Olive M. Stone Papers, 1838-1977

Collection Number: 04107

Collection Title: Olive M. Stone Papers, 1838-1977

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	1.5 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 1,000 items)
Abstract	Olive Matthews Stone was a sociologist involved in social welfare and race relations. She received her Ph.D. in sociology from the University of North Carolina in 1939 and was later associated with the Institute for Research in Social Science at the University of North Carolina. She was associate professor in the School of Social Welfare, University of California at Los Angeles, 1949-1964. Papers reflect Stone's interests in social welfare, race relations, southern farmers, the training of social workers, and her own family history. Included are materials pertaining to a study of various aspects of the lives of African Americans in Gee's Bend, Wilcox County, Ala.; observations on group relations and tensions in India, China, and Japan from a trip she took under the auspices of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, 1931-1932; anti-lynching efforts; and Stone's involvement in the Southern Committee for People's Rights (originally called the Southern League for People's Rights), the Southern Negro Youth Congress, and several biracial conferences on race relations, including the Institute of Race Relations held at Swarthmore College and the Shaw University conference, both in 1934. Prominent correspondents include Howard Kester, Joseph S. Gelders, George Stoney, Josephus Daniels, various officers of the American Friends Service Committee regarding the Institute of Race Relations, Katharine D. Lumpkin, Sam H. Franklin Jr. of the Delta Cooperative Farm; Virginia Durr; C. Vann Woodward; Clyde Johnson; and Arthur Raper. Also included are correspondence about other matters, financial and legal materials, writings, clippings, certificates, some nineteenth-century family items, genealogical materials, printed items, and photographs.
Creator	Stone, Olive M. (Olive Matthews), 1897-1977.
Curatorial Unit	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.
Language	English

Expand/collapse Information For Users

Restrictions to Access: No restrictions. Open for research.

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 Olive M. Stone Papers #4107, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information: Received from Olive M. Stone of Santa Monica, Calif., in October 1976 (Acc. 76127); from Bliss Stone McManus of Santa Monica, Calif., in February 1978 (Acc. 78076); and from Jacquelyn D. Hall of Chapel Hill, N.C., in July 1996 (Acc. 96106).

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.

Expand/collapse Processing Information

Processed by: SHC staff, 1992 and Jessica Sedgwick, August 2008

Encoded by: Jessica Sedgwick, August 2008

This collection was orginally processed under the sponsorship of a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Office of Preservation, Washington, D.C., 1990-1992.

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

Interviews with Olive M. Stone by Sherna Gluck, 1975 (G-0059/1-8), in the Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007), Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. An audio recording and transcripts for part 4 of the 8-part interview series is available through Documenting the American South's Oral Histories of the American South: http://docsouth.unc.edu/sohp/G-0059-4/menu.html

Expand/collapse Biographical Information

Sociologist Olive "Polly" Matthews Stone was born 13 January 1897 in Dadeville, Ala., the second of four children of Augusta "Gussie" Matthews and William Carson Stone. She received her Ph.D. in sociology from the University of North Carolina in 1939 and was later associated with the Institute for Research in Social Science at the University of North Carolina. She spent time observing group relations and tensions in India, China, and Japan for the Fellowship of Reconciliation 1931-1932. She was associate professor in the School of Social Welfare, University of California at Los Angeles, 1949-1964. Her work focused on social welfare, race relations, southern farmers, and the training of social workers. Stone was involved in radical politics and civil rights, especially in the 1930s. She advocated for the rights of farmers and sharecroppers, attended race relations conferences, helped establish the Southern Committee for People's Rights, was involved with the Southern Negro Youth Congress and the Southern Conference for Human Welfare, and worked with a Montgomery hospitality group for those involved in sharecroppers' union, peace, and civil rights work. She died 8 November 1977 in Santa Monica, Calif.

