Restrictions to Access

No restrictions. Open for research.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the Selection Committee for the North Carolina Distinguished Service Award for Women Records #40192, University Archives, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

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.

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.

• Awards--North Carolina.
• Chi Omega Fraternity. Epsilon Beta Chapter (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill).
• Greek letter societies--North Carolina--Chapel Hill.
• Hunt, Douglass.
• Selection Committee for the North Carolina Distinguished Service Award for Women (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill).
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill--Awards.
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill--Societies, etc.

• Guion Griffis Johnson Papers (#4546) in the Southern Historical Collection

First conferred in 1950, the North Carolina Distinguished Service Award for Women recognizes a long and distinguished career or achievement by a North Carolina woman. Though the award is given by the Epsilon Beta Chapter of the Chi Omega Fraternity, its creation and evolution were heavily influenced by University of North Carolina Chancellor Robert B. House and Dean of Women Katherine Kennedy Carmichael.

The award is presented at the Eleusinian Banquet, the annual affair of Chi Omega, and the recipient gives an address. The speech is autobiographical in nature, detailing her work and achievements, and is meant to present a career worthy of emulation by the sisters. A manuscript of the address is then submitted to the University Library's North Carolina Collection for preservation.

The Selection Committee meets annually to choose the recipient. It was customary for the chancellor of the university to serve as, or select, the chair. The Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs chose the committee secretary from his or her staff, and the chair of Epsilon Beta's House Committee chose the remaining members from the university and Chapel Hill communities. In 1971, the women of Epsilon Beta began making award nominations to the Selection Committee, although the committee did send suggestions to the chapter.

Chancellor House chaired the committee in its early years, and Dean Carmichael served as secretary. Douglass Hunt, who was Vice Chancellor for Administration and later Special Assistant to the Chancellor, had the longest tenure as chair, from 1973 until his retirement in 1995.

The records of the Selection Committee for the North Carolina Distinguished Service Award for Women were largely generated under Chair Douglass Hunt, 1973-1995. They include correspondence, 1975-1995; meeting minutes, 1971-1993; copies of award citations; and speeches delivered by award recipients. Most of the citations and speeches are post-1970, but a few date to the 1950s and 1960s.