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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 | 22.5 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 18000 items) |
| Abstract | In 1950 Gordon Gray (1909-1982) succeeded Frank Porter Graham (1886-1972) as 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. Gray's records as president consist of correspondence and other files relating to the administration of and academic programs at the three campuses of the Consolidated University. Topics of particular importance addressed in these records include desegregation of the university; communism in the university; growth of development programs and endowments; establishment of the Division of Health Affairs at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; expansion of health affairs curricula; and construction of North Carolina Memorial Hospital. |
| 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.
Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.
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Related Collections
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Historical Information
On 29 March 1949, Frank Porter Graham resigned the presidency of the Consolidated University of North Carolina to fill the remainder of J. Melville Broughton's United States Senate term. Controller William D. Carmichael, who had performed the duties of president on a part-time basis several times previously during Graham's absences on national and international service, was appointed acting president. A Board of Trustees committee, headed by Victor S. Bryant, began the search for Graham's successor. The committee's selection, Gordon Gray, was secretary of the army. While the choice was approved by the full Board of Trustees on 6 February 1950, it was not until November that Gray could leave Washington. During the interim, Controller Carmichael continued his role as acting president.
Among the problems facing the new administration were the pressing need to clarify the Consolidated University's administrative structure, adjustments required to meet postwar needs, solution of the financial crisis limiting physical expansion and faculty support, the admission of Negroes to the undergraduate and graduate programs, and implementation of the state legislature's medical care program. Gray's expertise, gained as publisher of the Winston-Salem Journal and Twin-City Sentinel, as operator of radio station WSJS, as state senator and as secretary of the army, equipped him well to handle these difficult issues. He moved quickly to improve the administration of the Consolidated University office by the appointment of a provost and an assistant to the president. In addition, the management firm of Cresap, McCormick, and Paget was employed to survey the administrative structures of the Consolidated University office and of the campuses. Approval of the firm's recommendations resulted in a reorganization that clarified lines of authority and improved organizational effectiveness. The annual State of the University Conference, held from 1953 through 1956, gauged the continuing effect of these changes on the educational mission of university system.
President Gray took the helm of an institution that, due to the Great Depression and World War II, was financially undernourished. State appropriations for programs, faculty salaries, physical plant upkeep and expansion, and student aid had been severely curtailed. Realizing that state appropriations would require supplement if the university's needs were to be met, Gray stimulated the establishment of endowment programs at the three Consolidated University campuses. Supervised by campus development councils, this effort led to the evolution of a number of foundations, which subsequently attracted private funding. The results can be measured by the number of endowed professorships, the growth of scholarship and loan funds, the development of library collections, and the additions to campus physical plants dating from the early 1950s.
During President Gray's tenure, the Chapel Hill campus's Division of Health Affairs, an outgrowth of the recommendations of the North Carolina Medical Care Commission, was established. This division supervised the expansion of the School of Medicine to a four-year program, the construction of North Carolina Memorial Hospital, the establishment of the School of Dentistry and School of Nursing, and the expansion of the School of Pharmacy and School of Public Health. This development, within such a short time, of programs characterized by broadness of scope and superiority of instruction was unprecedented in the history of the university and the state.
The early 1950s also witnessed the desegregation of the undergraduate, graduate and professional programs on the Consolidated University campuses. The underlying cause in implementation of and the resultant controversy over desegregation was the conflict between state and federal law. With very few exceptions, the university's trustees, administrators, faculty and students felt desegregation was long overdue and accepted the eventual court-ordered change with good graces.
Other accomplishments of President Gray's five-year term were the establishment of an educational television system, university support for the development of the Research Triangle Park, integration of the University of North Carolina Press into the Chapel Hill campus administration, improvement in faculty benefits, and clarification of the role of athletics in the university's educational mission. Gray's administrative abilities are reflected in all of the above.
