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This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held in the Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in our reading room, and not digitally available through the World Wide Web. See the FAQ section for more information.
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Collection Overview
| Size | 49.5 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 38,000 items) |
| Abstract | Arthur Franklin Raper (1899-1979) was a rural sociologist, civil rights activist, and social science analyst both in the United States and in other countries. Born in Davidson County, N.C., Raper's early career focused on analysis of rural problems and racial discrimination in the South. In 1940, he began his 22-year career as a social scientist and research analyst for several federal government agencies. After World War II, he became involved with problems of rural development on a global scale, studying conditions in Japan, Taiwan, other Asian countries, and in North Africa and the Middle East. In 1962, he went to Comilla, Pakistan, as senior advisor to the Pakistan Academy for Rural Development. He returned to the United States in 1964 and was a visiting professor at Michigan State University until his retirement in 1967. Papers document Arthur Franklin Raper's work for the Commission on Interracial Cooperation, 1926-1939; the Southern Commission on the Study of Lynching, 1930-1931; the Carnegie-Myrdal Study of the American Negro, 1939-1940; the United States Department of Agriculture's Bureau of Agricultural Economics, 1940-1952; the United States Foreign Operations Administration and the United States International Cooperation Administration, 1952-1962; and the Pakistan Academy for Rural Development, 1962-1964. Of special interest are data on counties and towns throughout the South, compiled for the Carnegie-Myrdal Study of the American Negro, and photographs by Jack Delano, Dorothea Lange, and others documenting the rural South during the Depression. There is much information about aiding and implementing postwar development programs in foreign countries, including Japan, Taiwan, other Asian countries, North Africa, and the Middle East. The papers include Raper's correspondence and private reflections; correspondence concerning the ten books and dozens of articles he published; extensive genealogical and biographical information and family letters and other materials; clippings; photographs; slide sets; audiotapes; and videotapes. |
| Creator | Raper, Arthur Franklin, 1899-1979. |
| Language | English |
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Information For Users
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Subject Headings
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.
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Biographical
Information
Arthur Franklin Raper (1899-1979) attended both the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill and Vanderbilt University. The early years of Raper's career were devoted to an analysis of rural problems and racial discrimination in Depression-era South. He was an activist who delivered speeches and gathered data as he worked to alleviate rural poverty and for the social and legal equality of African Americans. In 1940, Raper began his 22-year career as a social scientist and research analyst for several federal government agencies. His concern for southern agricultural reform continued, but after World War II, he became involved with problems of rural development on a global scale. He studied conditions in Japan, Taiwan, and several other countries in Asia, North Africa, and the Middle East. During these years, Raper continued the activism that had characterized his earlier career. In 1962, he became senior advisor to the Pakistan Academy for Rural Development. He returned to America two years later, and was a visiting professor at Michigan State University until he retired in 1967. Between the time of his retirement and his death in 1979, Raper maintained an active interest in the worldwide struggle against social and political injustice.
Personal:
| 1899 | Born on 8 November in Davidson County, N.C., the third son of William Franklin and Julia Selina Crouse Raper. |
| 1929 | Married Martha E. Jarrell of Atlanta, Ga., on 12 June. |
| 1930 | Birth of first son, Charles F., on 5 May. |
| 1932 | Birth of second son, Harrison C. (Roper), on 10 May. |
| 1934 | Birth of third son, A. Jarrell, on 24 March. |
| 1937 | Birth of daughter, J. Margaret (Hummon), on 21 November. |
| 1979 | Died in Oakton, Va., on 10 August. |
Education:
| 1924 | Received A.B., University of North Carolina. |
| 1925 | Received M.A. in sociology and political science, Vanderbilt University. |
| 1931 | Received Ph.D. in sociology and rural economics, University of North Carolina. |
Positions Held:
| 1925-1926 | Research Assistant for the Institute for Research in Social Science, University of North Carolina. |
| 1926-1939 | Research Secretary for the Commission on Interracial Cooperation, Atlanta, Ga. |
| 1930-1931 | Member of the Southern Commission on the Study of Lynching. |
| 1932-1939 | Part-time professor of sociology at Agnes Scott College, Decatur, Ga. |
| 1938-1940 | Executive Secretary of the Council on a Christian Social Order. |
| 1939-1940 | Research Associate for the Carnegie-Myrdal Study of the American Negro. |
| 1940-1942 | Social Science Analyst for the Bureau of Agricultural Economics, United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C. |
| 1942-1952 | Social Science Analyst and Principal Social Scientist for the Bureau of Agricultural Economics, United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C. |