Professional Career

1918	Received an A. B. in English from Huntingdon College (then Woman's College of Alabama), Montgomery, Ala.
1927	Assistant professor of Sociology and Social Work at Alabama College in Montevallo, Ala.
1929	Received an A. M. in Social Service Administration from University of Chicago
1929	Associate professor of Sociology and Social Work at Huntingdon College
1934	Visiting scholar, Brookings Institution, Washington, D.C., and Elmhirst Fellow, Institute for Research in the Social Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
1936	Professor of social work, College of William and Mary and Richmond School of Social Work
1939	Received the Ph.D. in sociology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
1942	Professor of sociology, Georgia State College for Women, Valdosta, Ga.
1944	Held various positions in the Federal Bureau of Family Services (later a department of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare)
1949	Associate professor, School of Social Welfare, University of California at Los Angeles
1964	Retired

Expand/collapse Scope and Content

"Civil Rights in the South, a summary for 1934-1935," by Olive M. Stone, 1936 (see folder 27)

Papers reflect Olive M. Stone's interests in social welfare, race relations, southern farmers, the training of social workers, and her own family history. Included are materials pertaining to a study of various aspects of the lives of African Americans in Gee's Bend, Wilcox County, Ala.; observations on group relations and tensions in India, China, and Japan from a trip she took under the auspices of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, 1931-1932; anti-lynching efforts; opposition to the poll tax due to its negative impact on women voters; and Stone's involvement in the Southern Committee for People's Rights (originally called the Southern League for People's Rights), the Southern Negro Youth Congress, and several biracial conferences on race relations, including the Institute of Race Relations held at Swarthmore College, and the Shaw University conference, both in 1934. Prominent correspondents include Howard Kester, Joseph S. Gelders, George Stoney, Josephus Daniels, various officers of the American Friends Service Committee regarding the Institute of Race Relations, Katharine D. Lumpkin, Sam H. Franklin Jr. of the Delta Cooperative Farm; Virginia Durr; C. Vann Woodward; Clyde Johnson; and Arthur Raper. Also included are correspondence about other matters, financial and legal materials, writings, clippings, certificates, some nineteenth-century family items, genealogical materials, printed items, and photographs.

Contents list

Expand/collapse Series 1. Correspondence, 1863-1977.

About 300 items.

Arrangement: chronological.

Correspondence is chiefly professional, documenting Olive M. Stone's involvement with various institutions and social organizations. Also included are some early letters between Stone's parents, and yearly Christmas letters from Stone to her friends.

Folder 2-4

Folder 2

Folder 3

Folder 4

1863-1909

Correspondence is between Olive M. Stone's parents, Augusta Matthews (nicknamed "Gussie") and William Carson Stone. Also included is correspondence between Augusta and friends from Wesleyan Female College, Macon, Ga., where Augusta graduated in 1882.

Folder 5

1915-1929

Correspondence is mostly to Olive M. Stone from friends; a good deal of it pertains to Stone's and sister Bliss's trips to Europe.

Folder 6-12

Folder 6

Folder 7

Folder 8

Folder 9

Folder 10

Folder 11

Folder 12

1934-1973

Correspondence is chiefly professional in nature, except for yearly Christmas letters from Olive M. Stone to her friends. Topics discussed include Stone's research under the Tennessee Valley Authority on the Alabama Farmer in 1934; anti-lynching efforts; opposition to the poll tax due to its negative impact on women voters; Stone's involvement with the Southern Committee for People's Rights (originally the Southern League for People's Rights); two biracial, month-long conferences on race relations: the Institute of Race Relations held at Swarthmore College in July of 1934, and the Negro-White Conference at Shaw University in fall of 1934; and observations on group relations and tensions abroad, including a trip to the Soviet Union in 1931, and trips for the Fellowship of Reconciliation to India, China, and Japan in 1932 (note that further correspondence regarding this trip can be found in Series 3. Subject Files). Noted correspondents include: Mary Van Kleeck, director, Department of Industrial Studies, the Russell Sage Foundation; Charles S. Johnson, Fisk University; various officers of the American Friends Service Committee, regarding the Institute of Race Relations; Ralph J. Bunch; Howard Kester; Joseph S. Gelders; George Stoney; Josephus Daniels; Katharine D. Lumpkin; Sam H. Franklin Jr. of the Delta Cooperative Farm; Virginia Durr; C. Vann Woodward; Clyde Johnson; and Arthur Raper. Correspondence becomes increasingly personal following Stone's retirement in 1964.

