Title: J. Milton Yinger Papers, 1937-2003, n.d.

ID: RG 30/188

Extent: 17.65 Linear Feet

John Milton Yinger, a member of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Oberlin College from 1947 to 1987, was born in Quincy, Michigan in 1916 to Emma May Bancroft (d. 1960) and George Daniel Yinger (d. 1934), both Methodist ministers. His mother was among the first women to be ordained in the Methodist church. He received his B.A. degree from DePauw University in 1937, his M.A. degree from Louisiana State University in 1939, and his Ph.D. degree from the University of Wisconsin in 1943. On July 20, 1941, he married Winnie G. McHenry (1919-2002). This union produced three children: Susan (b. 1945), John (b. 1947), and Nancy (b. 1952).

From 1941 to 1947, Yinger taught sociology at Ohio Wesleyan University. In 1947, he was appointed Associate Professor of Sociology and Anthropology at Oberlin College, rising to the rank of Professor in 1952. At Oberlin he taught specialty courses in “Race Relations,” “Society, Culture and Personality,” “Sociology of Religion,” “Methods of Research,” and others. He served as department chairman from 1969 to 1975. In 1971, Yinger was elected Secretary of the American Sociological Association and A.S.A. President in 1976. His numerous academic honors include fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation (1968-69), the National Endowment for the Humanities (1976-77), and the East-West Center, Honolulu (1968-69). In 1976, he was a visiting fellow at Clare Hall, Cambridge University where he worked on British materials. Prior to his retirement in 1987, Yinger was elected to honorary membership in Phi Beta Kappa. Also, he received honorary degrees from DePauw, 1982 and Syracuse, 1996.

Yinger's scholarly achievements are broad and significant. His research and publications range over several disciplines, including the sociology of religion, race relations, and educational sociology. His book Religion, Society, and the Individual (Macmillan, 1957) was translated into Italian in 1961, French in 1964, and Spanish in 1968. Other translations include A Minority Group in American Society (McGraw-Hill, 1968) into Spanish, Orissa, and Portuguese; The Scientific Study of Religion (Macmillan, 1970) into Japanese in 1990; and, Countercultures (Free Press, 19820) into Chinese in 1995. Yinger and his Oberlin colleague George E. Simpson (d. 1998) co-authored Racial and Cultural Minorities: An Analysis of Prejudice and Discrimination (Harper Brothers, 1953), a modern classic now in its fifth edition. In 1958, Yinger and Simpson received the Anisfield-Wolf Award for the best scholarly work on race relations. The Oberlin authors shared the award with Martin Luther King, Jr.

He also served as the associate editor or consulting editor of scholarly journals, such as The Journal of Conflict Resolution, 1964-70, and The American Sociologist, 1987-91.

Professor Yinger and his wife, Winnie, traveled to Japan (1969), China (1979) and the Soviet Union (1988).

Five years of research among disadvantaged adolescents attending the Special Educational Opportunities Program at Oberlin College culminated in the publication of Middle Start: An Experimental Study of Educational Enrichment in Early Adolescence (Cambridge University Press, 1977), a joint study with Oberlin faculty Kiyoshi Ikeda, Frank Laycock, and Stephen Cutler. Yinger served on the Editorial Board of three professional journals: The American Sociological Review, Social Problems, and the Journal of Conflict Resolution.

As Emeritus Professor, Yinger continued to lend his insight and expertise to Oberlin College, serving on the Dean's Research Group on Black Student Progress (1986-87) and on the Archives Advisory Committee (1989-95). He co-authored in 1987 The Costs of Housing Discrimination and Segregation: An Interdisciplinary Social Science Statement, a landmark report about how racial ghettos became a structural feature of American urban society. In 1994 he authored Ethnicity: Source of Strength? Source of Conflict? During the 1996 Commencement–Reunion Weekend, he presented a talk entitled "Along Many Paths—To a Common Destination" to the Friends of the Oberlin College Library. A number of other articles were published over the years 1999 to 2003.

