Amber Arthun Warburton papers, 1917-1976 and undated

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Summary

Creator:
Warburton, Amber Arthun, 1898-1976
Abstract:
Teacher, librarian, specialist in economics, labor, and education; New Deal administrator. Correspondence, diaries, writings, interviews, drafts of studies and reports, scrapbooks, printed material, photographs, and other papers, relating to Warburton's leadership in the Alliance for Guidance of Rural Youth (AGRY), 1947-1963; and to Affiliated Schools for Workers, Atlanta University, Brookwood Labor College, Columbia University (M.A., 1927), Institute of Social and Religious Research, Mount Holyoke College, Summer School for Women Workers in Industry, Spelman College, U.S. Children's Bureau, U.S. Federal Emergency Relief Administration, and the U.S. House Committee on Agriculture. Topics include the rural youth guidance movement, training programs for unemployed teachers in the 1930s, women workers in the 1920s, African Americans in the early 1930s, industrial home work in the Northeast in the late 1930s, migrant farm workers in the Southwest and Florida in the 1940s to 1950s, socioeconomic conditions in coal mining villages in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Illinois in the late 1920s, and in Harlan County, Ky., and Green Sea, S.C., in the late 1940s, and the effects of the National Defense Education Act on guidance in rural high schools.
Extent:
35 Linear Feet
circa 31,400 Items
Language:
English.
Collection ID:
RL.01341

Background

Scope and content:

The Amber (Arthun) Warburton Papers consist of the personal and professional papers of Warburton from 1917 to 1976. The bulk of the material comes from the organizational files of the Alliance for Guidance of Rural Youth during Warburton's tenure as executive secretary and director of research, 1947-1963. Other organizations and institutions represented include Atlanta University, Brookwood Labor College, Columbia University (where she received her M.A. in 1927), Mount Holyoke College, Spelman College, Institute of Social and Religious Research, Southern Summer School for Women Workers in Industry, Affiliated Schools for Workers, the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, and the U.S. Children's Bureau.

The Warburton Papers contain correspondence, financial statements, writings, interviews, notes, drafts of studies and reports, newspaper clippings, newsletters, printed material, books, magazines, photographs, diaries, and scrapbooks. Most of the papers are printed material. Also includes her diploma from Columbia (1927), and an oversize photograph of the Three Fates Greek scuplture.

The papers are divided into the following thirteen series:

Series
  1. Personal
  2. Brookwood Labor College
  3. Columbia University
  4. Mount Holyoke College
  5. Southern Summer School for Women Workers in Industry
  6. Institute of Social and Religious Research
  7. Spelman College and Atlanta University
  8. Federal Emergency Relief Administration
  9. Affiliated Schools for Workers
  10. U.S. Children's Bureau
  11. Fairfax County
  12. U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Agriculture
  13. Alliance for Guidance of Rural Youth

Warburton's connection with these organizations and institutions is noted in the description of each series.

The largest series is the Alliance for Guidance of Rural Youth Series (AGRY). The series is arranged by subject, in keeping with the arrangement pattern of a 1949 office files index. There are three major subjects within the series: Harlan County (Kentucky), Green Sea (South Carolina), and the National Defense Education Act Study. Each subject contains correspondence, notes, drafts of reports and studies, reports and studies, newspaper clippings, and printed material.

There is overlap among series, especially within the AGRY series. For instance, Warburton might correspond with one person in Green Sea about the Green Sea Institute and later about an upcoming guidance convention. Each letter would probably be found in different subjects: the Green Sea letter under Green Sea Institute, and the convention letter under material about guidance conventions.

The Warburton Papers are a rich source of information on the growth and development of the youth guidance movement in America, especially guidance in rural areas. If combined with the Duke Library's collection of early AGRY papers, a researcher could follow the American rural youth guidance movement from inception to maturation. Furthermore, the numerous surveys conducted in Harlan County and Green Sea contain much material on the socio-economic status and attitudes of people in Appalachia and the rural South in the 1940s and 1950s.

Other highlights include considerable information on the creation, growth, and management of workers' schools and federal training centers for unemployed teachers in the 1930's; in-depth studies of industrial home-work in the Northeast and migrant workers in Texas, Arkansas, and Florida; and pictures of schools, houses, and people in Harlan County and Green Sea. There are also photographs in the Personal, Columbia University, Spelman College and Atlanta University, U.S. Children's Bureau, and Fairfax County series.

Specific subjects are discussed in more detail in the inventory.

