Manuscripts Department
Library of the University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill
SOUTHERN HISTORICAL COLLECTION
#4771
CARL HAMILTON PEGG PAPERS
Inventory
Abstract: Carl Hamilton Pegg was born in Deep River
Township, Guilford County, N.C. He received his Ph.D.
from the University of North Carolina in European
history and government in 1929. In 1930, he joined
the UNC History Department faculty and remained there
until his retirement in 1975, during which time he
developed a syllabus for the General College's
freshman interdisciplinary course and 20th-century
European, Russian, Eastern European, and Far Eastern
history courses. He also assisted in strengthening
the History Department's graduate program.
Correspondence and related items, 1931-1983 and
undated, including letters exchanged with historians
Charles S. Sydnor, Chester Penn Higby, and David C. R.
Heisser; letters relating to Pegg's History Department
work and publications; and a few family letters,
including some relating to Pegg's marriage to Eleanor
Smith. There are also some miscellaneous financial
items, copies of Pegg's writings, genealogical
writings about the Pegg family, and photographs of
Pegg and his wife.
Online Catalog Terms:
Heisser, David C. R.
Higby, Chester Penn, 1885- .
Historians--North Carolina--History--20th century.
History--Study and teaching--North Carolina.
Pegg, Carl H. (Carl Hamilton), 1905- .
Pegg, Eleanor Smith.
Pegg family.
Sydnor, Charles S. (Charles Sackett), 1898- .
University of North Carolina (1793-1962). Dept of History.
University of North Carolina (1793-1962)--Faculty--History--
20th century.
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dept of History.
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill--Faculty--History
--20th century.
Size: About 200 items (0.5 linear feet).
Provenance: Received from Eleanor S. Pegg of Chapel Hill,
N.C., in August 1995 (Acc. 95113).
Access: No restrictions.
Copyright: Retained by the authors of items in these papers, or
their descendants, as stipulated by United States
copyright law.
Table of Contents:
Biographical Note
Description
Shelf List
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
Carl Hamilton Pegg was born on 13 April 1905 in a farmhouse
near the center of Deep River Township, Guilford County, N.C. He
attended Millwood Common School from age six to twelve, skipped
three years and then spent two years in prep school. He entered
the University of North Carolina in 1923, completing work for a
Ph.D. in European history and government in 1929.
Pegg taught at the University of Mississippi in fall and
spring 1929-1930, during which time he lived in a boarding house
adjacent to the William Faulkner home. He remembered seeing
William and his father, who was bursar of the University,
frequently and recalled playing ball with William in the late
afternoons and teaching William's brother. Pegg spent the summer
1930 studying and traveling in Europe.
Pegg joined the UNC History Department faculty in 1930 and
remained there until his retirement in 1975. In 1934-1935, he
developed a syllabus for the General College's freshman
interdisciplinary course. The widely diverse bibliographic needs
of the new course prompted the University Librarian to set aside
a large reading room for General College students. By the mid-
1940s, the room had evolved into the social sciences reading
room, stocked with over 50,000 volumes and heavily used by all
undergraduates. This collection was eventually housed in its own
building as the Undergraduate Library.
Beginning in the late 1930s, Pegg developed 20th-century
European, Russian, Eastern European, and Far Eastern history
courses, and assisted in strengthening the History Department's
graduate program. He was chair of the Department from 1960 to
1965 and directed over 50 M.A. theses and 35 Ph.D. dissertations.
Pegg helped found the Southern Historical Association in the
1930s and spoke at its first meeting in 1935. He also helped
organize the European section within the Association and served
as its chair in the late 1950s.
Pegg's chief teaching and writing focus was 20th-century
Europe. Among Pegg's major publications were American Society
and the Changing World (with L. M. Brooks and others, 1947);
Contemporary Europe in World Focus (1956); and Evolution of the
European Idea, 1914-1932 (1983). After retirement, he compiled
and published History and Historians in the University of North
Carolina, 1795-1950 (1990). He was also well published in
historical journals both in Europe and in the United States.
Pegg was an ardent conservationist. He and his wife Eleanor
owned and cared for several forested tracts in Orange and Chatham
counties, N.C.
[Adapted in part from an autobiographical essay that Carl Pegg
wrote sometime after 1983.]
DESCRIPTION
Correspondence, financial materials, writings, genealogical
materials, and other items relating to Carl Hamilton Pegg.
Correspondence and related items, 1931-1983 and
undated: Letters beginning in the 1930s include
those exchanged with colleagues, particularly
Charles S. Sydnor at the University of
Mississippi, Chester Penn Higby at the University
of Wisconsin, and, David Heisser at Appalachian
State University. Some correspondence relates to
Pegg's History Department work, including a few
letters in the 1930s about establishing the
General College's library. Other letters relate
to Pegg's publications. There are also a few
letters from Pegg's brother Fred, first in medical
school in Virginia in the 1930s and then as a
doctor in Winston-Salem, N.C.; letters in the mid-
1930s relating to Pegg's marriage; and letters and
other items in the 1970s, about settling Pegg's
brother's estate and establishing the Herbert Dale
Pegg and Mayme Kate Carter Pegg Scholarships at
UNC-CH. About 150 items.
Folder 1 1931-1933
2 1934-1972
3 1973-1974
4 1975
5 1976-1983 and undated
Folder 6 Financial materials, 1930s-1940s: Miscellaneous
bills, insurance policies, items relating to
taxes, etc. About 35 items.
Folder 7 Writings by Pegg: Biographical materials and a
few printed articles and reviews. About 10 items.
Folder 8 Genealogical materials: Genealogical writings by
other members of the Pegg family. 3 items.
Photographs:
P-4771/1 Pegg, Carl H.
P-4771/2 Pegg, Eleanor
P-4771/3 Unidentified woman
SHELF LIST
Box 1
Items separated:
P-4771/1-3