In December 1993 Emeritus Professor Yinger and his wife Winnie moved to the Kendal Community in Oberlin. In retirement, in addition to his scholarly pursuits, Yinger enjoyed playing tennis, bridge, and listening to classical and religious music. Mrs. Winnie McHenry Yinger died on December 22, 2002. J. Milton Yinger died on July 28, 2011.

SOURCES CONSULTED

Oberlin College Archives. Record Group 28/3. Faculty/Staff file. John Milton Yinger.

Editorial comments and suggestions provided by Emeritus Professor John Milton Yinger.

“Emeritus Sociology Professor J. Milton Yinger, 1916-2011,” The Source, Oberlin College Office of Communications, 1 August 2011. Accessed 15 April 2013 at https://oncampus.oberlin.edu/source/articles/2011/08/01/j-milton-yinger-1916-2011.

Author: Valerie S. Komor

Subjects (links to similar collections)

Forms of Material (links to similar genres)

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Administrative Information

Scope and Contents:

The papers (1937-2003) of J. Milton Yinger provide minor information about their subject's personal life, but document fairly well Yinger's intellectual range as a social scientist. For example, a strength of this collection resides in its documentation of Yinger's research in educational sociology carried out under a grant from the U.S. Office of Education from 1965 to 1969. Copius amounts of correspondence also outline Yinger’s myriad of professional involvements, including visiting professorships and contacts with various religious, sociological, and political groups.

The collection is divided into fifteen series groups: I. Awards and Honors ; II. Biographical and Files Relating to the Yinger Family; III. Correspondence; IV. Committee Files; V. Day Planners; VI. Instructional Files; VII. Newspaper Clippings; VIII. Office of Education Cooperative Research Program (Middle Start); IX. Professional Conferences and Travel Files; X. Special Educational Opportunities Program Administrative Files; XI. Student Exchange Program With Black Colleges; XII. Student Papers; XIII. Talks and Lectures; XIV. Topical Files; and XV. Writings.

The most voluminous series in the collection is the correspondence series (Series III), which is broken down into five subseries; professional letters, personal letters, student/alumni letters, mixed letters, and correspondence relating to J. Milton Yinger’s published writings. Significant names appear in the professional correspondence subseries, including George Eaton Simpson, Robert Bellah, Al McQueen, and Robert Longworth. Yinger’s collection of personal correspondence in the second subseries includes an ongoing exchange with the Selective Service Board pertaining to Yinger’s Conscientious Objector status during W.W.II. Subseries IV, which represents a mixed professional, personal, and miscellaneous alphabetical file, was added with accession 1998/088 expanded upon with further accessions. More letters of George Simpson can be found here, as well as selections to and from Marc Bernstein, Steve Cutler, Joe and Joanne Elder, Amitai Etzioni, Gary Marx, Robert Merton and Harriet Zuckerman, George Simpson, Gerhard (“Jerry”) Lenski, and Robin Williams, Jr. For further information regarding George E. Simpson, see RG 30/64.

The second largest grouping in this collection is the writings series (Series XV), which contains many of the articles and book reviews written by John Milton Yinger throughout his professional career (1940s-2003). The writings series also contains proofs and penultimate drafts of two of Mr. Yinger’s books: Middle Start: An Experiment in the Educational Enrichment of Young Adolescence (Cambridge University Press, 1977) and Countercultures: The Promise and the Peril of a World Turned Upside Down (Free Press/Collier MacMillian Publisher, 1982).

The Middle Start book was born out of a research experiment for which Yinger was the principle investigator; the research and administrative materials for this study can be found in Series VIII. Office of Education Cooperative Research Program (Middle Start). The files document all phases of the project over a six-year period (1964-70), including grant application preparation, interim reporting to the federal government, training of research assistants, and data collection and analysis.

