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Collection 181 Papers of Earl W. Schultz, Jr.

 Collection
Identifier: CN 181

Scope and Contents

Correspondence, newsletters, promotional material, phonograph record, photographs, reports, financial records and other documents related to Earl W. Schultz's ministry with Youth For Christ.

Topics covered include evangelistic work with youth, in the eastern U.S. primarily, and Hamstead, Maryland, particularly; also various YFC and other organizations' programs for young people, including rallies, conventions, contests and Bible quizzes, etc.  Persons featured include various YFC figures like Robert Cook, Ted Engstrom, Torrey Johnson, Jay Kessler and Sam Wolgemuth, and other prominent evangelical leaders.

Dates

  • Created: 1947-1971

Conditions Governing Access

There are no restrictions on the use of this collection.

Biographical Information

Earl Wesley Schultz, Jr., was born June 17, 1924, in Trenton, MD, the son of E.W. Schultz, Sr. and Esther Cora Walsh. Following his service in the U. S. military in World War II, he enrolled at Carson-Newman College in Tennessee, and was awarded a bachelor's degree in 1949. In the meantime, he had founded a local YFC chapter in Hampstead, MD, in 1947. Following graduation, he returned to Hampstead to direct the YFC rally, while supporting himself and his family by residential construction work. On August 20, 1950, he married Barbara Frush (b. April 22, 1929), and they had three children: David, currently (1981) living in Hampstead; Debbie (Mrs. David Moore), living in Wheaton, IL; and Donna (Mrs. Don Creasman), living in Montana. Barbara Schultz worked alongside her husband during his tenure with the Hampstead YFC, filling in several capacities as necessity required.

In 1959, Schultz accepted the YFC Vice-Presidency in charge of the Eastern Area (now Eastern Region) of the United States, a position he held for thirteen years. This post enabled him to leave the construction business entirely, for the Vice-Presidency was a salaried job. Concurrently, Schultz continued to operate the Hampstead YFC local program. As Vice-President of the Eastern Area, Schultz coordinated YFC activities in local areas that at its zenith numbered sixty-two rallies, and directed the annual conference at Ocean City, NJ, with attendance always well over 2,000.

In 1972, Schultz became the Overseas Director of YFC/USA. In 1973, he also became Area Director for YFC in North America. These responsibilities necessitated a move to Wheaton, IL, for the family in 1973. Schultz was one of eleven Area Directors within the YFC Council structure headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. In this position, he worked closely with the YFC national directors in the U.S. and Canada, and has more recently worked to establish YFC branches in Mexico and Guatemala. Schultz died in 1997.

Youth for Christ in Hampstead, MD, held its first meeting June 28, 1947, when the YFC as an organization was just two years old. Schultz was in charge of the meeting and for the next twenty-two years -- until 1969 -- was the Director of the Hampstead local program. He never drew a salary in this capacity, and was supported by a full-time occupation outside the Hampstead ministry.

Hampstead YFC as an organization was guided by the Director; by two associate Directors, one in charge of the Junior High division and the other responsible for the Senior Highs; and by a nine-member Board, elected annually at the Sponsors' Club dinner. Much of the office work was done by volunteers. Sponsors' Club members pledged a certain amount of financial support and were expected to aid in prayer and by attendance at functions.

Hampstead YFC was one of hundreds of rally groups operating internationally. As a local organization, it enjoyed a certain amount of autonomy, although it was at the same time closely allied with similar local rallies elsewhere throughout the YFC network. In Hampstead, the program encompassed youth from dozens of area churches and over twenty junior high and high schools. Designed for and aimed at attracting teenagers, Hampstead YFC encouraged parents to attend meetings as well, and operated nursery care for infants during meetings.

The Club program included regular daytime meetings at or near schools, at least every other week. These smaller groups gathered in toto for planned rallies, parties, and events weekly; the focal point of the social and religious enterprise was the Saturday Night rally. These rallies were usually held in a local church, rented for the occasion. Starting in 1965, all rallies were held in junior and senior high school auditoriums. Hampstead YFC was careful to point out its nondenominational character, however, urging only that its members attend church, and not prescribing any particular congregation.

Its goals, as stated in 1963, were "To develop our Saturday Night rallies into the most significant teen gatherings in our area; to see YFC clubs established for the students of the twenty-seven junior and senior high schools in this area; and to convey the message of peace, joy and forgiveness through Faith in Christ to the thousands of teens in our midst."

