 2.3. Penn School financial records, 1934-1941.
| Folder 288 |
Penn School financial records, 1934-1941 |
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Subseries 2.4. Penn School printed matter and pictures, 1940s.
Folder 289-290
Folder 289Folder 290 |
Penn School printed matter |
| Image Folder PF-3834/1a |
Penn School picturesPhotographs and postcards depict Penn School leaders, students, meetings, and grounds and facilities. Note that there are a few additional Penn School photographs in Part II. Series 10. |
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Subseries 2.5. Penn School miscellaneous files, 1938-1947.
Folder 291-295
Folder 291Folder 292Folder 293Folder 294Folder 295 |
Penn School miscellaneous files, 1938-1947Schedules, notes, programs, applications, and other material relating to the school. |
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Part II. Series 3. John C. Campbell Folk School, 1948-1957.
Arrangement: by material type.
Correspondence, executive board minutes, and other material relating to Kester's assignment as principal of the School.
| Folder 296 |
Correspondence and notes |
Folder 297-298
Folder 297Folder 298 |
Reports and minutes |
| Folder 299 |
Financial material |
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Part II. Series 4. Writings by Howard Kester, 1924-1972.
Manuscripts and printed copies of writings by Howard Kester.
Folder 300-304
Folder 300Folder 301Folder 302Folder 303Folder 304 |
Articles"As Christian men and women" "Austria Today," October 1923 "Christianity has been called a materialistic religion" "The conditions which served to drive them from the land" "Dreamers and Doers: Report of a Council Address," July 1942 Eureka College material: Course and administrative notes Fellowship of Southern Churchmen news release, 26 December 1942 "Friends of the Soil" Howard Kester, secretary of the Committee on Economic and Racial Justice Howard Kester in letter describes economic plight of Arkansas "Religion and Labor Foundation," February 1935 "Hungary's Soul Unconquered," November 1923 "I See America " "Imperatives on the Home Front" Kester: "Theological Orientation," 1960 "Man's Mad Vision" "Portrait" "The Rural Resettlement Administration" "The Situation which Confronts us" "A Stranger Still" "To Whom Shall They Turn" "The Weather Vane" "While Men Die" "Woe unto them that join house to house" |
| Folder 305 |
BooksTypescript draft of the prologue of Revolt Among the Sharecroppers. |
| Folder 306 |
BooksTypescript of chapter one of Revolt Among the Sharecroppers. |
| Folder 307 |
BooksTypescript draft of chapter two of Revolt Among the Sharecroppers. |
| Folder 308 |
BooksTypescript draft of chapter three of Revolt Among the Sharecroppers. |
| Folder 309a |
BooksTypescript draft of chapter four of Revolt Among the Sharecroppers. |
| Folder 309b |
BooksTypescript of Radical Prophets: A History of the Fellowship of Southern Churchmen , 1974. |
Folder 310-311
Folder 310Folder 311 |
Ceremonies"Ceremony of the Land" "Ceremony of the Prophets" "Ceremony of the Soil" Other ceremonies |
| Folder 312 |
Poetry |
Folder 313-315
Folder 313Folder 314Folder 315 |
ReportsSubmitted to the Governor's Commission on Farm Tenancy, 1936? Annual Report of Howard Kester, Southern Secretary, Annual Conference of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, October 1933 The Fellowship of Southern Churchmen in 1939-1940, 1941? Fellowship of Southern Churchmen: Secretary's notes Notes on Business Sessions of the Fellowship of Southern Churchmen, October 1940 Reflections and Notes on the Big Ridge Retreat of the Fellowship of Southern Churchmen, 1941? Report of Committee on Economic and Racial Justice, 1941 Report of Howard Kester, 16 October 1937 Report of the Secretary to the Annual Conference: Fellowship of Southern Churchmen, 15 October 1940 Second Annual Convention Southern Tenant Farmers' Union, 1936 |
Folder 316-317
Folder 316Folder 317 |
Sermons, 1924-1964 |
| Folder 318 |
Speeches"The Human Side of Cotton Tenancy:" Address Delivered Before American Economic Association, 29 December 1936 "Laws Physical and Spiritual," 17 February 1966 "Winning the World With Democracy" "Witnessing in a Strange world" "Woe is me!" Wood, Richard, "The Morning" "The Works Program: Works Progress Administration," September 1937 "World Federation for Peace" "You are Called to Fellowship," August 1948 Young, Frances, "A Sociofiscal Approach to Church History" Young, Harriet, "Southern Tenant Farmers' Union Minutes of Executive Council Meeting," 20 November 1937 Young, Lorena, "At Paine College we have a yearly interracial student conference ... ," 1948 "Youth is Spent" |
| Folder 319 |
"Statement of Principles: Fellowship of Southern Churchmen," 1938 |
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Part II. Series 6. Writings about Howard Kester, 1935-1977.
| Folder 320 |
1935-1977 and undated |
| Folder 321 |
Undated |
Folder 322-323
Folder 322Folder 323 |
Clippings, 1935-1977 |
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Part II. Series 7. Writings by others, 1920s-1960s.