The records of Series XI, Student Exchange Program with Black Colleges, document Yinger's ongoing interest in promoting strong race relations. The files relate to the student exchange program initiated in 1946 between Oberlin and Hampton Institute and extended to include Tallageda College in 1951, Fiske University in 1950, Spelman College in 1958, and Tougaloo College in 1963. The correspondence (1946-65) from both Yinger and Chairman of the Sociology and Anthropology Department, George E. Simpson (d. 1998), to colleagues in the South concerns student recruitment for the programs. Student reports offer first-hand accounts of the experience of studying at black colleges.

Series XIII documents J. Milton Yinger’s vast public speaking career. The files hold many of the hundreds of talks, lectures, and public speeches delivered by the sociologist before various Oberlin College and outside university audiences, as well as those linked to several professional organizations like the American Sociological Association (ASA), and the NAACP.

Materials in Series X relating to the administration of the Special Educational Opportunities Program are scant. Included are an incomplete series of minutes, newspaper clippings, and select issues of the S.E.O.P. newsletters (1965-66). For supplemental materials, the researcher is advised to consult the Papers of Ira S. Steinberg, 30/111 and the Committee Files in record group 33.

SERIES DESCRIPTIONS

Series I. Awards and Honors, 1934-1943, 1958-59, 1968, 1971, 1973, 1976, 1982-1988, 1992, 1994, 1996, n.d. (0.05 l.f.)

The first series in the collection contains numerous honors, awards, and certificates granted to J. Milton Yinger from professional organizations with which the sociologist was associated. Included are Yinger’s certificates of election to the Democratic County Central Committee for Lorain County (1958,) and as a fellow of the American Sociological Association (1959). Also found here is J. Milton Yinger’s B.A. degree from DePauw University (1937), his M.A. from Louisiana State University (1939), his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin (1943), and a photocopy of an honorary degree he received from DePauw University in 1982. The degrees of Winnie Genevieve McHenry Yinger, wife of J. Milton Yinger, can also be found here; these include her high school diploma (1935) from Conway High School in Conway, Arkansas, her B.A. (1939) from Hendrix College (also in Conway, Arkansas), and her M.A. from the University of Wisconsin (1940).

Series II. Biographical Files Relating to the Yinger Family, 1930s-1970s, 1982-1988, 1990, 1996-2003, n.d. (0.15 l.f.)

The biographical series documents the life and accomplishments of Professor J. Milton Yinger. These include a biographical entry in the Encyclopedia of Religion and Society, an event program for a symposium in honor of Professor Yinger, and several professional resumes and curriculum vitae. In addition to these documents, the biographical series also holds several miscellaneous mementoes from Professor Yinger’s personal life including a collection of membership cards and licenses, as well as a file relating to his activities while living at Kendal at Oberlin.

Series III. Correspondence, 1937-2003 (5.7 l.f.)

The correspondence is divided into five subseries: Subseries 1. Professional Letters, Subseries 2. Personal Letters, Subseries 3. Student/Alumni Letters, Subseries 4. Mixed Letters, and Subseries 5. Correspondence Relating to Published Writings. The first three subsets are arranged chronologically while the mixed letters follow an alphabetical-by-correspondent arrangement and the published writings correspondence is grouped by publication title and ordered by publication date.

Subseries 1. Professional Letters, 1939-2001(2.60 l.f.)

Contains professional discussions with George Simpson, Robert Bellah, Albert McQueen, and Robert Longsworth. Also contains numerous teaching position offers, invitations for speaking engagements, and discussions with multiple governmental, religious, and sociological groups, including the Anti-Defamation League and the American Sociological Association (ASA).

Subseries 2. Personal Letters, 1937-2003 (0.8 l.f.)

Contains graduate school loan records, christmas cards, and letters from friends, as well as letters to and from the Selective Service Board in which Yinger defended his Conscientious Objector status during W.W.II.

Subseries 3. Student/Alumni Letters, 1945-46, 1948-59, 1961-89 (0.7 l.f.)

Contains letters to and from Yinger’s current and former students, primarily regarding letters of recommendation for students entering graduate school. The second box in the series (Box 11), which holds letters of recommendation only, is restricted and therefore requires the permission of the archivist for research purposes.