Extent

6 Boxes

2 Oversize Files

1 Phonograph Record

13 Photograph Files

Language of Materials

English

Arrangement of Material

Phonograph Records

The records in this collection are arranged topically, which was their arrangement when received. Some adjusting of folders was done in keeping with the apparent organizational scheme. Thus, a folder originally labelled "After rally" became, in the present listing, "Hampstead YFC: Parties -- After Rally; 1961-1964." the records are arranged in six series: Correspondents, Eastern Area Youth for Christ, Hampstead YFC, Organizations, Subjects, and YFC/YFC International.

Paper Records (Box List)

The Correspondents series (folders 1-1 to 1-23) includes files on several leaders in the evangelical world. Some of these are:

Ken Anderson, President, Ken Anderson FilmsFloyd Ankerberg, Eastern Regional Director, YFCMyron Augsburger, President, Eastern Mennonite College and SeminaryP. H. Augustine, Pastor, Federated Church, East Springfield, PACarl J. Bihl, President, YFCI, 1963-65Ron Boud, Music Instructor, Philadelphia College of the BibleDavid Boyer, professional musician, formerly a night-club entertainer under the stage name Joey StevensDavid Breeze, Director, Grand Rapids YFCBill Carle, professional musician/evangelical entertainerWendy Collings, Executive Vice President, YFCIRobert Cook, President, King's College; President, YFCI, 1948-57Ted Engstrom, President, YFCI, 1957-63Billy Graham, Evangelist (Note: this folder contains no correspondence, only mass-produced crusade brochures form the 1950's.)Michael John, a native of Madras, India, seeking to practice medicine in the United StatesTorrey Johnson, Founder, YFCI, and President, 1945-48Jay Kesler, President, YFCI, 1973-Billy Kim, associated with YFCI in KoreaGene Lafferty, Assistant to the Director, Hampstead YFCWhite Sisters, gospel music vocal groupT. W. Wilson, Billy Graham Evangelistic AssociationSam Wolgemuth, Vice President, YFCI Overseas Ministry; President, YFCI, 1965-73Jim Wright, Director of YFCI follow-up

The series of Eastern Area material (folders 1-24 through 1-53) concerns the segment of YFC officially known as the Eastern Region or Eastern Area, which was comprised of New England, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland. Earl Schultz served as YFC Vice President in charge of the Eastern Area. This series includes a complete run of the Eastern Area newsletter, "As I See it From Here," 1962-69 (folder 1-24) and two sub-series of files about Eastern Area conventions at Ocean City, New Jersey (folders 1-35 to 1-41) and conventions known as "Holiday Teen" (folders 1-28 to 1-32). Several folders (folders 1-44 to 1-53) concern other YFC rallies in the Eastern Area, almost all in Maryland or Pennsylvania.

The bulk of this collection is documentation of the activity of Hampstead YfC, and perusal of the box-folder listing (folders 1-54 to 4-8) illustrates the scope of these files. They contain relatively little correspondence. Rather, they contain promotional pieces, mimeographed memos and instructions, and data on organizing dinners and other fund-raising ventures. Financial information can be found in folders labelled Finances (folders 2-35, 2-36); Pledges (folder 2-66); Sponsors' club (folders 3-59 to 3-62); Banquets (folders 1-54 to 1-630; and Board (folders 1-64 to 1-73).

Many folders of the Hampstead YFC material contain reflections of the rally in terms of youths' participation and activities, as opposed to its managerial level. The folders on Clubs (folders 1-79 to 2-1) document local teen gatherings in individual schools which were supported by the Hampstead YFC organization. Of special note are the Bible Club reports (folder 1-80) which contain club statistics as reported by local teenage leaders, and prose assessments of club functions, successes, failures, hopes, aims, etc. Closely associated with the various clubs (in that the club members were obviously involved) were the YFC "Projects" (folders 3-1 to 3-11), campaigns with a starting date and a closing date, designed with local evangelism as a goal. Three of the projects included in this collection deserve special mention. The Ecuador House project (folder 3-5) involved sending high school student Lee Cox to Ecuador for the purpose of assisting (very) short-term mission work there. The Bible Reading Crusade Project (folder 3-1) supported the Becker Amendment in Congress, which sought to protect prayer and Bible reading in public schools following the 1963 Supreme court decision banning them. The Rally Surveys project file (folder 3-8) contains returned questionnaires about what teens expected from rallies, and what they found.

Counseling and follow-up (folders 2-6 to 2-25) was function of YFC in which new Christians who made decisions for Christ at YFC gatherings were nurtured by those older in their faith, usually on a one-to-one basis. It involved not only an individual to do the personal counseling, but also the organization, which trained its members in how to counsel new converts. Some folders are concerned with this training of counselors and retreats where such instruction took place, and some document the results of counseling (see especially folder 2-14). Some files include quantitative data on reported conversions. Hardly as serious as Counseling and Follow-up, but an integral part of YFC activity, was its social side. Several parties, in which teenagers were to discover that fun in a Christian context was possible, are documented in folders 2-57 to 2-65. Social interaction and dedicated study were brought together in the annual Bible Quiz competition (folders 3-14 to 3-31).

