Inventory of the University of North Carolina Papers, 1757-1935

Collection Number 40005

Manuscripts Department, Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Contact Information:

Manuscripts Department

CB#3926, Wilson Library

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Chapel Hill, NC 27514-8890

Phone: 919/962-1345

Fax: 919/962-3594

Email: mss@email.unc.edu

URL: http://www.lib.unc.edu/mss/

Descriptive Summary

Repository

University Archives, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Creator

University of North Carolina (1793-1962).

Title

University of North Carolina Papers, 1757-1935 (bulk 1789-1930)

Call Number

40005

Language of Materials

Materials in English

Extent

Items: 61,300

Linear Feet: 72.0

Administrative Information

Restrictions to Access

No restrictions.

Alternate Form of Material

Microfilm copies of the following materials are available.

Reel 1: Volumes V-40005/1 and V-40005/2
Reel 2: Volumes V-40005/3 and V-40005/4
Reel 3: Volumes V-40005/5 and V-40005/6
Reel 4: Volumes V-40005/7 and V-40005/8
Reel 5: Volumes V-40005/9 and V-40005/10
Reel 6: Volumes V-40005/11 and V-40005/12
Reel 7: Volumes V-40005/13 and V-40005/14
Reel 8: Volumes V-40005/15 and V-40005/16
Reel 9: Volumes V-40005/17 and V-40005/18
Reel 10: Volumes V-40005/19 and V-40005/20
Reel 11: Volumes V-40005/21 and V-40005/22
Reel 12: Volume V-40005/23

Acquisitions Information

Periodic transfer from the offices that create these records.

Processing Information

Processed by: University Archives Staff, December 1997

Encoded by: Peter Hymas, May 2005

Funding from the State Library of North Carolina supported the encoding of this finding aid.

Additional Descriptive Resources

A card index chiefly containing the names of correspondents in the administrative papers is available. From 1875-1914, the index also includes selected subjects.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the University of North Carolina Papers #40005, University Archives, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Online Catalog Headings

These and related materials may be found under the following headings in online catalogs.

Alderman, Edwin Anderson, 1861-1931.

Battle, Kemp P. (Kemp Plummer), 1831-1919.

Caldwell, Joseph, 1773-1835.

Chapman, Robert H. (Robert Hett), 1771-1833.

Chase, Harry Woodburn, 1883-1955.

Gillespie, James Smiley.

Graham, Edward Kidder, 1876-1918.

Harris, Charles Wilson, 1771-1804.

Mitchell, Elisha, 1793-1857.

Phillips, Charles, 1822-1889.

Pool, Solomon, 1832-1901.

Stacy, Marvin Hendrix, 1877-1919.

Swain, David L. (David Lowry), 1801-1868.

Venable, F. P. (Francis Preston), 1856-1934.

Winston, George Tayloe, 1852-1932.

University of North Carolina (1793-1962)--Administration.

University of North Carolina (1793-1962)--Buildings.

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. Secretary.

University of North Carolina (1793-1962). President.

University of North Carolina (1793-1962)--Maps.

University of North Carolina (1793-1962)--Students.

Curriculum planning--North Carolina--History.

Student records--North Carolina.

Teachers--Training of--North Carolina.

Teachers' institutes.

Universities and colleges--North Carolina--History.

World War, 1914-1918--North Carolina.

Related Collections

Records of the Board of Trustees, 1789-1932
Minutes of the General Faculty and of the Faculty Council
Records of the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Business and Finance
Edwin Anderson Alderman Papers (#1869), Southern Historical Collection
Battle Family Papers (#3223), Southern Historical Collection
Joseph Caldwell Papers (#127), Southern Historical Collection
Harry Woodburn Chase Papers (#3429), Southern Historical Collection
Edward Kidder Graham Papers (#282), Southern Historical Collection
Charles Wilson Harris Letters (#315), Southern Historical Collection
Elisha Mitchell Papers (#518), Southern Historical Collection
Charles Phillips Papers (#2462), Southern Historical Collection
Cornelia Phillips Spencer Papers (#683), Southern Historical Collection
Marvin Hendrix Stacy Papers (#3926), Southern Historical Collection
David Lowry Swain Papers (#706), Southern Historical Collection
George Tayloe Winston Papers (#797), Southern Historical Collection

Historical Note

The University of North Carolina was chartered by the state's General Assembly in 1789. Its first student was admitted in 1795. The University's governing body was its Board of Trustees. The original Board, composed of forty members, was named in the Charter; after 1804 Board members were elected by the General Assembly (except during the period of Reconstruction). The Board met twice a year; at other times the business of the University was carried on by the Board's Secretary-Treasurer and by the presiding professor (called President beginning in 1804). Other faculty members later assumed the responsibilities of registrar and bursar. The administrative structure of the University remained essentially the same until the twentieth century.

