Inventory of the Waldo Beach Papers,
1949-1986
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Descriptive Summary
Repository
University Archives, Duke
University
Creator
Beach, William Waldo, 1916-2001.
Title
Waldo Beach Papers, 1949-1986
Language of Material
Material in English
Extent
0.7 Linear Feet
300 Items
Abstract
Waldo Beach was a professor of Christian Ethics in the Duke University Divinity School between the years 1946-1986.
The collection includes correspondence, memoranda, typescripts and printed material concerning civil rights, politics and other ethical issues and ranges in date from 1949-1986.
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Administrative Information
Access Restrictions
Patrons must sign the Acknowledgement of Legal Responsibility and Privacy Rights form before using this collection.
Collection is open for research.
Copyright Notice
Copyright for Official University records is held by Duke University; all other copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Waldo Beach Papers, University Archives, Duke University.
Provenance
The Waldo Beach Papers were received by the University Archives as a
transfer in 1991.
Processing Information
Processed by Jessica Wood, January 2007
Encoded by Kimberly Sims, January 2007
Accession A91-120 is described in this finding aid.
Descriptive sources and standards used to create this inventory: DACS, EAD, NCEAD guidelines, and our local Style Guide.
This finding aid is NCEAD compliant.
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Biographical Note
William Waldo Beach was born in 1916 in Middletown, Connecticut. He received his B.A. from Wesleyan University in 1937 and his B.D. and Ph.D. from Yale in 1940 and 1944, respectively. He was ordained as a minister of the United Methodist Church. Beach taught at Antioch College before joining the faculty Duke's Divinity School in 1946, where he served as Director of Graduate Studies from 1959-1969 and specialized in Christian ethics, racial politics, ecology and technology. He supervised the dissertation of the first black Ph.D. graduate of the Duke Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and fought for racial integration in the Duke Chapel. He also served appointments at the Union Theological Seminary, the Pacific School of Religion, Colorado College, Northwestern University and Texas Christian University. In 1969, his book Christian Community and American Society was published by Westminster Press. The longest-tenured professor in the history of the Divinity School, Beach retired from Duke in 1986. He was also an active composer and sang with the Durham Civic Choral Society for over 40 years. He died in 2001.
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Collection Overview
Collection includes correspondence, memoranda, typescripts and printed material primarily concerning ethics. Major subjects include civil rights and research in politics and ethics. Individual files include a proposal to the Danforth Foundation to improve teaching, correspondence concerning residential development in Duke Forest, conferences on Human Values and Public Policy, and cooperative research in the areas of politics and ethics. Items of note include a copy of an undated typescript,
"A President Named Jimmy"
, by James D. Barber, a pamphlet produced by the Durham Community Planning Council titled
"Durham's Assets in the Arts"
, and first-hand accounts of the January 3, 1964 sit-in in Chapel Hill. The collection ranges in date from 1949-1986.
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Subject Headings
These are searchable subject entries for this collection. Performing a search on these subjects in the Duke University Libraries online catalog will bring up other related research materials.
- Beach, William Waldo, 1916-2001.
- Civil rights demonstrations--North Carolina--Chapel Hill.
- Danforth Foundation (Saint Louis, Mo.)
- Ethics--Study and teaching.
- Barber, James David.
- Carter, Jimmy, 1924-
- Duke University. Divinity School.
- Duke University--History--20th century.
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Related Material
Biographical Reference Collection, 1972-2004
Duke University Archives
Photograph Collection, 1861-2006
Duke University Archives
Chapel Sermons, 1954-1987 [sound recording]
Duke University Archives
Paul Ramsey Papers, 1934-1984 and undated
Rare Books, Manuscripts and Special Collections Library, Duke University
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Detailed Description of Collection
Container List
Correspondence, Memorabilia, 1949-1986
Correspondence, Ralph Bucy Sermons, 1973-1980
Civil Rights Sit-ins, 1964
James David Barber on President Carter, undated
Danfurth Foundation Project Proposal, 1971-1975
Duke Forest Development, 1972
Human Values and Public Policy Conference, 1976
Institutional Self Study, Department of Religion, 1965
Interseminary Church and Society Program, 1967-1970
National Council on Churches, Commission on Race, 1961-1962
State Politics and Christian Ethics Research Group, 1965
Ethics and Politics Research Group, 1966
Woodrow Wilson Fellowships, 1967-1971
Vigil Material, 1968
Printed Matter - Issue of The Whetstone, 1966
