Restrictions to Access

No restrictions. Open for research.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the Board of Trustees of the University of North Carolina Records #40001, University Archives, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Alternate Form of Material

Board of Trustees minutes, 1789-1799, are reproduced in R.D.W. Connor's Documentary History of the University of North Carolina, 1776-1799. Minutes, 1789-1840, are in the Library of Congress Microfilm Collection of Early State Records. In addition, all 16 volumes of minutes have been microfilmed and are available on 5 reels in the University Archives.

Typed copies of Board minutes, 1800-1840, and of Executive Committee minutes, 1835-1873, are also available in the University Archives.

Provenance

Periodic transfer from the offices that create these records.

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.

Processed by: University Archives stafft, 1958-1982

Encoded by: Whitney Berman, 2004

Updated by: Nancy Kaiser, October 2020; Dawne Howard Lucas, March 2021

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.

• Curriculum planning--North Carolina--History.
• Education, Higher--North Carolina--History.
• Universities and colleges--North Carolina--History.
• University of North Carolina (1793-1962)--Administration.
• University of North Carolina (1793-1962)--Buildings.
• University of North Carolina (1793-1962)--Discipline.
• University of North Carolina (1793-1962)--Finance.
• University of North Carolina (1793-1962)--History.
• University of North Carolina (1793-1962). Board of Trustees.
• University of North Carolina (1793-1962). Board of Trustees. Building Committee.
• University of North Carolina (1793-1962). Board of Trustees. Executive Committee.
• University of North Carolina (1793-1962). Board of Trustees. Secretary.

• University Papers (#40005)

The charter of the University of North Carolina, ratified by the state's General Assembly in 1789, named forty men to serve as Trustees of the new institution. The primary responsibility of the Trustees, according to the charter, was to handle "all monies, goods, and chattels. . . and Land, Rents, and Hereditaments for the Use and Purposes of establishing and endowing the University." The duties and structure of this Board of Trustees remained essentially the same until 1932, although the method of selection varied somewhat and the membership increased as the state and University grew. Until 1868 appointments to the Board were for life. The state Constitution of that year set terms at eight years and established the practice of selecting one Trustee from each county plus certain ex officio members. From 1868 to 1873, the State Board of Education selected the Trustees; thereafter, they were selected by joint ballot of the General Assembly.

On March 27, 1931, the General Assembly passed the Act of Consolidation, creating the Consolidated University of North Carolina, a system comprised of three previously separate institutions--the University of North Carolina, North Carolina State College of Agriculture and Engineering, and the North Carolina College for Women. It also appointed a new Board of Trustees of one-hundred members (at least ten of whom were to be women) to serve as the governing body of the new system beginning July 1, 1932. The pre-Consolidation Boards of Trustees of the individual institutions were discontinued. Though many of the members of the Consolidated Board had previously been Trustees of one of the constituent schools, their purpose was now to promote the interests of the University system.

Records include minutes of the Board of Trustees, 1789-1932, and of its Executive Committee, 1835-1932, on five reels of microfilm; files of the Secretary of the Board, 1922-1932; and files of the Building Committee, 1921-1929. Topics of particular importance in the minutes of the Board of Trustees and its Executive Committee include siting of the University and acquisition of land, construction of buildings (including funding), curriculum planning, and student discipline. The Secretary's files on the committees of the Board of Trustees contain only background materials for reports made by the committees to the full Board or its Executive Committee. Building Committee materials include correspondence, minutes, reports, and other materials.

Oversize volume (SV-40001/1-16)

Microfilm (M-40001/1-5)