]
]
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 Duplication Policy section for more information.
Expand/collapse
Collection Overview
| Size | 41.0 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 16300 items) |
| Abstract | Correspondence, sermons, writings, scrapbooks, digitized photographs, subject files, printed items, and interviews comprise the papers of Robert E. Seymour (b. 1925), a progressive, white pastor of Warrenton Baptist Church in Warrenton, N.C., Mars Hill Baptist Church in Mars Hill, N.C., and Binkley Memorial Baptist Church in Chapel Hill, N.C. The papers document his ministerial career and to some extent the Southern Baptist churches where he served from the 1940s to the early 2000s. Seymour's writings, sermons, and subject files reflect his support for racial integration during the 1960s and for other progressive causes and efforts during his long career, including Binkley Memorial Baptist Church's welcoming of homosexuals and his opposition to capital punishment. There are also interviews by Robert Seymour with Chapel Hill figures, including University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill basketball coach Dean Smith, which aired in 2003 on The Special Hour with Robert Seymour on WCHL 1360, and an interview of Seymour by Jim Heavner. |
| Creator | Seymour, Robert E. (Robert Edward), 1925- |
| Curatorial Unit | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection. |
| Language | English |
Expand/collapse
Information For Users
Expand/collapse
Processing Information
Processed by: Roslyn Holdzkom, May 1990 with subsequent additions.
Updated by: Laura Hart, August 2017 and April 2019; Allison Thompson and Jodi Berkowitz, October 2019; Meaghan Alston and Nancy Kaiser, March 2022; Dawne Howard Lucas, January 2023.
Encoded by: ByteManagers Inc., 2008
Back to Top
Expand/collapse
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.
Expand/collapse
Related Collections
Expand/collapse
Biographical Information
Robert E. Seymour was born on 13 July 1925 in Greenwood, S.C. In deference to his father's wishes, he started his studies at the Citadel, but quickly switched to the Navy's pre-chaplaincy program. He attended Newberry College for two years and then studied at Duke University, from which he was graduated with a B.A. degree in 1945. He received a Masters of Divinity degree from the Yale Divinity School in 1948 and a doctorate from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland in 1955.
In 1959, Seymour became the first minister of the Olin T. Binkley Memorial Baptist Church in Chapel Hill, N.C. Before coming to Binkley, he was pastor of the Mars Hill Baptist Church in Mars Hill, N.C.; pastor of the Warrenton Baptist Church in Warrenton, N.C.; and assistant pastor of the Myers Park Baptist Church in Charlotte, N.C.
The Olin T. Binkley Memorial Baptist Church started out with about 40 parishioners; services were held in Gerrard Hall on the University of North Carolina campus. The establishment of the Church coincided with the arrival of some of the first black students at the University. From the beginning, Binkley had an open membership policy that sought to include not only all races, but all Christians, including those who had not been baptized through immersion in water in orthodox Baptist churches. This and other stances earned the Binkley Baptist Church and its pastor reputations in the Southern Baptist Convention for being "uncooperative." Seymour himself was frequently labeled a maverick for opposing the Baptist Church's move towards conformity and for advocating racial integration.
Under Seymour's leadership, the Binkley Baptist Church became involved in day care and preschool programs, classes and services to older adults, and other community activities. He also kept the Church active in both the Southern Baptist Convention and the more liberal American Baptist Convention. At the time of his retirement in 1988, the Church had about 500 members.
After his retirement, Seymour published two books: Whites Only: A Pastor's Retrospective on Life in the New South in 1991 and Aging Without Apology in 1995. He is one of the writers of the "Village Voices" column in the Chapel Hill News.
Seymour participated in many community undertakings, including serving as the first president of the Inter-Faith Council, a social services association of churches and synagogues in the Chapel Hill/Carrboro area. He is married to Pearl Seymour and has a daughter named Frances and a son named Robert III.
(Compiled from various newspaper and journal sources.)
Back to Top
Expand/collapse
Scope and Content
Chiefly correspondence, 1941-1988, largely consisting of incoming letters from friends, family, and colleagues. Most letters are post-1959, when Seymour moved to the Binkley Baptist Church. There are many letters from parishioners and others thanking Seymour for services rendered. There are also letters containing invitations to conferences or requests for services. There appear to be few letters dealing directly with church business or with the many organizations and causes with which Seymour was affiliated.
There is a series of typed copies and photocopies of outgoing letters, 1981-1988, some of which appear to be related to incoming letters in the collection. Also included are photocopies of selected pages from scrapbooks documenting Seymour's career from 1947 to his retirement in 1988.
Writings by Robert E. Seymour:
John Gill, Baptist Theologian, 1697-1771, typescript. Doctoral thesis at University of Edinburgh.
"You Can't Hold Back the Spring" (1990), typescript. Published in 1991 as Whites Only: A Pastor's Retrospective on Life in the New South. The typescript includes material that does not appear in the printed version.
Celebrating Christmas as Christians (1990), printed.
Copy of Whites Only: A Pastor's Retrospective on Signs of the South (1991) by Seymour and a 1992 review of the book from Baptists Today.
Correspondence, writings, and printed items, particularly church bulletins, comprise the bulk of the additions. Also included are digitized photographs of the Binkley Memorial Baptist Church in Chapel Hill, N.C., and its congregants; scrapbooks compiled by Robert Seymour's spouse Pearl Seymour; and subject files. The scrapbooks are composed chiefly of clippings of Seymour's published articles and editorials. Subject files on race relations, homosexuality, ageism, capital punishment, and other topics reflect Seymour's interests in progressive causes. There are also interviews by Robert Seymour with Chapel Hill figures, including University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill basketball coach Dean Smith, which aired in 2003 on The Special Hour with Robert Seymour on WCHL 1360, and an interview of Seymour by Jim Heavner.
