National Anthropological Archives

Guide to the Virginia Heyer Young papers, 1948 - 1998

Summary

Collection ID:
NAA.2010-14
Creators:
Young, Virginia Heyer
Dates:
1946-1998
Languages:
The collection is primarily in English, with some early materials in Chinese.
Physical Description:
1.24 Linear feet
3 boxes
Repository:
Virginia Heyer Young's papers document her research among African-American and Chinese-American communities in the United States as well as her field work in St. Vincent in the Caribbean.

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
Virginia Heyer Young papers document her research among minority communities in the United States (including African-Americans in Georgia and Chinese-Americans in New York), as well as interviews, journals, and logs from her field work in St. Vincent, in the Caribbean.
Please note that the contents of the collection and the language and terminology used reflect the context and culture of the time of its creation. As an historical document, its contents may be at odds with contemporary views and terminology and considered offensive today. The information within this collection does not reflect the views of the Smithsonian Institution or National Anthropological Archives, but is available in its original form to facilitate research.

Arrangement

Arrangement
The Virginia Heyer Young papers are divided into 4 series:
  • Series 1: Chinese and Hungarians in New York City, 1949-1955
  • Series 2: African-Americans in Georgia, 1961-1963
  • Series 3: St. Vincent, West Indies, 1972-1986
  • Series 4: Ruth Benedict's Lectures, 1946-1948 and 1990s

Biographical Note

Biographical Note
Virginia Heyer Young was born April 28, 1926 in Vancouver, British Columbia and grew up in Tarrytown, New York.
Young received her BA from Sarah Lawrence College in 1946 and her PhD in Anthropology from Columbia University in 1953. At Columbia, she studied under Ruth Benedict. Young became part of Benedict's and Margaret Mead's project on minority and immigrant groups in the US, entitled "Research in Contemporary Cultures."
In the 1940s and 1950s, Young studied politican organization and intergenerational structures in New York's Chinatown, and in the 1970s she researched socialization in African American groups in Georgia and in Harlem.
In the 1980s she studied the relationship of individuals to the polity among Afro-Caribbean people on the island of St. Vincent in the British Caribbean, resulting in a book, Becoming West Indian: Culture, Self, and Nation in St. Vincent, published in 1993 by the Smithsonian Institution Press.
In 2005, she published an analysis of Benedict's work entitled Ruth Benedict: Beyond Relativity, Beyond Pattern.
Virginia Heyer Young died at home in Albemarle County, Virginia on September 11, 2014.
Chronology
1926 April 28
Born in Vancouver, British Columbia
1946
A.B. Sarah Lawrence College
1947-1950
Research Assistant, Columbia (Research in Contemporary Cultures Project, Chinese Culture Group)
1951
Fieldwork in Chinatown, New York
1952-1954
Research Associate, George Washington University
1953
Ph.D. Columbia University (Anthropology)
1955-1956
Research Associate, Cornell (Yorkville Community Mental Health Research Project)
1955-1956
Fieldwork with Hungarian-born Immigrants in New York
1957-1963
"Unemployed during child-raising" (her CV).
1961-1963
Fieldwork with African-American communities in Georgia, USA
1963-1964
Instructor in Anthropology, Fairleigh Dickinson University
1964-1975
Faculty, Finch College, NY
1969
Fieldwork in Harlem, New York
1972
Fieldwork in Windward Valley, St. Vincent, West Indies
1977-1978
Research Associate, Columbia (Program on Gender Roles and Social Change)
1978-1995
Lecturer in Anthropology, University of Virginia
1984, 1986
Fieldwork in Windward Valley, St. Vincent, West Indies
2002-2003
Lecturer in Anthropology, University of Virginia
2014, September 11
Died in Albemarle County, Virginia

Administration

Author
Celia Emmelhainz
Processing Information
File order and titles have been maintained when possible. Loose photos were arranged by rough date and theme.
Processed and encoded by Celia Emmelhainz, October 2022.

Using the Collection

Conditions Governing Access
The Virgina Heyer Young papers are open for research. Access to the collection requires an appointment.
Conditions Governing Use
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Preferred Citation
Virginia Heyer Young papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution

More Information

Selected Bibliography

Selected Bibliography
1953. "Patterns of Social Organization in New York City's Chinatown." Ph.D. dissertation, Columbia University.
1953. "Relations Between Men and Women in Chinese Stories." In The Study of Culture at a Distance, edited by Margaret Mead and Rhoda Metraux, 221-234. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
1970. "Family and Childhood in a Southern Negro Community." American Anthropologist 72: 269-288.
1974. "A Black American Socialization Pattern," American Ethnologist 1: 405-413.
1990. "Household Structure in a West Indian Society," Social and Economic Studies, 39(3): 147-179.
1993. Becoming West Indian: Culture, Self and Nation in St. Vincent. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press.
2005. Ruth Benedict: Beyond Relativity, Beyond Pattern. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press.
2006. "Benedict and Mead at Columbia: A Student Looks Back." In Living Legacies at Columbia, edited by William Theodore de Bary. New York: Columbia University Press.


Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
African Americans Cultural Context Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Chinese Americans Cultural Context Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Hungarian Americans Cultural Context Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
West Indians Cultural Context Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
St. Vincent Geographic Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Women anthropologists Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Georgia Geographic Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
New York City Geographic Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

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