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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 | 51.0 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 39,600 items) |
| Abstract | Frank Porter Graham (1886-1972) was the first president of the Consolidated University of North Carolina, which included the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, North Carolina State College in Raleigh, and Woman's College in Greensboro. Records include correspondence and other files relating to the administration of and academic programs at the three campuses of the Consolidated University. Of particular interest are records relating to desegregation of the university, communism in the university, intercollegiate athletics, and World War II and national defense. |
| Creator | University of North Carolina (System). President. |
| 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.
These and related materials may be found under the following headings in online catalogs.
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Historical Information
On 27 March 1931, the North Carolina General Assembly ratified an act authorizing the consolidation of the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, the North Carolina State College of Agriculture and Engineering in Raleigh, and the North Carolina College for Women (subsequently Woman's College) in Greensboro into "The University of North Carolina". Although the act itself was largely the result of efforts by Governor O. Max Gardner, the need for such an administrative change had been apparent to a number of university and state officials for over a decade. Since 1900, increased state appropriations for education had led to rapid expansion of programs at each of the state's three major public institutions of higher education. By the 1920s, it had become obvious that these expansions had resulted in large-scale duplications and had created competitive encroachments on the historical missions of the individual campuses. The costs of these overlapping efforts placed an increasing burden on the state's taxpayers. With the advent of the Great Depression, cutting costs and eliminating waste in higher education became a major focus of the state's economic program.
Administrative consolidation, then, was the means by which the state's institutions of higher education would coordinate their actions to provide a full range of instructional and research programs with a minimum of duplication. The Act of Consolidation, however, made no attempt to deal with the details of the process or how to specify the adjustments that would be necessary in administrative procedures. It merely established the principle of a coordinated state university system and called for the creation of a commission to "work out the plans for the consolidation of the component parts of the University". The commission's report, presented to the Consolidated Board of Trustees in May 1932, recommended a general administrative structure for the University, but left the specifics of implementation to the new Consolidated University President, Frank Porter Graham.
Graham was born in Fayetteville and grew up in Charlotte. He graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1909 and after periods of graduate study at Columbia University, the University of Chicago, and the University of London, he returned to Chapel Hill, joining the University's Dept. of History in 1925. On 9 June 1930, he was elected by the University's Board of Trustees to succeed Harry W. Chase as President. After serving in this capacity for just over two years, he was selected to head the newly formed Consolidated University of North Carolina.
As Consolidated President, Graham's primary concern was the implementation of the legislative mandate to establish an administrative structure for the University as a whole and to coordinate the academic programs of the campuses to curtail duplication. The continuing effects of the Depression and budgetary retrenchment by the legislature translated into reductions of appropriations to the University. Thus, President Graham was forced to spend long hours in Raleigh fighting for adequate funding for all three campuses.
Graham was determined to serve in practice, as well as in name, as the administrative head of the three campuses. He made a concerted effort to familiarize himself with the history, needs and personnel of North Carolina State College and Woman's College. He strove to represent the needs of each campus equally and attempted to spend one day each week on the Raleigh and Greensboro campuses. However, due to his previous close involvement with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the physical location of his office on that campus, and the fact that the Consolidated Board of Trustees did not fill his former position as chief administrator of that campus until 1934, he remained more intimately involved with the students, faculty and administration of the Chapel Hill campus. These records reflect this disproportionate division of labor with over seventy-five percent relating to the University's Chapel Hill campus.
In January 1942, Graham was appointed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to the National War Labor Board. Between 1942 and 1946, Graham spent more time in Washington, D.C., than he did in North Carolina. In his absence, Robert B. House, who was appointed Dean of Administration (later Chancellor) for the Chapel Hill campus in 1934, assumed many of the President's duties. Even after 1946, Frank Porter Graham was not free to devote his full attention to the University as he was often absent to serve on numerous federal and state committees, commissions, and boards. In March 1949, he was forced to resign the University presidency when he was appointed by Governor W. Kerr Scott to fill the U.S. Senate seat left vacant by the death of J. Melville Broughton.
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Scope and Content
These records include correspondence and other files relating to the administration of and academic programs at the three campuses of the Consolidated University. Of particular interest are records relating to desegregation of the university, communism in the university, intercollegiate athletics, and World War II and national defense.