Many of the University's eighteenth- and nineteenth-century records have not survived. No doubt some were removed by departing faculty, who viewed them as personal rather than public documents. Others were lost during the period 1868-1875, when the University suspended operations and records were removed from the campus for supposed safekeeping.

The records known as the University Papers and described here consitute most of the extant records of the University from its founding to 1930. Exceptions are the minutes of the Board of Trustees, minutes of the faculty, and certain financial records, which will be found in other records groups in the University Archives. Additional information on the early University and its faculty will be found in the personal papers of various presidents and professors in the Southern Historical Collection. A chronological list of presiding professors and Presidents is provided below.

Presiding Professor:

1794-1796	David Ker
July-December 1796	Charles W. Harris
1796-1797	Joseph Caldwell
1797-1799	James S. Gillaspie
1799-1804	Joseph Caldwell

President (inlcudes Acting Presidents and Chairs of the Faculty who acted as senior administrator of the University):

11 July 1804-December 1812	Joseph Caldwell
1813-November 1816	Robert Hett Chapman
December 1816-January 1835	Joseph Caldwell
February-December 1835	Elisha Mitchell, Acting
December 1835-1867 and June-July 1868	David Lowry Swain
8 January 1869-9 April 1874	Solomon Pool
August 1875-17 June 1876	Charles Phillips, Chair of the Faculty
17 June 1876-June 1891	Kemp Plummer Battle
15 August 1891-15 August 1896	George Tayloe Winston
15 August 1896-15 June 1900	Edwin Anderson Alderman
15 June 1900-31 August 1914	Francis Preston Venable
3 June 1913-31 Ausut 1914	Edward Kidder Graham, Acting
31 Augsut 1914-26 October 1918	Edward Kidder Graham
October 1918-21 January 1919	Marvin Hendrix Stacy, Chair of the Faculty
28 January 1919-16 June 1919	Harry Woodburn Chase, Chair of the Faculty
16 June 1919-20 February 1930	Harry Woodburn Chase
9 June 1930-1932	Frank Porter Graham

Collection Overview

The collection consists of routine administrative correspondence and miscellaneous financial papers of the University of North Carolina as well as miscellaneous student and faculty records. Papers prior to 1874 are mainly those of the Secretary-Treasurer of the Board of Trustees; post-1874 papers are largely those of the President of the University. Twenty-three letterpress volumes contain the correspondence of Presidents Alderman and Venable, 1898-1904. The records also contain a number of early plats and other documents pertaining to University lands. Also included are numerous papers related to the University Normal School, a summer program for public school teacher training that began in 1877. The records also contain the correspondence, regulations and pay records of the World War I Student Army Training Corps. There is also a group of documents collected by President Swain for a proposed history of the University and a partial narrative written by Swain. The records in this group constitute most of the surviving eighteenth-, nineteenth- , and early twentieth-century records of the University. Individuals figuring prominently include Edwin Anderson Alderman; Kemp P. Battle; Joseph Caldwell; Robert H. Chapman; Harry Woodburn Chase; James Smiley Gillespie; Edward Kidder Graham; Charles Wilson Harris; Elisha Mitchell; Charles Phillips; Solomon Pool; Marvin Hendrix Stacy; David L. Swain; F.P. Venable; and George Tayloe Winston.

Arrangement of Collection

The arrangement of the University Papers is essentially chronological and is described in more detail on the following pages. After 1930 the administrative structure of the University became increasingly complicated. University records for the period after 1930 are arranged in separate records groups by office of origin.

Administrative Papers
Subject and Undated Files
Volumes
Oversized Items

Detailed Description of the Collection

Digital version: "Elegy on a Sore Toe," Poem by [Robert T. Hall], 15 November 1842

Digital version: Petition, 27 April [1861]

Digital version: "The Life and Character of John Howard," Senior Speech of Richard T. Weaver, April 1846