Restrictions to Access

Useable, but much material remains in original envelopes and folders.

This collection contains additional materials that are not processed and are currently not available to researchers. For information about access to these materials, contact Research and Instructional Services staff. Please be advised that preparing unprocessed materials for access can be a lengthy process.

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 William Carroll Lassiter Papers #4485, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Received from the School of Journalism, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, in July 1987, and from Willam C. Lassiter of Raleigh, N.C., in August 1987 and June and July 1989.

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.

• Lassiter, William Carroll, 1909-
• Lawyers--North Carolina--History--20th century.
• Libel and slander--North Carolina.
• Lobbying--North Carolina.
• North Carolina Press Association.
• Press law--North Carolina.
• Privacy, Right of--North Carolina.
• Public meetings--Law and legislation--North Carolina.
• Public records--Law and legislation--North Carolina.
• Soldiers--United States--Correspondence.
• United States. Army--Military life--History--20th century.
• World War, 1939-1945--United States.

William Carroll Lassiter was born in Smithfield, N.C., on 5 March 1909. His father, Thomas James Lassiter, was an editor and co-owner of the Smithfield Herald, half ownership of which upon his sudden death was actively retained by his widow, Rena Bingham Lassiter. William's mother was joined in the family business in 1934 by his younger brother, Thomas James Lassiter Jr., who eventually became primary owner (with William and his mother owning smaller percentages) of the paper, as well as its publisher and editor.

William Lassiter attended Smithfield public schools, and graduated from Duke University with an AB degree in 1930; he remained at the Duke to earn his law degree in 1933. In that same year, he commenced the practice of law in Raleigh, N.C., with Willis Smith and I.M. Bailey.

In 1938, Lassiter became general counsel and chief lobbyist to the state legislature for the North Carolina Press Association, of which his father and brother had, at various times, served as president. In his service as lobbyist, Lassiter was influential in fashioning North Carolina's open meeting law, while his reputation as a libel lawyer, his many published articles, and his outspokenness on issues regarding the First Amendment garnered him national recognition as the state's preeminent authority on newspaper law. Lassiter left lobbying in 1979, but continued to advise the North Carolina Press Association and its member newspapers on legal matters until 1984, even doing so in an unofficial capacity after that date.

The collection includes lawyer William Carroll Lassiter's files relating chiefly to legal cases and to newspaper law; correspondence, notes, and other material relating to lobbying the North Carolina General Assembly; published materials; and other items. Case files contain court papers of many types concerning libel, privacy rights, enforcement of the North Carolina Open Meetings statute, access to public records, and judicial gag orders. Materials relating to Willaim Carroll Lassiter's service in World War II also are included.