The records cover the period from Graham's election as Consolidated University President on 14 November 1932 through the end of 1949, even though he resigned on 29 March of that year. The one exception is the material on the "organization and coordination of consolidation" (Subgroup 1, Series 1, Subseries 1), which dates from 1 July 1932. For additional material relating to the presidency of Frank Porter Graham, consult the files of William D. Carmichael, Jr., as Controller and Vice President of the Consolidated University in the Vice President for Finance Records. Carmichael served as Acting President from Graham's resignation until Gordon Gray's election on 6 February 1950.
The arrangement of the Frank Porter Graham files is functional rather than reflective of any official organizational structure existing in the Consolidated University office or any of its campuses. While some of the subseries titles do correspond to specific campus divisions, most reflect later organizational refinements. This scheme was used for consistency and to provide a logical grouping of related activities. Campus offices that were reorganized or whose names changed during the Graham presidency are referred to by the names used for the greater part of his tenure; cross-references are given to the other forms of name.
A Note Concerning Names in the Inventory
The name of the North Carolina College for Women was changed to Woman's College of the University of North Carolina at the time the Act of Consolidation was passed in 1931. The name of the North Carolina State College of Agriculture and Engineering was not changed at that time. The University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill was officially the University of North Carolina until 1963 when "at Chapel Hill" was added to its name. In this inventory, however, the later form of the name is used to avoid confusion with the Consolidated University of North Carolina.
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Series Quick Links
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Series 1. Consolidated University Offices, 1932-1949.
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Subseries 1.1. Office of the President.
Subseries 1.1. consists of five groups of files, each of which concerns a particular role or function of the Consolidated University other than its academic and business affairs. Files on the latter will be found in Subseries 1.2. and 1.3.
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Subseries 1.1.1 Subject Files.
These files concern general topics not related to any of the areas covered by the other files in this subseries.
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Subseries 1.1.2. Board of Trustees.
These files relate primarily to Frank Porter Graham's involvement with various trustee committees. Under the Consolidation Act of 1931, the General Assembly appointed a new one-hundred member Board of Trustees to serve as the governing body of the Consolidated University. For the minutes of their meetings and other material on the trustees, see the Records of the Board of Trustees (Consolidated), a separate collection in the University Archives.
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Subseries 1.1.3. Consolidation, Organization, and Coordination.
These files consist of correspondence with the heads of North Carolina State College and the North Carolina College for Women and with the Chapel Hill campus administration concerning decisions, policies and procedures relating to the consolidation of the three campuses. There is also a large body of correspondence with alumni and other interested persons in the state as well as with other educational institutions. Unlike the other files in this records group, in which the material dates from Graham's election to the Consolidated University of North Carolina presidency on 14 November 1932, these files contain material dating from 1 July 1932, when the Act of Consolidation went into effect.
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Subseries 1.1.4. Graham Plan on Intercollegiate Athletics.
These files consist of correspondence with the presidents of the ten Southern Conference institutions and reports of their meetings; correspondence with University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill alumni and others in the state expressing approval or disapproval of the Graham Plan; and petitions and resolutions from county alumni chapters opposing the plan. The Graham plan was a proposal made by Frank Porter Graham in 1935 to the National Association of State Universities and then to the Southern Conference to reform college athletics by regulating the recruitment, eligibility, and subsidizing of student athletes. These files are arranged chronologically from November 1935 through January 1937, with no topical subdivisions. A copy of the plan itself, as endorsed by the National Association of State Universities, is dated 21 November 1935, and is located in the first folder of these files.
| Box 3 |
General, 1935-1937 #40007, Subseries: "1.1.4. Graham Plan on Intercollegiate Athletics." Box 3 |
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Subseries 1.1.5. The University and National Defense.
These files consist of correspondence, reports, and other records regarding military and civilian programs and other matters related to the adjustment of the University to war-time conditions during and just after World War II. Topics are arranged by campus, except for general subjects and programs shared by both the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University, which are grouped under the heading Consolidated University.
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Subseries 1.2. Academic Affairs.
Subseries 1.2. consists of Frank Porter Graham's correspondence regarding academic programs involving two or more of the University's campuses. These files deal with efforts to establish programs for the Consolidated University, to coordinate similar programs on different campuses, and to avoid duplication by eliminating or alerting programs on one or more campuses. See also appropriate departments in Consolidated University Campus Files.
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Subseries 1.3. Business and Finance.
With consolidation, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Business Manager Charles T. Woollen became the Controller of the Consolidated University. He served in both capacities until 1934, when Assistant Controllers were appointed to head the business affairs of each campus and to report to Woollen. Woollen died in September 1938, and was succeeded by William D. Carmichael, Jr., who became Controller on 1 July 1940. See also the subseries Business and Finance under each subseries in Series 2, Consolidated University Campus Files.
