Inventory of the Hodding Carter Papers, 1950s-2000s

Collection Number 5314


Manuscripts Department, University Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Collection Information
Descriptive Summary
Administrative Information
Online Catalog Headings
Biographical Note
Collection Overview
Contact Information:
Manuscripts Department
CB#3926, Wilson Library
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC 27514-8890
Phone: 919/962-1345
Fax: 919/962-3594
Email: mss@email.unc.edu
URL: http://www.lib.unc.edu/mss/
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Descriptive Summary

Repository
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.
Creator
Carter, Hodding.
Title
Hodding Carter Papers, 1950s-2000s
Call Number
5314
Language of Materials
Materials in English
Extent
Items: About 18,000
Linear Feet: 27.0
Abstract
Hodding Carter III was born in New Orleans, La., on 7 April 1935 to journalist and publisher Hodding Carter II and Betty Werlein. He grew up in Greenville, Miss., and graduated from Princeton University in 1957. Carter served in the United States Marine Corps after college and then began working at the Delta Democrat-Times as a reporter, then managing editor, and finally associate publisher. Carter was co-chair of the delegation that ousted Mississippi's white Democratic Party delegation at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in 1968. He participated in Lyndon Johnson and Jimmy Carter's presidential campaigns and was named Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs and State Department spokesman during the Jimmy Carter administration. In the 1980s and early 1990s, Carter worked in various capacities for public affairs television shows and was a frequent contributor to newspapers and magazines. From 1995 to 1997, Carter taught journalism at the University of Maryland. He became president of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation in 1998. In January 2006, Carter became the University Professor of Leadership and Public Policy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Carter married Patricia Derian, Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights under President Jimmy Carter, in 1978.
The collection primarily includes Carter's personal and professional correspondence. There are materials relating to the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party and materials relating to the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation as well as datebooks, clippings, and other items. Topics include human rights, civil rights, race relations, politics, the Democratic Party, community activism, and other issues.

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Administrative Information

Restrictions to Access
RESTRICTED: This collection is closed to research until 15 February 2011.
Acquisitions Information
Received from Hodding Carter of Chapel Hill, N.C., in February 2007 (Acc. 100600).
Processing Information
Processed by: Jessica Sedgwick and Jackie Dean, February 2007
Encoded by: Jackie Dean, February 2007
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], in the Hodding Carter Papers #5314, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Copyright Notice
Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
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Online Catalog Headings

These and related materials may be found under the following headings in online catalogs.

African Americans--Civil rights--United States.
Carter, Hodding.
Carter, Jimmy, 1924-
Civil rights movements.
Civil rights--Mississippi.
Civil rights--United States.
Community organization.
Democratic Party (Miss.)
Editors--United States.
Greenville (Miss.)--Social life and customs.
Human rights--United States.
Johnson, Lyndon B. (Lyndon Baines), 1908-1973.
Journalists--United States.
Knight Foundation.
Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party.
Mississippi--Race relations.
Politicians--United States.
Presidents--United States.
Presidents--United States--Election--1964.
Presidents--United States--Election--1976.
Race relations.
United States--Politics and government--20th century.
United States--Politics and government--21st century.
United States--Race relations.
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill--Faculty--History--21st century.
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Biographical Note

Hodding Carter III was born in New Orleans, La., on 7 April 1935 to journalist and publisher Hodding Carter II and Betty Werlein. He grew up in Greenville, Miss., and graduated from Princeton University in 1957. Carter served in the United States Marine Corps after college and then began working at the Delta Democrat-Times as a reporter, then managing editor, and finally associate publisher. Carter was co-chair of the delegation that ousted Mississippi's white regular Democratic Party delegation at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in 1968. He worked in Lyndon Johnson’s presidential campaign in Washington in 1964 and Jimmy Carter’s campaign in Atlanta in 1976. He served as Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs and State Department spokesman during the Jimmy Carter administration.

In l980, Carter began working in television. He served as host, anchor, panelist, correspondent, and reporter for public affairs television shows on PBS, ABC, CBS, BBC, and CNN. From 1981 to 1994, he was a regular panelist on This Week with David Brinkley. He also was an op-ed columnist for the Wall Street Journal and a frequent contributor to magazines and newspapers across the country.

From 1995 to 1997, Carter held the post of Knight Professor of Public Affairs Journalism at the University of Maryland, College Park. In 1998, he was named president of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. In January 2006, Carter became University Professor of Leadership and Public Policy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Carter married Patricia M. Derian in 1978. Derian was Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights under President Jimmy Carter. Carter and Derian's family includes seven children and twelve grandchildren.

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Collection Overview

Papers of Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs in the Jimmy Carter administration, journalist, and university professor Hodding Carter primarily contain Carter's personal and professional correspondence. There are materials relating to the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party and materials relating to the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation as well as datebooks, clippings, and other items. Topics include human rights, civil rights, race relations, politics, the Democratic Party, community activism, and other issues.

Detailed Description of the Collection

Papers, 1950s-2000s.
About 20,000 items.
Processing Note: Please note that dates listed in the container list below are approximate.
Box 1
Correspondence, 1950s
Inscription on box: "HC's School Letters"
Box 2
Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party materials, 1967-1974: Correspondence, clippings, campaign materials, printed items
Box 3-4
Correspondence, 1960s-1990s
Inscription on box: "Old Correspondence"
Box 5
Correspondence and other materials, 1960s
Box 6-7
Correspondence, 1979
Box 8-9
Clippings, small amount of correspondence, 1979-1980
Box 10
Correspondence, 1980-1991
Box 11
Correspondence, 1981-1982
Box 12
Correspondence, 1980s
Inscription on box: "Ear Poem" and "50th birthday"
Box 13-15
Correspondence, 1980s
Box 16
Correspondence, 1990s
Box 17
Correspondence, 1998-2003
Inscription on box: "Personal correspondence and congratulatory"
Box 18
Knight Foundation materials
Box 19
Datebooks, notes, drafts, and other papers
Box 20-21
Newspaper columns, photocopies
Box 22-24
Newspapers, brochures

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