Records of York Young Friends

Record book, 1954-1965 (1 vol.) [J 15.1]; Accounts, 1963-1965 (1 bundle) [J 15.5]; Papers, 1956-1968 (1 bundle) [J 15.9]

The origins of the York Young Friends Group lie in the concern expressed in 1916 by William Kay of the Oversight Committee that young Friends be given more responsibility within the Meeting and form their own groups. A Younger Members' Committee was set up to foster social activities. The first such group met mainly in New Earswick. It held discussions and study circles, as well as organising cycle rides, camps and tramps, undertaking youth work and distributing peace literature. A recreation room was also opened in the Clifford Street Meeting House in 1923. In 1945, a Young Friends Group was formed in New Earswick to cater for those who were too old for Sunday school and too young for meeting for worship. This was a debating forum for current affairs and was active until at least 1965.

The records are numbered and arranged according to the system used when they were in Clifford Street Meeting House

The conditions of deposit include a clause requiring written prior permission from a Friend Custodian for access to consult current legal documents and any material less than fifty years old

The collection of archives of the Society of Friends formerly held at the Friends Meeting House in Clifford Street, York

In English

Contents listed in Handlist 75, "Inventory of the records of Yorkshire General Meeting and York and Thirsk Monthly Meetings of the Society of Friends formerly preserved at the Friends' Meeting House, Clifford Street, York" (1986)

As with access, the photocopying of current legal documents and any material less than fifty years old requires the permission of a Friend Custodian

Related material in Leeds University Library: Records of York and New Earswick Preparative Meetings

S. Allott, York Friends: the Quaker story in the life of a Meeting (Sessions, 1978), pp.105-106; D. Rubinstein and O. O'Toole, Faithful to ourselves and the outside world: York Quakers during the 20th century (Sessions, 2001), pp. 14, 61, 95, 121

The records are deposited and remain the property of the Society of Friends