Biographical / historical:
Chronology
Date Event
May, 1898
Born in Seattle, Washington
June, 1920
Graduated from the University of Washington with a bachelor of business administration degree.
1921-1922
Taught social science at a high school in Kimberly, Idaho.
1922-1923
Taught social science at a high school in Fairfield, Washington.
Sept., 1923 - Oct., 1925
Librarian at Brookwood Labor College, Katonah, New York.
Oct., 1925 - June, 1926
Traveled and studied in Europe.
June, 1926 - Feb., 1929
Studied at Columbia University. Received M.A. in Economics in 1927 and completed resident requirements for the Ph.D. in 1929.
Feb., 1928 - June, 1928
Taught economics and sociology at Mount Holyoke College.
Summer of 1927, 1928, and 1929
Taught labor problems at Southern Summer School for Women Workers in Industry.
March, 1929 - Aug., 1929
Investigated social and economic conditions in coal mining villages of Ohio, Illinois, and Pennsylvania for study sponsored by the Institute of Social and Religious Research.
Summer 1929
Married Clark Warburton, an economist.
Sept., 1929 - June, 1932
Taught economics at Spelman College and Atlanta University.
March, 1930
Investigated social and economic conditions in a rural-industrial Georgia county for the Institute of Social and Religious Research.
July, 1932 - July, 1933
Assisted in preparation of Dr. Louis Lorwin's American Federation of Labor: History, Policies, and Prospects.
June, 1934 - July, 1934
Directed Federal Teacher Training Center in Workers' Education in Atlanta, Georgia.
Aug., 1934 - Sept., 1934
Directed Federal Teacher Training Center in Workers' Education in Gulfport, Mississippi.
Apr., 1935 - May, 1935
Evaluated workers' education program and helped train teachers in Detroit, Michigan.
June, 1935 - July, 1935
Taught economics at Bryn Mawr Summer School for Women in Industry in Mount Ivy, New York.
Aug., 1935 - Sept., 1935
Directed Federal Teacher Training Center in Workers' Education in Logan, Utah.
Oct., 1935 - Aug., 1939
Active in Washington civic organizations.
Sept., 1939 - Aug., 1943
Associate researcher in Special Studies Unit of the Children's Bureau, United States Department of Labor, Washington, D.C. Supervised field work and wrote reports for two published studies: Industrial Home-Work Conditions in the Candlewick Bedspread and Lace Industries (1940) and Work and Welfare of Children of Agricultural Laborers in Hidalgo County, Texas (1943).
Sept., 1943 - Jan., 1946
Active in Fairfax County, Virginia, school and civic affairs.
Feb., 1946 - Sept., 1946
Wrote report on "Education for Migrant Children in the Cotton Belt" for the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Agriculture.
Feb., 1947 - Sept., 1963
Executive secretary and director of research for the Alliance for Guidance of Rural Youth (AGRY). She held the positions until the organization disbanded in Sept., 1963. During her tenure, she wrote three books on AGRY-sponsored projects: Guidance in a Rural Community (1952), Guidance in a Rural-Industrial Community (1954), and Stimulating Guidance in Rural Schools (1964).
1963-1976
Retired in McLean, Virginia.
January, 1976
Died in Washington, D.C.
Acquisition information:
The Warburton Papers were presented to Duke University by Clark Warburton, husband of Amber Warburton, in 1977.
Processing information:

Processed by: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library Staff

Completed May 1, 1983

Encoded by Stephen D. Miller

Arrangement:

This collection is arranged topically. Because all non-AGRY material was unorganized, series of related material had to be created. Consequently, there is some overlapping within the collection, especially among printed material from the 1930's and 1940's. For instance, printed material from New Deal programs is found in both the Federal Emergency Relief Administration and Affiliated Schools for Workers series. Still, each series corresponds to a job or period in Warburton's life, so there is a definite pattern and coherency to the arrangement of the collection.

There are several aids to the content and arrangement of the collection. First, when a folder has a heading like Printed Material, 1928-1935 (p. 13), the heading means that there is general or miscellaneous printed material in the folder from 1928 to 1935. Secondly, some subjects in a series are lengthy enough to require a centered heading, sometimes followed by an explanatory note. At the end of the material under this heading, two lines are skipped before returning to the continuation of the series. Thirdly, the years for which there is material pertaining to a series is noted under the series title. The years, however, do not necessarily correspond to Warburton's association with the organization or institution. Finally, the term "Family Schedules" refers to printed forms that list such things as the number of people in a family, their ages and occupations, their schooling, and so on. These schedules are found in several series.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Contents

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Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Terms of access:

The copyright interests in this collection have not been transferred to Duke University. For more information, please consult the section on copyright in the Regulations and Procedures of the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library.

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Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], The Amber Arthun Warburton Papers, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.

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