Eugene E. Barnett Collection
1888-1967
Biography/History
Eugene Epperson Barnett was born in 1888 in Leesburg, Florida. He received a B.A. from Emory University in 1907; post-graduate study in the School of Religion at
Vanderbilt University, 1907-1908; and received Honorary Degree of LL.D., from Emory University in 1944, and University of North Carolina in 1946.
He was the General Secretary of the National Council of YMCA's from 1908-1910. He continued his work with the International Committee of the YMCA. From 1910-1936 he
worked in China. While in China, he observed many religious and political changes including the downfall of Chiang Kai-Shek and the resurgence of Communism. After leaving
China, he continued to work for the YMCA until his retirement in 1953. He traveled extensively before and after retirement. He died in 1970.
The autobiographical manuscript written by Eugene E. Barnett gives detailed information on his family background (the Barnett and Epperson Families), his boyhood, his
college years with his involvement with the YMCA, the lives of his family both at home and abroad, and his many experiences. The memoir covers in great detail the following
subjects:
- Physical descriptions of Shanghai and Hangchow
- YMCA work in Hangchow
- Boxer Rebellion
- Collapse of Ch'ing Dynasty
- Economic Depression
- Cultural Life in China
- Anti-American Sentiment
- World War I
- Japanese Invasion of Manchuria
- Siege of Shanghai by Japanese Forces
- Marxism
- Communism
- USSR (Soviet Union)
Although intended to be a three-chapter autobiographical manuscript, the last chapter was not written.
Scope and Contents
This .21 linear feet collection contains correspondence, vita, book review, and an 304-page typescript autobiographical manuscript. The manuscript is divided into 20
sections and has been put in file folders by section number.
- Correspondence - Outgoing
- July 4, 1967 - to Woodrow W. Wasson
- Correspondence - Incoming
- December 6, 1966 - from Sherman P. Carter
- Book Review
- Prophet of Plenty: The First Ninety Years of W. D. Weatherford by Wilma Dykeman, University of Tennessee Press, 1966
- Manuscript
- As I Look Back: Recollections of Growing up in America's Southland
and of Twenty-Six years in Pre-Communist China, 1888-1936
| Section I |
Preview |
1-6 |
| Section II |
Forebears |
7-22 |
| Section III |
Boyhood |
23-37 |
| Section IV |
College and University |
38-49 |
| Section V |
Choosing and Starting My Life Work |
50-64 |
| Section VI |
Taking Off |
65-77 |
| Section VII |
Heaven Below |
78-86 |
| Section VIII |
Preparing for Action |
87-101 |
| Section IX |
Our First Term in Hangchow |
102-121 |
| Section X |
To the U.S.A. and Back |
122-136 |
| Section XI |
Hangchow "Mission Accomplished" |
137-155 |
| Section XII |
Hangchow Postscript |
156-169 |
| Section XIII |
Changing Gear-Shifting Winds |
170-185 |
| Section XIV |
How to Spend a Furlough |
186-199 |
| Section XV |
Into Heavy Weather |
200-221 |
| Section XVI |
How Chinese Communism Looked To me during its Salad Years |
222-240 |
| Section XVII |
More Stresses and Strains |
241-261 |
| Section XVIII |
On the China Home Stretch (A) |
262-278 |
| Section XIX |
On the China Home Stretch (B) |
279-293 |
| Section XX |
On the China Home Stretch (C) |
294-304 |
|
Footnote |
304 |
|
Addendum to Closing Three Chapters [chapter not written] |
305-346 |
- Vita
Overview | Complete Finding Aid (pdf)
Special Collections | Heard
Library | Vanderbilt University
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