Subseries 4. Mixed Letters, 1953-54, 1956-57, 1959, 1962-64, 1967-69, 1972-76, 1987-93, 1998, 2000-2003, n.d.

This subseries contains both professional and personal correspondence, interfiled and arranged alphabetically by correspondent. Correspondents include Marc Bernstein, Steve Cutler, Joe and Joanne Elder, Amitai Etzioni, Gary Marx, Robert Merton, Eduardo and Janet Mondlance, Harriet Zuckerman, George Simpson, Gerhard (“Jerry”) Lenski, and Robin Williams, Jr. Also found here are letters written by Yinger to various political figures including Presidents Bill Clinton and Lyndon Johnson; the letter filed under the name of Walter Mondale is, in fact, a letter written by Mondale, then a Senator from Minnesota, and sent to Professor Yinger.

Subseries 5. Correspondence Relating to Published Writings, 1943-2003 (1.20 l.f.)

The fifth subseries of correspondence consists of letters relating to John Milton Yinger’s published writings. The letters include incoming and outgoing correspondence with professional colleagues and publishers regarding the research, writing and publication phases of numerous articles and books written by Yinger. The writings that are covered in these letters include several of his major works such as Religion in the Struggle for Power (1946), Toward A Field Theory of Behavior (1965), Countercultures (1982), and Ethnicity: A Source of Strength? A Source of Conflict? (1994). For some of these titles, along with the correspondence concerning their composition and publication, there are published reviews held in the subseries; please consult the inventory for a listing of what specifically is contained in the collection for each title.

Series IV. Committee Files, 1949, 1953-54, 1961, 1966-68, 1973-76, 1985, 1986-88 (0.4 l.f.)

This series primarily consists of minutes, proposals, correspondence, and miscellaneous items related to J. Milton Yinger’s participation on various professional committees. Many of these committees were involved in sociological research and issues of race relations including the Oberlin College Dean’s Research Group on Black Student Progress and the Social Science Research Council’s (SSRC) Committee on Social Structure and Socialization. The other committees represented here relate to Yinger’s position as an Oberlin College Faculty member like the General Faculty Committee Files and the Educational Program of Oberlin College (EPOC).

Series V. Day Planners, 1963-67, 1969-2002 (0.4 l.f.)

The day planners in this series document Professor Yinger’s day-to-day activities for every year from 1963-2002, with the exception of 1968.

Series VI. Instructional Files, 1949-1998 (1.25 l.f.)

The instructional files are divided into three subseries; Subseries 1. Course Materials, Subseries 2. Miscellaneous Instructional Materials, and Subseries 3. Grade Books.

Subseries 1. Course Materials, 1956-1998

The first subseries contains syllabi and other materials related to courses taught by Professor Yinger mostly at Oberlin but also at other academic institutions like Ohio Weslyan, Wayne State University, and the Universities of Michigan, Washington, and Hawaii as a visiting professor; these files are arranged alphabetically by course title or topic.

Subseries 2. Miscellaneous Instructional Materials, 1957, 1966-67, 1970-71, 1974, 1978, 1988, 1992-94, n.d.

This subseries holds a sample of student work for Professor Yinger’s Courses, including an honors thesis written by sociology student Kathleen Hanna in 1966, and a study entitled, “Association of Residence in Black Student Housing and Academic Performance,” conducted by students in 1971. Other materials found in the second subseries include a collection of miscellaneous tables, graphs, diagrams, and other teaching tools used by the professor for his academic courses.

Subseries 3. Grade Books, 1949-1986

The grade books here are restricted, as they contain personal information about the academic performance of nearly all of Professor Yinger’s students from 1953-1999. Permission of the archivist is required for use of these materials.

Series VII. Newspaper Clippings, 1946, 1953-1999 (0.2 l.f.)

