The Manuscripts Department started with the vision and persistence of Professor J. G. de Roulhac Hamilton, who believed that history had neglected the South. Blaming a lack of primary sources available to historians, he began a door-to-door campaign across the Carolinas and the Gulf South to salvage manuscripts from attics and basements.

Throughout the 1920s, Hamilton traveled extensively, promoting his vision of a permanent home for the South's historical artifacts. He ran advertisements in local newspapers, made speeches, distributed brochures, and solicited members of his extended family as well as the members of organizations such as the Daughters of the Confederacy. His aggressive collecting earned him the reputation of a carpetbagger and the nickname "Ransack Roulhac" [rOO-lok].

As a result of Hamilton's efforts, the Southern Historical Collection was founded, and he was named its first Director on January 14, 1930. By his retirement in 1951, he had amassed over two million manuscript items nearly single-handedly. Today, the Southern Historical Collection continues to grow and is now a part of the Manuscripts Department along with University Archives and the Southern Folklife Collection.