Folder 13-15

Folder 13

Folder 14

Folder 15

1974-1977

Correspondence consists chiefly of letters to many of the above correspondents concerning activities in the 1930s and 1940s. Olive M. Stone asked their assistance in refreshing her memory for an oral history interview she had with the Southern Oral History Program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1975.

Folder 16

Undated

Scattered undated correspondence; many letters contain poems.

Expand/collapse Series 2. Writings, 1936-1968.

About 150 items.

Arrangement: alphabetical.

Included are undated course outlines and reprints of Olive M. Stone's published articles.

Folder 31	Course outlines, undated
Folder 32	"Agrarian Conflict in Alabama," abstract, ca. 1936
Folder 33	Not used
Folder 34	"Present Position of the Negro Farm Population," 1936
Folder 35	"Problem Solving in Dalton," 1958
Folder 36	Other writings and reprints "What Can Social Case Work Contribute to the Social Sciences" (1950), "Landmark in Marriage and Family Counseling" (1951), "Destination Education: The Course Ahead in Social Work Education" (1954), "The Three Worlds of the Back Ward" (1961), "Cultural Uses of Religious Visions: A Case Study" (1962), "Posthospital Changes in Role Systems of Patients" (1968), "Frames of Reference for Professional Observation" (undated)

Expand/collapse Series 3. Subject files, 1930-1977.

About 300 items.

Arrangement: by topic.

Subject files represent projects with which Olive M. Stone was involved and organizations for which she worked.

Folder 19-20

Folder 19

Folder 20

Alabama Farmer Today, 1930

A study outline for a project directed by Olive M. Stone at Huntingdon College. Includes analyses of folklife in the community.

Folder 21

Federal Emergency Relief Administration, 1934

A preliminary report on landlord-tenant relations and relief in Alabama

Folder 22

Fellowship of Reconciliation, 1932

Chiefly correspondence regarding Olive M. Stone's trips to India, China, and Japan in 1932, with scattered ephemera.

Folder 23-24

Folder 23

Folder 24

Gee's Bend, Ala., 1962, 1977

Report, field notes, and other materials related to a study of folk life and cultural change in Gee's Bend, Ala., revisiting a study done by Olive M. Stone in 1943.

Folder 25

Greeks in Alabama

Notes, correspondence, and pamphlets chiefly related to the Malbis Plantation of Daphne, Ala.

Folder 26

"Human Problems in Acreage Reduction in the South"

A report by Calvin B. Hoover, circa 1933

Folder 27-28

Folder 27

Folder 28

Southern Committee for People's Rights, 1934-1937

Correspondence, pamphlets, and other items related to the Southern Committee for People's Rights, including several issues of the "People's Rights Bulletin" (published by the committee), and a summary on the status of civil rights in the South, prepared by Olive M. Stone.

Folder 29

Southern Conference for Human Welfare, 1938-1940

Correspondence, pamphlets, and other related items.

Folder 30

Southern Negro Youth Council, 1936-1939

Correspondence, pamphlets, and other related items.

Expand/collapse Series 4. Biographical and Genealogical Materials, 1920-1973.

About 20 items.

Included is information about the life of Olive M. Stone, including her later involvement in advocacy for senior citizens; genealogical notes, forms from the Daughters of the American Revolution, ancestral charts, and correspondence about family history. Both the paternal side of Stone's family (the Stone, Cox, Rowan, Campbell, and Carson families) and the maternal side (the Matthews, Melson, Hall, Wingate, Wright, Wilmot, and Hamblin families) are covered.