Back to Top
Expand/collapse
Series Quick Links
Expand/collapse
Series 1. Robert E. Seymour Papers, 1941-1997.
Acquisitions information: Original deposit and additions received between 1991 and 1999.
Box 1-4
Box 1Box 2Box 3Box 4 |
Correspondence, 1941-1988 |
| Box 5 |
Correspondence, 1986-1988 and Scrapbook pages (copies), 1947-1988 |
| Box 6 |
"Voices" columns from Chapel Hill News and Sermons, 1961-1984 |
| Box 7 |
Sermons, 1985-1988 and undated and Correspondence, 1940s-1990s |
| Box 8 |
Correspondence, 1996-1997 and Correspondence on special topicsMars Hill dismissal. Church controversy. Aging without Apology. Whites Only. |
Expand/collapse
Series 2A. The Special Hour with Robert Seymour Interviews, 1942-2010
(Addition of August 2010).
Acquisitions information: Accession 101336.
Expand/collapse
Series 3A. Sermons, Addresses, Writings, and Correspondence, 1942-2010
(Addition of June 2012)
Acquisitions information: Accession 101614.
The creator's original arrangement and folder titles have been retained.
Expand/collapse
Series 4A. Correspondence, Sermons, and Writings, circa 1990s-2010s (Addition of December
2014).
Acquisitions information: Accession 102138.
| Box 20 |
Book reviews |
Chapel Hill Herald columns |
|
Charles M. Jones |
|
Commentaries |
|
Correspondence |
|
| Box 21 |
Correspondence |
Letters to editor |
|
Newspaper op-eds |
|
Sermons |
|
Speeches |
Expand/collapse
Series 5A. Correspondence, Writings, Subject Files, and Printed Items, 1947-2017 (Addition
of July 2017).
Acquisitions information: Accession 103118.
| Box 9 |
Correspondence, circa 1950-1954 and circa 1997-1999 |
| Box 10 |
Correspondence, circa 2000-2004 |
| Box 11 |
Correspondence, circa 2005-2016 and "First Sermons," undated |
| Box 12 |
Sermons, 1946-2003 and undatedA sermon titled "The Sins That Beset Us: Prejudice" (1948) addresses racism and bigotry. "Whether we like it or not we are living in a New South, and a silent slow revolution is underway. Better housing, better health, better education, are all on the upswing, and at long last many of us have begun to realize that you can't keep a man in the ditch unless you stay in it with him to keep him down." "Displaced Persons" (1955) addresses homelessness and refugees. |
| Box 13 |
Prayers, undated"Mine + Others." "Many Originals Many Borrowed." |
| Box 14 |
Published writings, 1950-1987Includes the following titles: "Interracial Ministry in the South" (1963), "Interracial Ministry in North Carolina" (1963), "The Christian Case Against Poverty" (1965), "Paradox of Poverty in the Midst of Plenty" (1965), "Our Prejudices Against the Poor" (1966), and "Pastor Cooperating" in a booklet titled "Cooperation = Better Race Relations." |
| Box 15 |
Published writings, 1988-2014 and undated and Other writings, 1947-2014 and undatedPublished writings include the title "The Sounds of Silence: Deaf Persons in the Church" (1991). Other writings include lectures, commencement addresses, eulogies, open letters, and a 1947 paper he wrote while at Yale Divinity School. Of interest is an undated essay titled "The Future of Silent Sam." Seymour proposes that the Confederate Memorial statute known as "Silent Sam" that is located on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill be moved to a museum. Also included are book reviews by Seymour and others. |
| Oversize Volume SV-4554/1 |
Scrapbook,1950-1988 |
| Oversize Volume SV-4554/2 |
Scrapbook,1956-1966 |
| Oversize Volume SV-4554/3 |
Scrapbook,1988-1992 |
| Oversize Volume SV-4554/4 |
Scrapbook,1992-1995 |
| Oversize Volume SV-4554/5 |
Scrapbook,1995-1996 |
| Oversize Volume SV-4554/6 |
Scrapbook,1996-1998 |
| Oversize Volume SV-4554/7 |
Scrapbook,1999-2000 |
| Oversize Volume SV-4554/8 |
Scrapbook,2000-2001 |
| Oversize Volume SV-4554/9 |
Scrapbook,2002-2003 |
| Oversize Volume SV-4554/10 |
Scrapbook,2003-2004 |
| Oversize Volume SV-4554/11 |
Scrapbook,2005-2007 |
| Oversize Volume SV-4554/12 |
Scrapbook,2007-2008 |
| Oversize Volume SV-4554/13 |
Scrapbook,2009-2012 |
| Oversize Volume SV-4554/14 |
Scrapbook,2013-2017 |
| Box 16 |
Subject files"Ageism." "Aging + Retirement." "Baptists." "Binkley Memorial." "Capital Punishment." "Christian Faith." "Church + State." |
| Box 17 |
Subject files"Euthanasia." "Homosexuality." Lee, Howard. "Poems." "Race Relations I." "Race Relations II." Smith, Dean. |
| Box 18 |
Printed items, 1944-1963Chiefly church bulletins. |
| Box 19 |
Printed items, 1964-2005 and undatedChiefly church bulletins. Also included is an undated biographical "Time Line" compiled by Seymour. |
| Digital Folder DF-4554/22 |
Binkley Memorial Baptist Church, Chapel Hill, N.C., circa 1970s-1980sDigitized photographs.
|
Expand/collapse
Series 6A. Correspondence, Writings, Subject Files, and Printed Items, 1938-2018 (Addition
of September 2022).
Acquisitions information: Accession 20220930.5.
The creator's original arrangement and folder titles have been retained.
Expand/collapse
Items Separated