#40088

                         RECORDS OF THE
              DEPARTMENT OF RURAL SOCIAL ECONOMICS 

             University Archives and Records Service
           University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
                            CB# 3926
                   Chapel Hill, North Carolina
                           27514-8890


                          November 1992


     The Department of Rural Social Economics was established
under Eugene C. Branson in 1914. Samuel H. Hobbs, who had joined
the Department in 1916 as instructor, replaced Branson in 1933 as
chairman. The program became a curriculum within the Department
of Sociology in 1938.

     The records consist of the files of Samuel Hobbs as faculty
member and chairman. The papers 1938-1942, dated after the end of
the department as a separate entity, reveal the continuation of
the program within the Sociology Department.

     Details of the Department's development are provided by the
attached 1934 report by Samuel Hobbs.

     For further information on the Department of Rural Social
Economics, see the following archival groups:

          S.H. Hobbs Papers (#3909) in the Southern Historical
               Collection;
          E.C. Branson Papers (#2610) in the Southern Historical
               Collection;
          University of North Carolina Papers;
          Minutes of the Board of Trustees;
          Records of the Office of President; and
          Records of the Office of Chancellor.

     The records are arranged in six folders as follows:

          Folder 1: 1924-1930
          Folder 2: 1931-1932
          Folder 3: 1933-1934
          Folder 4: 1935-1936
          Folder 5: 1937-1939
          Folder 6: 1940-1942