Folder 1	Biographical and genealogical materials
Folder 39	Genealogical materials: Paternal, 1920-1940, 1973
Folder 40	Genealogical materials: Maternal, 1933, 1935, 1940, 1969
Folder 43	Journal, 1897-1909 A journal kept by Augusta Matthews Stone about Olive's first year. It contains a baby picture of Olive and a 1904 photograph of the four Stone children.

Expand/collapse Series 5. Legal Materials, 1838-1893.

About 25 items.

Arrangement: chronological.

Material consists of land deeds and indentures from the area in and around Tallapoosa County, Ala., relating to the lands of Olive M. Stone's grandparents. Other deeds are for lands in Marion County, Ga. Some are oversize.

Folder 17	1838-1893
Oversize Paper Folder OP-4107/1	Oversize deeds

Expand/collapse Series 6. Financial materials, 1853-1899.

About 25 items.

Folder 18

Financial materials, 1853-1899

Included are receipts, promissory notes, statements of account, and stock certificates. This material also pertains to Olive M. Stone's grandparents and parents.

Expand/collapse Series 7. Photographs, 1890-1977.

189 items.

Image Folder P-4107/1	Olive Stone and family, 1890-1907
Image Folder P-4107/2	Olive Stone, 1913-1977
Image Folder P-4107/3	Olive Stone and friends, 1912-1919 Included are Clyde Freeman, Brooke Sharpe, Bliss Stone, Helen Caldwell, Madame de Preville, Blanch and Julienne Monnard, and Helen Dobias.
Image Folder P-4107/4	Olive Stone, friends, and family, 1920-1929 Included are Genevieve Laval, Lewis Woodruff, Augusta Stone, Mary Ann Cox Stone Johnston, Freda Walker, Austin Riesen, Myrtle Brooke, Lorraine Pierson; also photos from scenes in Kentucky, Holland, and Scotland.
Image Folder P-4107/5	Olive Stone and friends, 1930-1957 Included are Bliss Stone and her husband Jim McManus, J. C. May, W. J. Matthews, Kathryn Froiseth, Yvonne Girou, Hilda McDowell, Web Powell, Alice Powell, and Don Howard.
Image Folder P-4107/6	Olive Stone and friends, 1960-1969 Included are Mabel Maccoby; Jim and Bliss McManus; Dee Cambier; Sarah Hodo; Sharon Willis; Agnes, Tim, and Camille Woodward; Karen, Brenda, and Louise Burton; Jack Stone; Marion Tucker; Tom Stone Jr.; and Arthur Emlen.
Image Folder P-4107/7	Olive Stone and friends, 1970-1977 Included are Mile, Angelo, and Bill Stone; Jack Stone; Bliss and Jim McManus; Helen Bisbee; Marjorie Blume; Bennie Blume; Bill Voss; Sarah Hodo; Freeda Walker; Mary Moore; Jack Wright; Gussie Lee Brannon; Sara Stone; Pauline MacClure; Marion Crory Ingersoll II; Barbara and Alexander Rothenberg; Jerry, Ruth, and Marion Ingersoll; and Lollie Felton.

Expand/collapse Series 8. Other materials, 1897-1977.

About 40 items.

Newspaper clippings, magazine articles, greeting cards, invitations, passports, certificates, and other scattered items. Some are oversize.

Folder 37

Clippings, 1929-1975

Folder 41-42

Folder 41

Folder 42

Other materials, 1879-1974

Miscellaneous programs, printed and other materials from Wesleyan Female College, scattered personal correspondence, passports, and other printed material. Also included are a report of preliminary investigation of the arrest of Willie Joe Hart and Peavy Smith in Dadeville, Ala., in 1938, and a description of Ralph and Tommy Gray of Tallapoosa, "leaders of the first depression-born farm union with largely Negro membership in Alabama."

Oversize Paper Folder OP-4107/2

Certificates and degrees

Expand/collapse Items Separated

Oversize papers (OP-4071/folders 1-2)
Photographs (P-4107/folders 1-8)

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Collection Number: 04107 Collection Title: Olive M. Stone Papers, 1838-1977