| 1943-1952 | Taught graduate courses at the United States Department of Agriculture, at American University, and at the University of Maryland. |
| 1946-1952 | Trustee of the Delta Cooperative Farms, Inc., Bolivar County, Miss. |
| 1947-1950 | Made three trips to Japan as a consultant on agrarian reforms for the Allied Occupation Command. |
| 1951 | Made a trip to Southeast Asia as a consultant on increasing aid to villagers for the Mutual Security Administration (MSA). |
| 1951 | Made a trip to the Middle East as a consultant on increasing agricultural production for the American Friends of the Middle East. |
| 1952 | Consultant to the Far East Division of MSA. |
| 1952-1954 | Project Evaluation Advisor for the Foreign Operations Administration's Mutual Security Mission to China (Taiwan). |
| 1954-1955 | Consultant to the Community Development Division of the International Cooperation Administration (ICA). |
| 1955-1958 | Regional Community Development Advisor to the Middle East and North Africa for ICA. |
| 1958 | Member of the Training Development Staff for ICA. |
| 1958-1961 | Assistant Chief for the Orientation and Counseling Branch of the Career Development Division of ICA. |
| 1959-1962 | Taught courses on community development at Catholic University. |
| 1961-1962 | Acting Chief for the Orientation and Counseling Branch, ICA. |
| 1964 | Senior Advisor to the Pakistan Academy for Rural Development, Comilla, East Pakistan. |
| 1964 | Worked with the Pakistan Project in the College of Education at Michigan State University. |
| 1965-1967 | Visiting professor with the Asian Studies Center and an affiliate in the Department of Sociology, Michigan State University. |
| 1967 | Retired in July to his home in Oakton, Va. |
Books:
| 1933 | The Tragedy of Lynching (reprinted in 1969). |
| 1936 | Preface to Peasantry (reprinted in 1968). |
| 1941 | Sharecroppers All, with Ira DeA. Reid (reprinted in 1971). |
| 1943 | Tenants of the Almighty (reprinted in 1971). |
| 1949 | Rural Life in the United States, with Carl C. Taylor, et al. |
| 1950 | The Japanese Village in Transition, with Herbert Passin, et al. |
| 1951 | Guide to Agriculture, U.S.A., with Martha J. Raper (revised and reprinted in 1955). |
| 1953 | Rural Taiwan: Problem and Promise, with the Joint Commission on Rural Reconstruction. |
| 1954 | Urban and Industrial Taiwan: Crowded and Resourceful, with Han-sheng Chuan and Shao-shing Chen. |
| 1970 | Rural Development in Action: The Comprehensive Experiment at Comilla, East Pakistan, with Harry L. Case, et al. |
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Scope and Content
The Arthur Franklin Raper papers offer detailed documentation of Raper's activities, interests, and reflections. The earliest papers are drawings by Raper, which are followed by essays written while he was attending the University of North Carolina and Vanderbilt University. While Raper was working both with the Commission on Interracial Cooperation and with the Southern Commission on the Study of Lynching, he gathered information, such as statistical analyses, clippings, and case studies, from cities and towns throughout the South on the problem of lynching and other, more subtle, forms of racial intimidation. These materials are included among the 1920s-1930s papers.
In addition to the correspondence and materials on lynching, the papers from 1925 to 1942 also include a number of clippings on rural poverty; audiotapes; speeches and essays by Raper; Race and Class Pressures, Raper's monograph for the Carnegie-Myrdal Study of the American Negro; and reviews and correspondence about his first four books: The Tragedy of Lynching (1933); Preface to Peasantry (1936); Sharecroppers All (1941); and Tenants of the Almighty (1943). Of special interest is data on counties and towns throughout the South, which was compiled by Raper and Ralph Bunche for the Carnegie-Myrdal Study of the American Negro, 1939-1940. In addition, photographs made by the Farm Security Administration (some of which appeared in Raper's books) highlight the rural poverty of the depression-ridden South.
Raper moved from Greene County, Ga., to Washington, D.C., in 1942, and his papers subsequently broadened in scope. Working for the United States Department of Agriculture, he collected a variety of field notes on various locales across the country. The fruits of some of this labor can be found in Rural Life in the United States (1949) and Guide to Agriculture, U.S.A. (1951), both of which are documented in the papers, although not as extensively as his first four books. As his interests shifted to the problem of worldwide rural development, Raper continued to make speeches and write essays, copies of which are included in his papers.
In the late 1940s, Raper started making trips abroad as a consultant for various government agencies, and the papers contain a great deal of information on aiding and implementing post-war development programs in foreign countries. Between 1947 and 1964, Raper's papers include correspondence; extensive field notes he made on Japan and Taiwan; reports and statistical analyses of a number of countries in Asia, North Africa, and the Middle East; orientation materials, including pamphlets, tapes, and slides for employees working abroad for the United States government; and a great number of photographs and slides depicting scenes and patterns of life in foreign countries. There is also extensive documentation of the Comilla Project, a rural development project on which Raper devoted two years working with the Pakistan Academy for Rural Development.