As had been the case under President Graham, Gordon Gray's term was interrupted by a number of temporary appointments by President Truman and President Eisenhower. On 10 June 1955, Gray submitted his resignation as Consolidated University president in order to accept President Eisenhower's appointment as assistant secretary of defense for security affairs. The Board of Trustees did not consider Gray's resignation, but voted him a leave of absence. Only after a second resignation request did the trustees, on 14 November 1955, accept Gray's wishes and appoint Consolidated University Vice President for Academic Affairs J. Harris Purks, Jr., as acting president. Purks served in this capacity until 15 March 1956, when he was succeeded by William C. Friday. On 26 October 1956, the Board of Trustees approved Friday's selection as president and he was formally inaugurated on 8 May 1957.
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Scope and Content
Gray's records as president consist of correspondence and other files relating to the administration of and academic programs at the three campuses of the University of North Carolina (System), known at that time as the Consolidated University of North Carolina. Topics of particular importance addressed in these records include desegregation of the university; communism in the university; growth of development programs and endowments; establishment of the University of North Carolina Division of Health Affairs on the Chapel Hill campus; expansion of health affairs curricula; and construction of North Carolina Memorial Hospital.
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Series Quick Links
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Series 1. Consolidated University Offices, 1950-1955.
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Subseries 1.1. Office of the President.
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Subseries 1.1.1. Subject Files.
This subseries contains files on topics of general administrative concern except those related to the Board of Trustees, academic programs, finance, and developmental affairs. Files on the latter will be found in other subseries.
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Subseries 1.1.2. Board of Trustees Affairs.
This subseries contains the President Gray's files on the committees of the Board of Trustees. For the minutes of board meetings, see Board of Trustees (University of North Carolina System) Records, a separate group in the University Archives.
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Subseries 1.2. Academic Affairs.
This subseries contains President Gray's correspondence with J. Harris Purks, Jr., provost of the Consolidated University. The title of this position later changed to vice president for academic affairs. The records reflect the provost's major responsibilities for the Institute of Statistics and the Communication Center, from which evolved the Consolidated University television program. This subseries also includes general files on the Consolidated University Graduate School under the direction of William W. Pierson.
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Subseries 1.3. Business and Finance Affairs.
William D. Carmichael served as controller of the Consolidated University throughout President Gray's administration. This subseries includes the president's correspondence with Carmichael, material on the development of the university's budget requests, and files on other matters relating to the financial administration of the constituent campuses.
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Subseries 1.4. Consolidated Development Program.
In 1951 President Gray initiated a coordinated development program to systemize and to foster fund-raising efforts on each of the three campuses of the Consolidated University. To further the progress of this program, Gray secured the services of two consultants, Paul Davis and Curtis Fields. The former was particularly effective in attracting foundation support, while the latter worked to promote alumni fund appeals. This subseries contains files reflecting the work of these two consultants and the development of fund-solicitation programs on each of the campuses.
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Series 2. Consolidated University Campus Files, 1950-1955.
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Subseries 2.1. North Carolina State College, 1950-1955.
North Carolina State College Chancellor John W. Harrelson retired in 1953 and was succeeded by Carey H. Bostian, who remained the chief administrative officer of the Raleigh campus until 1959. With the exception of the initiation of the development program (see Subseries 2.1.5), the campus administrative structure and the organization of the records for President Gray's tenure remain unchanged from the Graham years.
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Subseries 2.1.1. Office of the Chancellor.
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Subseries 2.1.2. Academic Affairs.
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Subseries 2.1.3. Athletic Affairs.
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Subseries 2.1.4. Business and Finance Affairs.
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Subseries 2.1.5. Developmental Affairs.
Early in President Gray's tenure, campus fund-raising efforts were systemized and coordinated. Foundations were established to support specific campus programs, and alumni fund appeals became more organized in approach. The officers of the individual campus foundations met as the Development Council with L. L. Ray as director beginning in 1952. For details on the Consolidated University development program, see Subseries 1.4.
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Subseries 2.1.6. Faculty Affairs.
