Restrictions to Access

No restrictions. Open for research.

Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the J. S. Dorton Papers on the Proposed Collection of War Products Exhibit #5353, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Received from Mary Alice Dorton of Chapel Hill, N.C., in 2007 (Acc. 100760).

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

• Cherry, Robert Gregg, 1891-1957.
• Dorton, J. S.
• North Carolina--Officials and employees.
• North Carolina--Politics and government--1865-1950.
• North Carolina. War Manpower Commission.
• Scott, William Kerr, 1896-1958.
• World War, 1939-1945--North Carolina.
• World War, 1939-1945--War work--North Carolina.

J. S. Dorton was a long-time manager of the North Carolina State Fair, named to the post in 1937 by North Carolina Commissioner of Agriculture W. Kerr Scott. During World War II, when the State Fair was closed, Dorton served as the director of the War Manpower Commission. In that capacity, he was instrumental in planning an exhibit, to be permanently housed in Raleigh, N.C., of representative samples of everything manufactured, produced, or processed in North Carolina as a testimonial of North Carolina's civilian contribution to war effort. The display was meant to serve as a testimonial to North Carolina's civilian contribution to World War II.

The collection consists of papers relating to North Carolina War Manpower Commission Director J. S. Dorton's proposed exhibit of a collection of war products manufactured and processed in North Carolina during World War II. Besides the formal proposal, there is correspondence between Dorton and other state officials, including North Carolina Governor Gregg Cherry and Commissioner of Agriculture W. Kerr Scott, and between Dorton and contributing individuals and corporations from across the state. There are also official endorsements of the proposal, information about related local exhibits, and other items.