In addition to several newspaper clippings written about John Milton Yinger’s life and accomplishments, this series also contains numerous articles collected by the professor concerning his various areas of personal and professional interest including sociology, politics, religion, and academia.

Series VIII. Office of Education Cooperative Research Program (Middle Start), 1963-1978 (3.6 l.f.)

Contains records created by project investigators J. Milton Yinger, Kiyoshi Ikeda and Frank Laycock (1922- ) while gathering and analyzing data for their study, "Middle Start: Supportive Interventions for Higher Education among Students of Disadvantaged Backgrounds." Records are divided into three subseries: 1. Administrative Files, 2. Data Collection Files, and 3. Data Analysis Files.

Subseries 1. Administrative Files, 1965-70, n.d.

Includes budgetary projections; correspondence with the granting agency, the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare Office of Education; and various reports, including interim "technical progress" reports prepared by project directors (1965-69); and the Middle Start Final Report (1970).

Subseries 2. Data Collection Files, 1963-70, n.d.

Includes instructional materials on interviewing techniques; correspondence with S.E.O.P. schools (in Oberlin, Elyria, Lorain, Cleveland, and St. Louis) relating to data collection on S.E.O.P. students in these cities; questionnaires and tests administered to participating students; records of interviews conducted; and files of individual students containing test results. Also filed here are the results of interviews conducted under the "Follow Up Program." Interview records are arranged alphabetically by participating city; student files are arranged alphabetically; and correspondence is arranged chronologically.

Subseries 3. Data Analysis Files, 1965-66, 1969, n.d.

Contains codebooks used by project investigators in interpreting data as well as reports analyzing data prepared by Kiyoshi Ikeda's research assistants. Files arranged alphabetically by type of material.

Series IX. Professional Conferences and Travel Files, 1946, 1956-1989, n.d. (0.6 l.f.)

This series consists of itineraries, memorandums, event programs, schedules, and correspondence related to the many professional conferences attended by John Milton Yinger, as well as similar materials concerning the various domestic and international trips taken by the sociologist for both business and pleasure. Researchers should consult the inventory for a listing of specific conferences and locations visited by Yinger.

Series X. Special Educational Opportunities Program Administrative Files, 1963-70, n.d. (0.7 l.f.)

Series includes an incomplete run of S.E.O.P. committee minutes and various administrative files, including government document orders, student time sheets, summer program information, and clippings. Also filed here are printed reports gathered by S.E.O.P. researchers relating to similar programs elsewhere. Files arranged alphabetically by type of material.

Series XI. Student Exchange Program With Black Colleges, 1946-75, n.d. (0.3 l.f.)

Contains correspondence between Oberlin professors George E. Simpson and J. Milton Yinger and their colleagues at five southern colleges relating to the establishment and operation of student-exchange programs, as well as Oberlin student essays describing the experience of study in black colleges. Key correspondents include Chaplain Edward R. Miller of Hampton Institute and Dean George St. John of Fiske University. Correspondence is alphabetically arranged by name of southern institution and chronologically thereunder.

Series XII. Student Papers, 1931-1941, n.d. (0.4 l.f.)

Student papers and essays written while Yinger was a student at DePauw University, Louisana State University, and the University of Wisconsin are found here. These papers detail Yinger’s early interest in the academic and professional fields around which he later built his career. There is also a folder of early writings by Yinger (1931-1932, 1936-37, n.d.) – some appear to be of a personal nature while others look like they served a more formal purpose (school or otherwise).

Series XIII. Talks and Lectures, 1939-2002 (1.0 l.f.)

The talks and lectures series is divided into four subseries; Subseries 1. Talks at Oberlin College, Subseries 2. Talks outside of Oberlin College, Subseries 3. Honorary Degree Citations, and Subseries 4. Miscellaneous (Speech Notes and Statements). The listing of speech titles in the inventory is only a sample of what is actually contained within the collection. Researchers should consult this inventory to get a sense of what is held here but should ultimately survey the folders within the series for the complete holdings; the speeches are arranged chronologically within each subseries.