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Series 2. Consolidated University Campus Files, 1932-1949.
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Subseries 2.1. North Carolina State College.
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Subseries 2.1.1. Office of the Chancellor.
With the retirement of North Carolina State College's President, E. C. Brooks, in 1934, Colonel John W. Harrelson was appointed Dean of Administration. His title, along with that of the Deans of Administration at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Woman's College, was changed to Chancellor in 1945. He continued to serve in that position until his retirement in 1953. The subseries Office of the Chancellor consists of general correspondence between Harrelson and Graham, along with topical files not directly related to any of the administrative divisions that make up the remaining subseries.
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Subseries 2.1.2. Academic Affairs.
Most of the academic departments and other programs at North Carolina State College were part of either the School of Agriculture or the School of Engineering. More general programs were grouped together under the Basic Division, which was comparable to the General College at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. It included all liberal arts and the other more traditional departments, except for the Library and the Summer School, which functioned independently of both the Basic Division and the Schools. There are also general files for two other schools, the School of Architecture and Landscape design and the School of Textiles, though the latter was not established until 1947.
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Subseries 2.1.3. Athletics.
See also Physical Education Department under the Basic Division in Academic Affairs, above; and Subseries 1.1.4., Consolidated University Offices, Office of the President, Graham Plan on Intercollegiate Athletics.
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Subseries 2.1.4. Business and Finance.
The business and financial affairs of North Carolina State College were managed by an Assistant Controller, later called Business Manager, who reported to the Controller of the Consolidated University. For files concerning the Controller, see Subseries 1.3., Consolidated University Offices, Business and Finance.
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Subseries 2.1.5. Development Program.
The development program at North Carolina State College was not organized as a distinct administrative division until after Graham's presidency. This subseries consists of material related to various development efforts that operated as independent units at North Carolina State College during this period but would later be incorporated into a single division. For other extension programs at North Carolina State College, see the School of Agriculture and the School of Engineering in Academic Affairs above.
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Subseries 2.1.6. Faculty Affairs.
This subseries consists of correspondence about and reports of the faculty committees at North Carolina State College. For other faculty concerns, such as salaries, retirement, etc., see Office of the Chancellor above. For other committees made up of trustees and administrators as well as faculty, see Consolidated Committees in Subseries 1.1.1., Consolidated University Offices, Office of the President, Subject Files.
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Subseries 2.1.7. Graduate School.
The graduate program at North Carolina State College, like that at Woman's College, was administered by a Consolidated Graduate Council, headed by Dean W. W. Pierson, Jr., at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The Graduate Studies Committee was the campus body that dealt with internal policy matters and made recommendations to Dean Pierson and the Graduate Council. See also Subseries 1.2., Consolidated University Offices, Academic Affairs.
| Box 10 |
General, 1937-1948 #40007, Subseries: "2.1.7. Graduate School." Box 10 |
Graduate Studies Committee, 1934-1940 #40007, Subseries: "2.1.7. Graduate School." Box 10 |
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Subseries 2.1.8. Student Affairs.
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Subseries 2.2. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
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Subseries 2.2.1. Office of the Chancellor.
In 1934, soon after consolidation, Robert B. House, who had served as Executive Secretary of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill since 1926, became the Dean of Administration of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His title, along with that of the Deans of Administration at North Carolina State College and Woman's College, was changed to Chancellor in 1945. He continued in the position until his retirement in 1957.
House's role was somewhat different from that of the Deans of Administration at the other two campuses. Because Graham's office remained on the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's campus, he continued to play a more central role in campus affairs there than he did at either North Carolina State College or Woman's College. As a result, much of House's role, at least during the first few years of Graham's presidency, was that of assistant to the President rather than administrative head of the Chapel Hill campus. It was only in the 1940s, when Graham spent more and more time off-campus, that House assumed not only his duties as Chancellor of the Chapel Hill campus but also those of Acting President.
Though some of this subseries consists of correspondence between Graham and House, as well as some correspondence of House acting for Graham in his absence, it is primarily made up of topical files not directly related to any of the administrative divisions of the campus that make up the subsequent subseries.
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Subseries 2.2.2. Academic Affairs.
See also Consolidated University academic programs in Subseries 1.2., Consolidated University Offices, Academic Affairs.
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Subseries 2.2.3. Athletics.
See also Physical Education in Academic Affairs, above, and Subseries 1.1.4., Consolidated University Offices, Office of the President, Graham Plan on Intercollegiate Athletics.
