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This collection has use restrictions. For details, please see the restrictions.
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 | 137.0 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 119,000 items) |
| Abstract | The Southern Historical Association was established in 1934 to promote the study of history of the American South and the teaching of all branches of history in the South. The collection includes officers' files and other materials pertaining to the administration of the Southern Historical Association, the historical profession, and related matters. Among individuals whose work with the Association is documented are James W. Patton, Bennett H. Wall, Sanford W. Higginbotham, and Gilbert Fite. Also included are records, 1982-1983, of the Association's Ad Hoc Committee on the Status of Women in the Southern Historical Association, of the European History Section, and of the Journal of Southern History. |
| Creator | Southern Historical Association. |
| 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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Historical Information
Eighteen historians from seven southern states organized the Southern Historical Association in November 1934, "to promote interest and research in Southern history, to collect and preserve Southern historical records and to encourage state and local historical societies," and secondarily to foster the teaching and study of all branches of history in the South. The Association's principal activities have been the publication of the Journal of Southern History, which appears quarterly, and an annual meeting held in November of each year. The Association also awards three prizes for outstanding publications in Southern history.
The Association is governed by a president, a vice-president (also president-elect), a secretary-treasurer, and an executive council, all elected by the members during the annual meeting. Committees appointed by the president are responsible for the annual program and membership solicitation. Before the adoption of new bylaws in 1973, the president also appointed the nominations committee. The Executive Council now appoints committee members. Ad hoc committees are occasionally appointed to study specific problems (e.g. constitutional revision, selection of meeting sites).
There is a complete list of all Association officers, committee chairmen, editorial staff members, meeting sites, and award winners in series A, folder 689, Perpetual List of Officers and Committees.
For additional information on the history of the Association see Walter Posey, "The Southern Historical Association: Its Founding and First Year," Journal of Southern History, XLIII (1977); George B. Tindall, The Pursuit of Southern History, (Baton Rouge: LSU Press, 1964); Wendell Holmes Stephenson, The South Lives in History: Southern Historians, (Baton Rouge: LSU Press, 1955); Southern History in the Making: Pioneer Historians, (Baton Rouge: LSU Press, 1964). Occasional articles in the Journal of Southern History also mention facets of the Association's history.
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Scope and Content
The records of the Southern Historical Association are organized into five main series. Series A, Records of the Office of the Secretary-Treasurer, contains correspondence, committee reports, Executive Council reports, and annual reports of both the Secretary-treasurer and the managing editor of the Journal of Southern History. The files of the office of the managing editor of the Journal of Southern History (including correspondence about articles submitted, rejected, and published in the Journal) comprise Series B. Correspondence files of a few of the presidents and vice-presidents of the Association are found in Series C. Other papers that pertain to the Association, but may not fit into existing categories comprise Series D. Note that there is considerable overlap between materials in various series, largely depending on the source of the files.
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Series Quick Links
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A. Office of the Secretary-Treasurer.
Records of the Office of the Secretary-Treasurer include correspondence and reports of the secretary-treasurer and other officers, of committees, and of members of the Southern Historical Association. Letters and reports date from 1936, just after the Association was organized, to the year during which material was most recently retired from active files. Current files are held at the Association's offices, as of 1981 at the University of Georgia at Athens. Five men have held the office of secretary-treasurer: Charles M. Knapp, 1935, who turned over no records; Fletcher M. Green, 1936-1939; James W. Patton, 1940-1948; J. Carlyle Sitterson, 1949-1951; and Bennett H. Wall, beginning in 1952.
Records are largely alphabetical files of correspondence between the secretary-treasurer and members and officers of the Association. Many letters, especially in more recent years, concern the planning of annual meetings held each November. There also are letters to members of the Executive Council and Program, Membership, and Nominating committees, and to ad hoc committees formed to investigate specific issues. Committee members for a particular year are chosen the previous year by the vice-president to serve during his term as president.
Folders throughout the series are arranged chronologically within periods of one or more years. Papers dating 1936-1951 are arranged by organizational component (President, Editorial Offices, etc.). Files for 1952-1957 are arranged in single alphabetical series. Files after 1957 are arranged alphabetically and chronologically by split year, reflecting the terms of office of major officers and committees serving under them. For example, the files for 1962-1963 contain correspondence with the president who served from November 1962 to November 1963, material on the annual meeting held in November 1963, 1963 correspondence, and reports and correspondence of committees active in 1963. Variations in filing method reflect changes in the Office of the Secretary-Treasurer.
After 1952, letters are usually filed by the last name of the writer or the organization he represented. There are scattered subject files (e.g. for different committees) and yearly files of correspondence among members of the Executive Council. Correspondence of an individual may thus be filed in two or three places depending on the capacity in which the individual wrote and the content of the letter.
Printed programs of the Southern Historical Association Annual Meeting are housed separately from the other records of the Secretary-Treasurer (see folder list). They constitute Series A.2. Series A.3 consists of material related to Special Awards given by the Association. These awards include the Ramsdall Award, given for the Best article appearing in the Journal of Southern History; the Simkins Award, given for a distinguished first book by an author in Southern history; the Sydnor Award, given for distinguished books in Southern history; and the Charles Thomson Award, sponsored jointly with the National Archives and Records Service, given for work which used the holdings of the National Archives or Presidential libraries to explore any significant aspect of Southern history.
Series A.4 consists of the minutes of Executive Council meetings. folder 1 of this series contains an index of minutes, November 1953-November 1987.
Series A.5 consists of correspondence and other papers relating to the National Coordinating Committee for the Promotion of History. The Committee brings together various regional and specialized history associations, like the Southern Historical Association, and offers a forum where ideas for promoting the study of history can be debated.
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A.1. Records of the Secretary Treasurer.