Fonds reflects Dr. Young’s career as an academic historian. In that role, he taught and lectured as a professor, both at the University of Winnipeg, as well as academic conferences or lecture series. He published a breadth of scholarly literature and research, and served to review the drafts of his peers for publication. He also involved himself in administrative, educational, and community issues at the University of Winnipeg. For his outstanding teaching and research, he also received a number of awards both from the University of Winnipeg and beyond. Fonds includes records produced by all of these activities. Dr. Young’s specialty as an academic historian was Interwar French History, and 20th Century European History more broadly. The majority of his teaching, research, and writing focused on this topic. Fonds also includes correspondence – written or email – with a wide variety of present and former students, fellow scholars and professors, University administrators, editors, politicians, archivists, and other individuals. To a lesser degree, the fonds also documents Dr. Young’s early life and education prior to his hiring by the University of Winnipeg in 1967, and the continuation of his career after retirement in 2008.

Fonds is arranged in seven series that represent different facets of Dr. Young’s career. The first, University Career, represents Dr. Young’s involvement with the University of Winnipeg through activism on University issues, service on committees, awards he received for his work as a professor, and administrative documentation such as his annual activity reports or his curriculum vitae. It also contains some of his coursework from his undergraduate and graduate programs. The second, Books, is related to his published monographs - primarily in terms of their editing, publication, and promotion, but also their usage in Dr. Young's class assignments. The third, Teaching, contains teaching material from his various courses, several extracurricular lectures he gave, and correspondence with former students. The fourth, Scholarly Pursuit, contains records from his published scholarly articles, book chapters, participation in academic conferences, and book reviews written by him or about his work. The fifth is Scholarly Correspondence and contains the exchanges, by print or email, he carried on with other individuals or institutions related to his ongoing research on France in the Interwar Period and other European history. The sixth is UW Institutional, which documents Dr. Young’s involvement with University programs (such as the European Studies Group). And finally, the seventh, Artifacts, contains some of his academic diplomas, his bound PhD and Masters theses, video and audio recordings of his lectures, and albums and scrapbooks commemorating aspects of his life and career.