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Subseries 2.2.4. Business and Finance.
The business and financial affairs of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill campus were managed by an Assistant Controller, later called Business Manager and then Vice Chancellor for Business and Finance, who reported to the Controller of the Consolidated University. For files concerning the Controller, see Subseries 1.3., Consolidated University Offices, Business and Finance.
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Subseries 2.2.5. Development Program.
The development program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill was not organized as a distinct administrative division until after Graham's presidency. This subseries consists of material related to various development efforts that operated as independent units at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill during this period but would later be incorporated into a single division.
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Subseries 2.2.6. Faculty Affairs.
This subseries consists of correspondence about and reports of the faculty committees at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. For other faculty concerns, such as salaries, retirement, etc., see Office of the Chancellor, above. For committees made up of trustees and administrators as well as faculty, see Consolidated Committees in Subseries 1.1.1., Consolidated University Offices, Office of the President, Subject Files.
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Subseries 2.2.7. Graduate School.
See also Consolidated Graduate School in Subseries 1.2., Consolidated University Offices, Academic Affairs.
| Box 24 |
Office of the Dean, 1933-1948 #40007, Subseries: "2.2.7. Graduate School." Box 24 |
Chinese Cultural Exchange, 1936-1937 #40007, Subseries: "2.2.7. Graduate School." Box 24(see also Erickson-Chang Exchange under English Department in Academic Affairs, above) |
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Subseries 2.2.8. Health Affairs.
The Division of Medical Affairs, later Division of Health Affairs, was not established until 1949, just after the schools of Dentistry and Nursing were created in that year and after the School of Medicine's expansion to a four-year program had been approved by the state legislature in 1945. For most of the Graham's presidency, the two-year School of Medicine and the schools of Pharmacy and Public Health were independent entities, each of which was directly responsible to the Chancellor. Most of the general files in this subseries consist of material related to the development and status of the two-year medical program and the efforts to expand it to four rears and to create the other health-related schools.
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Subseries 2.2.9. Student Affairs.
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Subseries 2.3. Woman's College.
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Subseries 2.3.1. Office of the Chancellor.
With the retirement of Woman's College President Julius I. Foust in 1934, Dr. Walter C. Jackson was appointed Dean of Administration. His title, along with that of the Deans of Administration at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and North Carolina State was changed to Chancellor in 1945. He continued to serve in that position until his retirement in 1949. This subseries consists of general correspondence between Jackson and Graham, along with topical files not directly related to any of the administrative divisions of the Woman's College, which make up the subsequent subseries.
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Subseries 2.3.2. Academic Affairs.
See also Consolidated Academic Programs in Subseries 1.2., Consolidated University Offices, Academic Affairs.
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Subseries 2.3.3. Athletics.
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Subseries 2.3.4. Business and Finance.
The business and financial affairs of the Woman's College were managed by an Assistant Controller, later called Business Manager, who reported to the Controller of the Consolidated University. For files concerning the Controller, see Subseries 1.3., Consolidated University Offices, Business and Finance.
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Subseries 2.3.5. Development Program.
The development program at Woman's College was not organized as a distinct administrative division until after Graham's presidency. This subseries consists of material related to the two programs that did operate on the campus during this period.
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Subseries 2.3.6. Faculty Affairs.
This subseries consists of correspondence about and reports of the faculty committees at Woman's College. For other faculty concerns such as salaries, retirement, etc., see Office of the Chancellor, above.
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Subseries 2.3.7. Graduate School.
For material on proposed graduate programs in the Art, Education, and Music departments at Woman's College, see Academic Affairs, above.
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Subseries 2.3.8. Health Affairs
| Box 30 |
Public Health Nursing Program, Proposed, 1945-1946 #40007, Subseries: "2.3.8. Health Affairs" Box 30 |
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Subseries 2.3.9. Student Affairs.
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Series 3. Outside Organizations, 1933-1949.
This series consists of Frank Porter Graham's correspondence with and about associations, institutes, state and federal agencies, conferences, committees, and other colleges and universities external to the Consolidated University. It includes only material dealing with organizations that affected one or more of the campuses of the Consolidated University or with which Graham dealt in his capacity as President of the University. Materials on organizations with which Graham was personally associated or in which he was personally interested are located in the Frank Porter Graham Papers (#1819) in the Southern Historical Collection.
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Items Separated
Processed by: University Archives Staff, July 1984; November 1985; July 1986; January 2009
Encoded by: Katie Knight, August 2005
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