Charles Marvin Allen, Junior, was born to Charles M. Allen and Emma Covington Allen on July 31, 1918, in Mt. Gilead, Montgomery County, N.C. He attended Mt. Gilead public schools and Wake Forest College (1939). He was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Omicron Delta Kappa, and Sigma Xi. Allen received a master's degree (1941) from Wake Forest as well, and a doctorate in education from Duke University (1955). He joined the Wake Forest College faculty almost immediately on graduation, working as a teaching fellow during his master's coursework in 1939 and becoming a biology professor in 1941.
In October 1940, Allen enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Force as a Photo Officer with the 10th Photo Reconnaissance Group. The 10th Photo Group was responsible for supplying the United States and its allies with pre-invasion surveillance photos of German troops and defenses in France, Belgium, Holland, and Germany. Allen worked on aerial reconnaissance in the lead-up to the D-Day invasion on June 6, 1944.
At the end of the war, Allen returned to Wake Forest, where he spent the remainder of his career as a biology professor and patron of the arts, both at WFU and in Winston Salem. Allen served as Director of the WFU Artist Series (1958-1976) - later known as the Secrest Series - and also held positions on the boards of a number of local and national arts organizations. He was President of the NC Academy of Science and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
He received the University's highest honor, the Medallion of Merit, in 1976, and the Jon Reinhardt Award for Distinguished Teaching in ; in 2001, the Charles M. Allen Professorship in Biology was established to honor him. Allen was also interested in the campus design and students' lives on campus. He supervised the design and construction of Winston Hall and Scales Fine Arts Center, and oversaw the renovation of Wait Chapel and Reynolda Village while working on campus.
Allen retired from Wake Forest in 1989. He was married to Clara David Allen for 62 years. He passed away on August 30, 2005. Following Clara Allen's death in 2017, Allen's extensive collection of WWII photographs was donated to the State Archives of North Carolina in Raleigh, N.C.
Sources:
This collection contains personal and professional materials from Charles M. Allen. Materials in this collection include: biographical materials, diplomas, campus and family photographs, news clippings, scrapbooks, Scales construction materials, and programs and other materials related to the Artists Series. The collection also contains his mortarboard and tassel.
Charles M. Allen, Jr., Papers (MS692), Z. Smith Reynolds Library Special Collections and Archives, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC, USA.
Collection is open for use
The nature of the WFU Z. Smith Reynolds Library Special Collections and Archives means that copyright or other information about restrictions may be difficult or even impossible to determine despite reasonable efforts. The Archives and Special Collections of ZSR Library claims only physical ownership of most materials. The materials from our collections are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study, pursuant to the U.S. Copyright Law. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Any materials used for academic research or otherwise should be fully credited with the source.
The State Archives of N.C. holds the Charles M. Allen Jr. Papers (WWII 141). This collection contains letters, particularly to his fiancée and later wife Clara David Allen, photographs, aerial photographs, military service records, and other materials documenting his life before military service (1942-1945). See Charles M. Allen Jr. Papers, WWII 141, World War II Papers, Military Collection, State Archives of North Carolina, Raleigh, N.C.
The State Archives currently provides access to Allen's photographs online as well.