Raper returned to the United States in 1964 to close out his career at Michigan State University, but his papers continue, uninterrupted, until his death in 1979. These later papers include correspondence; further materials on the Comilla Project, including the publication of Rural Development in Action: The Comprehensive Experiment at Comilla, East Pakistan (1970); accounts of public appearances by Raper; oral history interviews; correspondence, minutes, and printed materials relating to Raper's involvement in the National Sharecroppers' Fund and the Southern Regional Council; Raper's reflections on a variety of issues; and more photographs and tapes. Among the papers from Raper's last years are newspaper and magazine clippings (many with his annotations) which pertain to civil rights, American political developments, difficulties of Third World nations, and problems of modern technology.
Processing Note: From the time Arthur Raper began his public career, he carefully collected and arranged his own papers, and the ordering scheme which Raper established has been retained. Raper's organizing system divides the entire collection of papers into four parts: one set of chronological files, which comprises the core of the collection and includes writings, correspondence, photographs, audiovisual materials, and other items; and three sets of support files, which include clippings, correspondence, photographs, and other materials that supplement the chronological files for the corresponding years. Each of the four sets of files is divided into a number of "volumes," Raper having originally housed his papers in three-ring binders. For preservation purposes, the papers have been moved from Raper's binders to archival folders. Therefore, Raper's volume numbers have been keyed to folder numbers in this finding aid. Raper also created a 557-page index to the collection, which essentially functions as a chronological, item-level contents list of the papers. A bound paper copy of this index is available for use in the Southern Historical Collection research room. There is also a microfilm copy.
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Series Quick Links
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I. Chronological File, 1913-1979.
Arrangement: chronological.
This series comprises the core of the papers, and includes correspondence; speeches, essays, books, and other writings by Arthur Raper; photographs; audio and video tapes; slides; clippings; pamphlets; magazine and journal articles; book reviews; family and personal papers; and other materials. The series is organized into chronological volumes compiled and labeled by Raper (see Raper's volume number citations in folder lists). Following the chronological run of papers are separate groupings of materials that span a wider chronological range. The groupings include audiotapes, slides, photographs, printed matter.
Additional materials related to the materials in this series can be found filed in Support files (Series II, III, and IV) under corresponding dates.
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I.1. Raper's Volumes, 1913-1979.
Arrangement: chronological.
Disbound volumes compiled and labeled by Arthur Raper include correspondence; speeches, essays, and other writings by Raper; photographs; clippings; pamphlets; magazine and journal articles; book reviews; videotapes; family and personal papers; and other materials. Note that, though photograph folders are physically filed separately, they are listed here next to their corresponding Raper volume.
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I.2. Audiotapes and Slides, 1941-1979.
Arrangement: chronological.
Audiotapes relate to the Comilla Project in East Pakistan and overseas orientation programs in the Middle East. There are also slides that are narrated by corresponding audiotapes. Other audiotapes are of interviews with Arthur Raper, family conversations and songs, and other subjects.
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I.3. Photographs, 1925-1977 (additions of 1983).
Photographs collected by Arthur Raper, chiefly in the South during the 1930s and 1940s, and in Asia in the 1940s and 1950s. Included are a number of photographs of Raper, circa 1920-1977. The photographs of the South are of the same nature as the Farm Security Administration photographs by Jack Delano in the Series II. Support File, 1925-1942, and are probably chiefly Farm Security Administration photographs as well. Several photographs of Dorothea Lange, photographer, appear, and it is possible that some of the photographs in this group were taken by Lange. As well as documenting living conditions in the South during the Great Depression, these photographs also document southern folk architecture and agriculture during this period, as well as Raper's travels in Asia.
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I.4. Printed Material, 1932-1971.
Published books and pamphlets written by Arthur Raper and others.
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II. Support File, 1925-1942.
Arrangement: chronological.
This series includes material, chiefly clippings, articles, and scattered correspondence, that supplements the 1925-1942 segment of the Chronological File (Series I). It provides further details about Arthur Raper's study of rural and racial problems in the United States, especially in the South, through 1942.
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III. Support File, 1943-1962.
Arrangement: chronological.
This series includes material, chiefly notes, correspondence, and other items, that supplements the 1943-1962 segment of the Chronological File (Series I). Many of these papers are field notes on sample counties in the United States and items providing information about Arthur Raper's work overseas through 1962.
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IV. Support File, 1962-1972.
Arrangement: chronological.
This series consists of material, chiefly reports, articles, and scattered correspondence, that supplements the portions of Chronological File (Series I), that deal with the Pakistan Academy for Rural Development project. These papers document both the experiences of Arthur Raper and his wife Martha in Comilla, East Pakistan, and the evolution of the Comilla Project.
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Items Separated
Processed by: SHC staff, 1980
Reprocessed by: Jessica Sedgwick, May 2009
Encoded by: Jessica Sedgwick, May 2009
A brief description of each of the four parts which Raper established follows. In most cases the researcher can best begin by consulting Raper's index to his "Chronological File" (Part I). This can be followed by consulting the index to the "Support File" (Part II, III, or IV) corresponding to the period of Raper's career which is of interest. This second step may lead to additional details about a particular subject of research.
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