University Business

INTRODUCTION The Alfred F. Young Papers were donated to the University Archives on August 14, 1990, by Dr. Young upon his retirement.  Literary rights are dedicated to the public.  There are no restrictions on access to the collection. SCOPE AND CONTENT The Alfred F. Young Faculty Papers date from 1962 to 1982 and are organized into four series: University Business, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Business; Departmental Business; and Political Activism on Campus. Series one, University Business, consists of material relating to the University budget crisis and due process, the NIU Faculty Union, and facts pertaining to NIU and the NIU Press.  The series also contains testimony by Young before the Board of Higher Education Hearing regarding NIU's Master Plan III. The second series contains information on the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences' reorganization, personnel policies, manpower needs, and the academic freedom on campus.  Also included in the series are memos, notes, evaluations, and drafts of the College's Constitution. Series three contains departmental business that relates to the History Department such as curriculum changes, personnel matters, and the daily business of the department.  Included in this series are memos, correspondence, committee meeting minutes, reports, and material on the graduate and Ph.D. programs. The fourth series consists of political issues that sparked protest from students, faculty, and staff on campus.  This includes such issues as Dow Chemical recruiting on campus, the ROTC and defense research issues, censorship, the Peter Roman case, and the El Salvador petition.  The series also contains student revolt case information dealing with Young's involvement with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). The Alfred F. Young Papers do not include any of the professor's research and personal files.  However, the Political Activism on Campus series does provide insight into a difficult period in the history of the University. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH Alfred F. Young was born on January 17, 1925.  He received his B.A. in 1946 from Queens College, graduating cum laude with Honors in Economics.  In 1947 Young received his M.A. from Columbia University and his Ph.D. in 1958 from Northwestern University. Dr. Young began his teaching career as a Teaching Assistant at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois from 1947 to 1950.  For the next fourteen years Young continued to teach at various institutions in Connecticut, New Jersey, and California.  In 1964, Dr. Young was hired at Northern Illinois University as an associate professor and promoted to full professorship four years later.  In the Spring of 1984 Dr. Young was a visiting professor at the Ecole Des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris, France.  Dr. Young retired from NIU in 1990. Dr. Young is the recipient of many grants and fellowships.  His most recent grant was from the National Endowment for the Humanities to the Chicago Historical Society to create a permanent exhibit entitled, "We the People: Creating the Nation, 1765-1820."  Young served as co-curator for the exhibit.  Dr. Young also received the Gilbert Osofsky Memorial Lecture Award in 1988 and the Jamestown Prize in 1967 for his book, The Democratic Republicans. Young authored many articles, books, book reviews, and encyclopedia articles.  He served as museum curator and consultant and presented many papers at professional conferences, seminars, and public lectures.  Dr. Young is an active member of the American Historical Association, the Organization of American Historians, the Institute of Early American History, the Society for the History of the Early Republic, and on several committees for the Newberry Library in Chicago, Illinois. While professor at Northern Illinois University, Young served on numerous committees for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences such as the Presidential Search Committee in 1971, Academic Planning Committee, Constitution Drafting Committee, Ad hoc Committee on Fund for the Humanities, and chairman of the Editorial Committee for the Faculty Bulletin. He also served on committees such as the Advisory, Appeals, Graduate, Lecture and Undergraduate Committees for the History Department, as well as, the Committee on Broadening History Offerings, Ad hoc Committee on Personnel Practices, and the Planning Committee for the Regional History Center. Presently (1990) Dr. Young is researching his new book, In the Streets of Boston: The Common People and the Making of the American Revolution.  He has several other works in progress for future publication.