Arrangement: alphabetical by title.
Much of this material was submitted to Kester as editor of Prophetic Religion. This series also contains unsigned writings that may have been written by Kester.
Folder 324-360
Folder 324Folder 325Folder 326Folder 327Folder 328Folder 329Folder 330Folder 331Folder 332Folder 333Folder 334Folder 335Folder 336Folder 337Folder 338Folder 339Folder 340Folder 341Folder 342Folder 343Folder 344Folder 345Folder 346Folder 347Folder 348Folder 349Folder 350Folder 351Folder 352Folder 353Folder 354Folder 355Folder 356Folder 357Folder 358Folder 359Folder 360 |
Writings by others, 1920s-1960s |
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Part II. Series 9. Lists of names.
Lists of names of people in organizations with which Kester was involved.
Folder 361-362
Folder 361Folder 362 |
Lists of names |
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Part II. Series 10. Photographs, 1938.
| Image Folder PF-3834/13 |
Photographs, 1938Photographs of teaching students and others at the Penn School |
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Part II. Series 11. Printed Matter, 1930s-1960s.
Arrangement: alphabetical by the name of the publishing organization.
| Folder 363 |
Printed matter: Bla-ConBlack Mountain Blue Ridge Assembly Christmount Christian Assembly Citizens' Scottsboro Aid Committee Commission on Interracial Cooperation Commissions for the National Convocation on the Church in Town and Country Committee on Economic and Racial Justice Conference of Christian Faith and Human Relations Committee on Economic and Racial Justice Conference on the Church and World Order |
| Folder 364 |
Printed matter: Con-FelCongregational Christian Service Committee Cooperation: Oxford Pamphlets on Indian Affairs Fellowship of Reconciliation |
| Folder 365 |
Printed matter: Fel-HowFellowship of Southern Churchmen Howard University: All-University Religious Service |
| Folder 366 |
Printed matter: Le-YWLeague for Industrial Democracy Lynchburg College Homecoming Festival May Day Mass Meeting National Advisory Commission on Social Education and Social Action, Disciples of Christ Southern Tenant Farmers' Union United Christian Council for Democracy Unemployment Meeting United Church, Raleigh, N.C. Young Woman's Auxiliary YWCA |
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Part II. Series 12. Personal correspondence, 1924-1972.
RESTRICTION: This series is available for research use only with written permission from Nancy Kester Neale.
Folder 367-468
Folder 367Folder 368Folder 369Folder 370Folder 371Folder 372Folder 373Folder 374Folder 375Folder 376Folder 377Folder 378Folder 379Folder 380Folder 381Folder 382Folder 383Folder 384Folder 385Folder 386Folder 387Folder 388Folder 389Folder 390Folder 391Folder 392Folder 393Folder 394Folder 395Folder 396Folder 397Folder 398Folder 399Folder 400Folder 401Folder 402Folder 403Folder 404Folder 405Folder 406Folder 407Folder 408Folder 409Folder 410Folder 411Folder 412Folder 413Folder 414Folder 415Folder 416Folder 417Folder 418Folder 419Folder 420Folder 421Folder 422Folder 423Folder 424Folder 425Folder 426Folder 427Folder 428Folder 429Folder 430Folder 431Folder 432Folder 433Folder 434Folder 435Folder 436Folder 437Folder 438Folder 439Folder 440Folder 441Folder 442Folder 443Folder 444Folder 445Folder 446Folder 447Folder 448Folder 449Folder 450Folder 451Folder 452Folder 453Folder 454Folder 455Folder 456Folder 457Folder 458Folder 459Folder 460Folder 461Folder 462Folder 463Folder 464Folder 465Folder 466Folder 467Folder 468 |
Personal correspondence, 1924-1972 |
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Part II. Series 13. Prophetic
Religion,
1946-1949.
Material related to Kester's editorial role with Prophetic Religion, a publication of the Fellowship of Southern Churchmen. Writings submitted to Kester for publication in Prophetic Religion are included in Series 7.
| Folder 469 |
Correspondence, 1946-1947 |
Folder 470-474
Folder 470Folder 471Folder 472Folder 473Folder 474 |
Correspondence, January-July 1948 |
| Folder 475 |
Correspondence, August 1948-1949 and undated |
| Folder 476 |
Notes |
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Items Separated