Buildings and Grounds Committee (see Subseries 2.1.4) #40008, Subseries: "2.1.6. Faculty Affairs." Box 6 |
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College Government Committee, 1954 #40008, Subseries: "2.1.6. Faculty Affairs." Box 6 |
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Subseries 2.1.7. Graduate School Affairs.
General, 1952-1955 #40008, Subseries: "2.1.7. Graduate School Affairs." Box 6(see also Subseries 1.2) |
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Subseries 2.1.8. Student Affairs.
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Subseries 2.2. University of North Carolina, 1950-1955.
As was the case with Frank Porter Graham's files, the records of the presidency of Gordon Gray are devoted in large measure to concerns and/or activities of the Chapel Hill campus. Robert B. House continued as campus chancellor throughout Gray's administration. The only significant changes in the administrative structure were the reorganization of the development program and the establishment of the Division of Medical Affairs (later Division ofHealth Affairs). For more on these developments, see the introductions to Subseries 2.2.5 and 2.2.8 below.
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Subseries 2.2.1. Office of the Chancellor.
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Subseries 2.2.2. Academic Affairs.
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Subseries 2.2.3. Athletic Affairs.
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Subseries 2.2.4. Business and Finance Affairs.
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Subseries 2.2.5. Developmental Affairs.
While fund-raising efforts on the Chapel Hill campus had been ongoing long before the 1950s, there was little systemization to these efforts and needless competition existed. Under the development program of the Consolidated Office, a Development Council, headed by Charles M. Shaffer, supervised the activities of individual foundations created to support campus programs. For information on the Consolidated University development program, see Subseries 1.4.
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Subseries 2.2.6. Faculty Affairs.
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Subseries 2.2.7. Graduate School Affairs.
| Box 12 |
General, 1951-1955 #40008, Subseries: "2.2.7. Graduate School Affairs." Box 12(see also Graduate School in Subseries 1.2) |
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Subseries 2.2.8. Health Affairs.
As a result of the recommendations of the North Carolina Medical Care Commission, the 1949 North Carolina General Assembly approved funding for a four-year medical school-hospital complex on the Chapel Hill campus. The Division of Medical Affairs was established to oversee the medical school expansion and the hospital construction. In 1950, the division title was changed to Health Affairs; and Henry T. Clark, Jr., was selected as administrator of the division, which included the School of Medicine, School of Dentistry, School of Public Health, School of Nursing, and School of Pharmacy as well as North Carolina Memorial Hospital.
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Subseries 2.2.9. Student Affairs.
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Subseries 2.3. Woman's College, 1950-1955.
Edward Kidder Graham, Jr., served as chancellor of Woman's College from 1950 to 1956. Administrative changes from the structure of the Frank Porter Graham era were slight. There are no files pertaining to athletics or the Graduate School in this subseries. However, the place of these two topics in the subseries arrangement has been retained to preserve consistency with the Frank Porter Graham records organization.
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Subseries 2.3.1. Office of the Chancellor.
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Subseries 2.3.2. Academic Affairs.
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Subseries 2.3.3. Athletic Affairs.
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Subseries 2.3.4. Business and Finance Affairs.
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Subseries 3.5. Developmental Affairs.
The organization of foundations to attract private funding did not progress at Woman's College as it did on the Chapel Hill and Raleigh campuses. With the exception of the Home Economics Foundation, the majority of the Woman's College fund-raising was restricted to alumnae appeals. Only in 1962 was a Development Council officially organized on the Greensboro campus.
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Subseries 2.3.6. Faculty Affairs.
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Subseries 3.7. Graduate School Affairs.
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Subseries 2.3.8. Health Affairs.
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Subseries 2.3.9. Student Affairs.
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Series 3. Outside Organizations, 1950-1955.
This series contains President Gray's files on organizations that operated outside the Consolidated University structure. These organizations are educational institutions, professional associations, philanthropic foundations and agencies of the state and federal government.
Processed by: University Archives Staff, August 1956, August 1984
Encoded by: Ellen Whisler, May 2007
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