1 INVENTORY OF THE CLIFTON JUDSON ALLEN PAPERS AR. 795 - 221 C. J. Allen 2 CLIFTON JUDSON ALLEN PAPERS AR 795 – 221 Summary Main Entry: Clifton Judson Allen Papers Date Span: 1924 – 1980 Abstract: Southern Baptist pastor, denominational leader, and Sunday School Board Executive. Graduate of Furman University and the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (Th.M. and Ph.D). Served as pastor to churches in Kentucky and North Carolina. In 1937 he began his service as asssociate editor at Sunday School Board of the Southern Baptist Convention and served in this position until his retirement in 1968. He also served as the Recording Secretary of the SBC. The papers cover his service as pastor, his work with the Board and his activities as recording secretary of the SBC. The collection includes sermons, extensive correspondence, administrative files, articles and writings, family information, biographical data, theological subject files, Baptist World Alliance material, information on Bible conferences, Bible notes, material related to the Broadman Bible Commentary, Sunday School curriculum information, subject files, criticisms of Board literature, denominational calendar committee files, foreign missions material, seminary class notes, international correspondence with theologians and Baptist leaders. Also includes information on the Interagency Council, International Council of Religious Education, Missionary Education Council, Life and Work curriculum, Hight C. Moore, National Council of Churches, race relations, Crusade for Christian Morality, Revised Standard Version of the Bible, and Tennessee and North Carolina churches. Size: 88 linear ft. Collection #: AR 795 – 221 Biographical Sketch Clifton Judson Allen was born November 7, 1901 in a small farming community in Latta, Dillon County, South Carolina. He was the last of seven children of William Benjamin Allen, a farmer, and Theodisia (Cox) Allen, a housewife. He attended local grammar schools and graduated from Oalcho High School in 1919. He graduated from Furman University with a B.A. degree in 1923, from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary with the Th.M. degree in 1928, followed by the Ph.D. degree in 1932. Allen was converted and baptized at the Catfish Creek Baptist Church in the Pee Dee Association and ordained by them in 1926. From 1923 – 1926, he was principal of Minturn High School in his hometown of Latta, South Carolina, and from 1928 – 1931, he was a tutor in the department of Greek New Testament at the seminary. From 1926 – 1937, he was pastor of the McHenry Baptist Church, McHenry, Kentucky; Utica Baptist Church, Utica, Kentucky; First Baptist Church Fairmont, North Carolina; and the Western Avenue Baptist Church, Statesville, North Carolina. 3 In mid 1937, Allen accepted a position as associate editorial secretary at the Baptist Sunday School Board in Nashville, Tennessee, where he served for 31 years until his retirement in 1968. Here he made the most significant contribution of his career to the cause of Sunday Schools and religious education. The Editorial Department, as it was called then, was responsible for preparing a style manual, which dictated the editorial style of all Board publications; securing copyrights on the Board's printed materials and giving permission for their republication and use in other publications; and serving as editor for special projects like encyclopedias and commentaries and interpreting the Board's ministry of Bible teaching and Christian education. In 1945, he was elected editorial secretary, following in the footsteps of Hight C Moore and W. R. White, both able denominational statesmen. In these years, his ministry expanded to include a weekly radio program on WSM, teaching the Sunday School lesson, and writing and editing, for more than 20 years, Points for Emphasis. In the final ten years with the Board, he made several trips abroad, visiting sixteen countries with Southern Baptist career missionaries and others, speaking, teaching and promoting the cause of Sunday Schools and religious education. He also found time to represent the Board on the Uniform Lessons Series committee, Commission on Teaching, and Baptist World Alliance, as well as serving the Southern Baptist Convention as recording secretary. Allen wrote several books and contributed scores of articles to Baptist and other periodicals. After his retirement from the Baptist Sunday School Board, Allen returned to live in Winston – Salem, North Carolina and serve as adjunct professor at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. In 1981, his beloved wife, Hattie Bell (McCracken) Allen, died. In 1982, he married Mrs. Rosiland Sheppard Street, widow of a successful pastor. In 1985, he witnessed the declining health and death of his first - born son and namesake, Judson Boyce Allen. Clifton J. Allen died of cancer in Winston - Salem, North Carolina on May 5, 1986 at the age of 84. He was survived by his second wife, a daughter and son, and seven grandchildren. His funeral was conducted at First Baptist Church, Nashville, Tennessee where he held membership