Skip to main content

Helen Morton Papers

 Collection
Call Number: RG 133

Scope and Contents

The papers in this record group were received with the archives of the University Christian Movement in New England and primarily relate to Helen Morton's involvement with student Christian work during the late 1960s through the early 1980s. They complement various other collections at the Yale Divinity Library that document student Christian work in the U.S. and abroad.

Dates

  • 1932-1991

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

The materials are open for research.

Arrangement

  1. I. Correspondence, 1969-1984
  2. II. Notes, 1969-1990
  3. III. Collected Material, 1967-1991
  4. IV. Collected Publications, 1932-1981

Extent

5 Linear Feet (11 boxes)

Language of Materials

English

Catalog Record

A record for this collection is available in Orbis, the Yale University Library catalog

Persistent URL

https://hdl.handle.net/10079/fa/divinity.133

Abstract

These papers document the later part of Helen Morton's career, particularly her work with the University Christian Movement in New England. Born to a privileged New England family in 1898, Helen Morton spent her long life engaged in ecumenical religious and social work with a variety of U.S. and international organizations.

Biographical / Historical

Helen Morton was born June 5, 1898, and grew up in Newton, Massachusetts, spending summers at the family home on Yarmouth Island, Maine. After graduating from Vassar College she received a Master of Science degree from the Simmons College School of Social Work in 1923 and was involved in settlement work in Boston and internationally. From 1933 to 1940 Morton was executive secretary of the National Student Council of the YWCA, a position in which she traveled widely and was involved in interracial activities. In 1935 she took on the added assignment of co-executive of the new National Intercollegiate Christian Council and was elected a member of the World Student Christian Federation Executive Committee. Following a trip to Asia in connection with the WSCFin 1940, Morton became general secretary of the Cambridge (MA) YWCA, but with the coming of the Second World War, she returned to work with the World Student Christian Federation. For six months during 1946 Morton was a staff member of CIMADE (ComitÉ Intermouvement Aide aux EvacuÉs) in France and then, until 1948, served the World YWCA in Geneva. In 1949 she returned to Boston to become the Associate Headworkder of South End House. She remained in Boston until 1980 except for two years overseas with the World Council of Churches; she served as parish assistant and "lay reader" of St. Stephen's Church and was involved in urban renewal work in Boston. Morton served on the Board of the University Christian Movement of New England and these papers were received in connection with the UCM archives, YDSL Record Group No. 88.

Title
Guide to the Helen Morton Papers
Author
Compiled by Carl L. Beckwith and Martha Lund Smalley
Date
1998
Description rules
Finding Aid Prepared According To Local Divinity Library Descriptive Practices
Language of description note
Finding aid written in English.

Part of the Yale Divinity Library Repository

Contact:
409 Prospect Street
New Haven CT 06511 US
(203) 432-5301

Opening Hours