Eugene Turner China-related correspondence

Collection — Box: 1

Identifier: Y.USA.78

Staff Only

Eugene Turner China Related Correspondence, undated, 1935 (Box 1, Folder 1)

SCOPE AND CONTENTS OF THE COLLECTION

Correspondence, primarily with Madame Chiang Kai-Shek (Mayling Soong Chiang) concerning reports about and perceptions of the political situation in China, as well as related correspondence with other YMCA colleagues S.C. Leung and Sherwood Eddy.

Dates

undated and 1935

Creator

Turner, Eugene Alfred (Person)
Chiang, May-ling Soong, 1897-2003 (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

Open for use in the Elmer L. Andersen Library reading room.

Conditions Governing Use

This collection may be protected by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U.S. Code). It is the user's responsibility to verify copyright ownership and to obtain all necessary permissions prior to the reproduction, publication, or other use of any portion of these materials. Researchers may quote from the collection under the fair use provision of the copyright law.

BIOGRAPHY OF EUGENE A. TURNER

Eugene Alfred Turner was born January 22, 1884 in Boyboro, North Carolina. He had completed a Bachelor's Degree, Master's Degree, and Law Degree at Wake Forest College by 1906. After a year of teaching at a preparatory school, Turner became YMCA Secretary at the Georgia School of Technology. In 1913 he went to China as a YMCA Student Secretary in Hangchow (Hangzhou). According to a biographical sketch, Turner "built up a YMCA which, in a short time, enlisted the support of government officials and the literati. He also helped to train an efficient staff of Chinese to whom he relinquished the executive work, remaining as an advisor. He organized, coached and conducted the first inter-scholastic football league ever attempted in Hangchow. Other activities were pioneered: debates, oratorical contests, essay contests, etc. He organized Bible study groups among the students." After a furlough, Turner returned to China in 1928 and was sent to Wuchang and served as YMCA General Secretary. He later served in Nanchang, home of the New Life Movement and had personal contact with General and Madame Chiang Kai-shek. Turner was a leader in the Christian Rehabilitation Center in Jiangxi (Kiangsi) Province, which was involved in the rehabilitation of districts previously held by Communist forces. In 1942 he went to India to render YMCA services to the Chinese troops stationed at the allied center in Ramgarh. In 1945 and 1946 he helped the YMCAs in China during the early period of their reconstruction after the war. In 1946 he returned home and for a time served as the YMCA's Personnel Secretary. He retired in 1949. Turner was married to Mary Effie Lee Turner and was the father of Frank Turner and Eugene Alfred Turner, Jr., who was also involved in YMCA work. Turner passed away in Tyron, North Carolina in December, 1959.

[Biographical information from the YMCA Biographical Files, Kautz Family YMCA Archives and from the Eugene A. Turner Papers finding aid, by Martha Lund Smalley, Yale University Divinity School Library]