for forty years. Burial was in Woodlawn Memorial Gardens in Nashville. Scope and Content Notes The Clifton Judson Allen Papers is an extensive collection of personal and work – related papers from the early 1920’s to shortly before the time of his death. The papers begin when he was principal of a small school and continue through his education, at Furman University and the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and his illustrious career until his retirement years in Winston – Salem, North Carolina. They contain information about his early pastorates beginning with the church at McHenry, Kentucky through Fairmont and Western Avenue in North Carolina. His papers expand with his writing in the 1930’s for publications for the Sunday School Board in Nashville, his eventual employment by the Board in 1937, his elevation to editorial secretary in 1945, and his retirement in 1968. Also included, while he was with the Baptist Convention, are his work with the Baptist World Alliance, his work on the Committee for Uniform Lessons, and his world travels. Several series are contained in Allen’s papers: some materials from the collection of Hight C Moore, Allen’s predecessor as editorial secretary, and some materials from Dr. Gaines Stanley Dobbins papers, his predecessor in the Bible Teaching and Training Committee of the Baptist World Alliance. Additionally, there are materials related to the early reference by the Sunday School Board of the Revised Standard Version of the scriptures, the “Becoming Incident”, the Ralph Elliott controversy over The Message of Genesis, and his work with The Encyclopedia of 4 Southern Baptists. The collection contains personal and work – related correspondence and official papers, minutes of various associations and work group meetings, newspaper and periodical clippings, and seven and one – half linear feet of commentary on the scriptures, mostly written as lesson development, representing every book in the Old and New Testaments, except Jude. Prominent persons whose correspondence or other materials are contained or referenced in the collection are: J. McKee Adams, Theodore F. Adams, Judson Boyce Allen, O. K. and Marjorie Moore Armstrong, C. E. Autrey, Robert A. Baker, Henley H. Barnett, Jasper N. Barnett, Bruce Barton, Carl E. Bates, George R. Beasley – Murray, A. Donald Bell, Harold C. Bennett, Millard J. Berquest, Ollin T. Binkley, Sir Cyril Black, Bobby Bowden, Claude B. Bowen, Raybun L. Brantley, Robert Bratcher, Claude U. Broach, Joe W. Burton, George W. Card, Alfred W. Carpenter, James Earl “Jimmy” Carter, William Owen Carver, R. Paul Caudill, Baker James Cauthen, Kenneth L. Chaffin, John R. Claypool, Russell Colgate, Charles Colson, Owen Cooper, Norman W. Cox, Alfred Leland Crabbe, Winston J. Crawley, Willie Amos Criswell, Austin Crouch, John Marvin Crowe, and George W. Cummins. Additional personalities include: Chauncey R. Daley, W. Hersey Davis, G. Henton Davies, J. M. Dawson, Russell H. Dilday, Jr., J. E. Dillard, A. C. Dixon, Gaines Stanley Dobbins, Edwin B. Dozier, John M. Drakeford, Jimmy Draper, James M. Dunn, John Eddins, H. Leo Eddleman, L. R. Elliott, Ralph H. Elliott, Sam J. Ervin, Jr., William R. Estep, William J. Fallis, Milton Ferguson, Wilbur C. Fields, Ben Fisher, David Fite, Jesse C. Fletcher, Jesse Hill Ford, Clyde Taylor Francisco, Ellis Adams Fuller, James Burton Gambrell, James Leo Garrett, Maxfield Garrott, Allen W. Graves, James Leo Green, Joseph F. Green, Jr., J. D. Gray, Homer Lamar Grice, James Herrick Hall, Edgar F. Hallock, Billy James Hargis, Phillip B. Harris, Robert J. Hastings, D. Swan Hayworth, Brooks Hays, Joe Davis Heacock, Forrest H. Heeren, Jesse Helms, Garland D. Hendricks, William L. Hendricks, Milton S. Hershey, W. Bryant Hicks, John L. Hill, Leonard Hill, Samuel L. Hill, Edward Glenn Hinson, Herschel H. Hobbs, Thomas Luther Holcomb, William K. Holman, Roy L. Honeycutt, John C. Howell, Nolan P. Howington, William L. Howse, R. Lofton Hudson, J. D. Hughey and Cordell Hull. Other persons included are: Harold Ingraham, James F. Jarman, W. Maxey Jarman, C. Oscar Johnson, G. Kearney Keegan, W. Fred Kendall, J. Hardee Kennedy, Herman L. King, Jere Lambdin, Frank H. Leavell, Roland Q. Leavell, Ullin W. Leavell, E. E. “Hot Dog” Lee, G. Avery Lee, R. G. Lee, Bill Leonard, Gomer R. Lesch, William L. Lumpkin, John Lewis, W. Randall Lolley, Leon McBeth, Duke Kimbrough McCall, Albert McClellan, Reginald M. McDonough, Edward A. McDowell, Gaye L. McGlothlen, Benjamin Bayless McKinney, Charles E. Maddrey, J. Cordell Maddux, T. B. Maston, C. E. Matthews, Frank K. Means, Robert L. Middleton, Dale Moody, Hight C Moore, Merrill D. Moore, William Hardy Morton, William Mueller, Edgar Young Mullins, Robert E. Naylor, John P. Newport, Wayne Edward Oates, Franklin W. Owen, G. Keith Parker, Henry Franklin Paschall, Frank W. Patterson, Heber F. Peacock, Jr. Winston Pearce, Hugh R. Peterson, Harry M. Piland, Bill Pinson, W. F. Powell, James Milburn Price, J. Percy Priest, Robert H. Proctor and Edwin Hughes Pruden. Additional persons are: M. Theron Rankin, Howard M. Reaves, George W. Redding, William J.