Earl Schultz's correspondence from 1948 and 1949 (folder 3-50) dates from the time he was a college student working part-time for Hampstead YFC; it contains valuable primary source material about the organization.

Separate files were make for twenty-seven religious and secular enterprises with which Hampstead YFC had dealings, and these are in a series under the heading Organizations (folders 4-9 to 4-35). Folder 4-9 contains information about the organizing of evangelistic crusades by John e. Haggai in 1974 and Hyman Appelman in 1968. Folder 4-10 concerns a Pennsylvania resort establishment offering to make contributions to YFC in return for the favor of YFC staff members' recommending the resort to honeymooners and vacationers. Folder 4-26 is about a program designed to evangelize high school students in America and Japan.

The Subjects series (folders 4-36 to 5-31) is in many ways the most interesting of the six series, because it includes topics not only specifically related to YFC, but also of importance to evangelicals in general. Two thick files document communism (folders 4-37 to 4-46): the former includes anti-communist pamphlets by Carl McIntires. A related file is that of the F.B.I. (folder 4-60), and folder 4-64 contains' a letter from J. Edgar Hoover (with unfortunately little informational value). The Becker Amendment, calling for sanctioned prayer and Bible reading in public schools, is treated in a collection of papers about it in folder 4-38. The liberal National Council of Churches and World Council of Churches care discussed in folder 4-37. Folders 4-35 and 5-11 document the alarm of the mainstream Presbyterian Church over the success newspaper clippings about the behavior of teenagers known as "drapes."

Many files in the Subjects series do concern YFC endeavor. Folder 5-4 contains correspondence from club members writing about local club business and problems; folder 4-45 has letters from college students writing testimonies about YFC's influence on their lives, and folder 5-28 includes a letter from a fellow describing his rescue from the drug habit by YFC. Correspondence between Hampstead YFC and Maryland governor, Theodore R. McKeldin, is in folder 5-5. Radio show scripts for Hampstead YFC programs are in folder 5-13. Publicity in the form of highway billboards and other advertising is covered in folders 4-36 and 4-66; see also the oversize material. Folder 5-15 deals with YFC in other towns, especially a 1948 rally in Baltimore at which Billy Graham was the featured speaker.

The last series in the collection (folders 5-32) is devoted to YFC and YFCI. Several YFCI publications are represented: the file of "Confidential Memos" (folder 5-43) has many issues of the newsheet, which was any thing but confidential; other publications are in folders 5-33, 5-46, 5-48, and 5-59. Correspondence can be found in folders 5-37, 5-49, 5-50, 5-56, 5-60, 5-61, and 5-64. Of secular and international interest are folders 5-50 and 5-56, which include information about the 1956 riots in Hong Kong, especially eye witness correspondence. The tenth world Congress for Christian Youth, held in Madras, India, in 1959 is documented in folders 5-49 and 5-64. Folder 5-64 also contains a printed letter from President Dwight Eisenhower instructing the recipient that a passport make the holder an unofficial U. S. ambassador.

YFCI Conventions are sell documented in this collection: Capital Teel Conventions, held in Washington, D.C. (folders 5-40, 5-41); Mid-Winter Conventions (folders 5-52, 5-53, 5-54); and annual conventions a Winona Lake (folders 5-69 to 5-78). These files do not contain much correspondence; rather, they have brochures, clippings, reservation forms, news release etc. One interesting facet of YFCI well documented in this collection is the Director's School, which was a YFC-sponsored seminar instructing and training people to direct local YFC rallies. Folder 5-44 includes "final exam" papers from six participants in the school.

Folders 6-1 through 6-14 consist of financial records of Hampstead, MD, Youth for Christ during Schultz's tenure as its director, 1948-71. It is composed of thirteen cash books and one set of loose papers (annual balance sheets, offering totals, etc.), representing a complete record of the flow of money into and out of this local Youth For Christ chapter.

Accruals and Additions

The materials in this collection were given to the Billy Graham Center Archives from Earl W. Schultz, Jr., in March 1981 and January 1982.

Acc. 81-24, 82-9

July 22, 1981

Galen R. Wilson

A. Peterson

J. Nasgowitz

January 28, 1982

Galen R. Wilson

Title
Collection 181 Papers of Earl W. Schultz, Jr.
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Roman Script

Repository Details

Part of the Evangelism & Missions Archives Repository

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