Subseries 1. Talks at Oberlin College, 1948-2002

The first subseries contains speeches and talks delivered by Professor Yinger within the Oberlin community. These speeches were delivered at Oberlin locations such as Finney Chapel and at campus events such as the Oberlin Sesquicentennial Celebration, and Al McQueen’s retirement banquet.

Subseries 2. Talks outside of Oberlin College, 1948-2002

The speeches and talks outside of the Oberlin community were often delivered before audiences at other universities as well as in conjunction with various professional organizations. The university audiences included those at the University of Michigan, Denison University, Iowa State Technical College, and Akron University while the professional organizations include the American Sociological Association, the Social Science Foundation, and the NAACP.

Subseries 3. Honorary Degree Citations, 1962-1990

Throughout his time at Oberlin College, Professor Yinger introduced several prominent individuals to receive honorary degrees at commencement ceremonies. This subseries includes Yinger’s honorary degree citations for Carl Rowan, Elmina Lucke, Landrum Rymer Bolling, George Simpson, Richard Rutlege Myers, Benjamin E. Mays, Tatyana Ivanovna Zaslavskaya, and perhaps the most well-remembered and historic figure to receive an honorary degree from Oberlin College, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Subseries 4. Miscellaneous (Speech Notes and Statements, Sampled from Drawer), 1939-1997

This subseries largely consists of personal notes for the hundreds of speeches that Yinger delivered throughout this career; the cards were originally stored in a metal drawer by Professor Yinger himself. While only a representative sample of these note cards were retained for the collection, they very well document Yinger’s personal preparation for public speaking. Also held in the miscellaneous speech subseries are several debate statements delivered by the sociologist. Debates of note include two from 1944 and 1945 between Professor Yinger and the State Commander of the American Legion over the issue of peace time compulsory military training, and another against Senator John Bricker (R-OH) over the merits of the 1952 presidential candidates, General Dwight Eisenhower (KS) and Governor Adlai Stevenson (D-IL).

Series XIV. Topical Files, 1952-2003 (1.3 l.f.)

These files are arranged alphabetically by topic and mainly consist of materials related to the various subjects of interest of J. Milton Yinger. Some of these files are simply made up of news clippings, articles, and other research files for relatively broad topics like “Terrorism” and “Vietnam,” while others concern specific studies that were conducted by Professor Yinger and/or his students like those entitled, “Hawaii Study,” and “Attitude towards U.N. Survey.” Other topical files, like many other components of the J. Milton Yinger Papers, correspond to some of the professional organizations with which Yinger associated, like the American Friends Service Committee, the American Sociological Association, and the Great Lakes College Association.

Series XV. Writings, 1941-2003 (1.6 l.f.)

The writings series is broken down into two subsets: Subseries 1. Published Writings, and Subseries 2. Unpublished Writings.

Subseries 1. Published Writings, 1946-2003

John Milton Yinger’s published articles and manuscripts can be found here. Most of what is here are articles and book reviews published in various sociological journals like Sociology Today and the American Journal of Sociology. The inventory does not contain a listing of the articles held in the collection, however researchers are encouraged to consult the curriculum vitae and the writings addendum located in the finding guide. The titles on the curriculum vitae that are notated with a check mark are those that can be found in collection – those listed on the writings addendum were additional articles not originally included on Yinger’s curriculum vitae listing but can nonetheless also be found in this series. Finally, the manuscripts, penultimate drafts, and published reviews for two of Yinger’s major book titles, Middle Start and Countercultures, can be found in boxes three and four of this series.

Subseries 2. Unpublished Writings, 1942-2003

In addition to several unpublished essays by J. Milton Yinger, the second subseries also contains two graduate dissertations about Yinger’s work written at the University of Chicago and the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Another unpublished writing found here is “ A History of Oberlin’s Black Students,” written by Mr. Phillip Russell, Jr., of the Community-University Research Associates in Cambridge Massachusetts (1973); Professor Yinger served as a research consultant for this work.

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