Restrictions to Access

This collection contains additional materials that are not available for immediate or same day access. Please contact Research and Instructional Service staff at wilsonlibrary@unc.edu to discuss options for consulting these materials.

Restrictions to Use

No usage restrictions.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the Department of Religious Studies of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Records #40340, University Archives, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Transferred from the Department of Religious Studies in August 2010 (Records transfer 20100817.1). The Addition of October 2013 was transferred from the Ruel W. Tyson Papers (#5568), Southern Historical Collection, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in April 2012 (Records transfer 20120426.1). The Addition of June 2016 was received in July 2012 and June 2016 (RT 20120712.2, 20160622.1).

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: Martin Gengenbach, October 2010; Jennifer Coggins, June 2016

Encoded by: Martin Gengenbach, October 2010; Gergana Abernathy, June 2016

Finding aid updated in October 2013 by Amanda Loeb because of addition.

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.

• Education, Higher--North Carolina--History.
• General education--North Carolina--History.
• John Calvin McNair lectures.
• Judaism--Study and teaching (Higher)--North Carolina--Chapel Hill.
• Lectures and lecturing--North Carolina--History.
• Religion--Study and teaching (Higher)--North Carolina--Chapel Hill.
• Tyson, Ruel W., 1930-
• Universities and colleges--North Carolina--Departments.
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill--Curricula.
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill--Faculty.
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill--Graduate work.
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill--History.
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Carolina Center for Jewish Studies.
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Department of Religion.
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Department of Religious Studies.

• Office of the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Records (#40076), University Archives, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• Bernard Henry Boyd Papers (#4029), Southern Historical Collection, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• John W. Dixon Papers (#4510), Southern Historical Collection, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• Arnold S. Nash Papers (#4910), Southern Historical Collection, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• Ruel W. Tyson Papers (#5568), Southern Historical Collection, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• University Archives started archiving selected websites of the academic and business units of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the University of North Carolina General Administration, and student groups and organizations at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in January 2013. To see if websites for this department or related departments have been archived visit University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Harvested Websites (#40417).

In June 1946, the university's Board of Trustees authorized establishment of a chair of religion, which they stated might lead to a department. That fall, James A. Gray, chair of the board of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, committed $250,000 to endow "religious instruction" at the university. In June 1947, Arnold Nash was appointed chair of the Department of Religion. He was the sole member of the department until 1950, when Bernard H. Boyd was hired as the James Gray Professor of Biblical Literature. For more on the founding and early years of the department and on the philosophies of the men involved, see David L. Weaver-Zercher's article "Visions in Conflict: The Department of Religion at the University of North Carolina, 1947-1960" in The North Carolina Historical Review, October 2007.

The department was part of the College of Arts and Sciences and was under the shared authority of the college's Division of Humanities and Division of Social Sciences. Initially, it offered courses in Biblical history, literature, and languages to upper-level undergraduates. As the department grew, course offerings expanded to include studies of Buddhism, Hinduism, African religions, medieval Christian studies, philosophy and psychology of religion, and the ancient Near East. In 1978, the Department of Religion established a master of arts program, which it had sought to do since its founding. In 1984, the Department of Religion formally changed its name to the Department of Religious Studies, in part to recognize the expanding range of courses and studies offered and in part anticipating the addition of a doctoral program in religious studies in 1985. The department hosted a major symposium in 1998 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of its founding. Titled "Religion and Culture in the 21st Century," the symposium featured a plenary address by American religious historian Martin Marty.

In 2000, the Department of Religious Studies assumed responsibility for the John Calvin McNair lectures, which had been one of the responsibilities of the faculty Established Lectures Committee. Inaugurated in 1906, the lecture series focused on the relationship between science and theology. It attracted negative attention in the early 1980s when an examination of the language in the bequest seemed to indicate that only men were to be considered as speakers. The McNair lectures were discontinued in 2004, after McNair family members objected to the selection of that year's speaker. The remaining lecture funds were transferred to the Presbyterian Church.

The Department of Religious Studies was a member of the Committee for Judaic Studies, a cooperative venture with Duke University that was formalized in December 1972. Following a generous contribution from the Blumenthal Foundation, the original committee was discontinued in 1987 and, over the next few years, reorganized around an undergraduate minor in Jewish studies. Faculty of the Department of Religious Studies also played a significant role in the creation of the Carolina Center for Jewish Studies in 2003.

Names and tenures of department chairs in the period covered by the records are listed below. Dates were taken from curricula vitae and departmental correspondence.

Records of the Department of Religious Studies consist of materials related to the administration and operation of the department and to its programs, curricula, and faculty. Included are meeting minutes; departmental newsletters; annual reports; correspondence; budgets and financial materials; course proposals; and curricula vitae, profiles, and other materials related to activities of the faculty. Also included are materials related to lectures, conferences, and colloquia hosted or sponsored by the department. The bulk of these materials pertains to the John Calvin McNair lectures, for which the department assumed responsibility in 2000. There are also materials related to the creation of a program in Judaic studies within the department and other items concerning the creation of the Carolina Center for Judaic Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2003. The Addition of October 2013 consists of files of Ruel W. Tyson chiefly related to his activities as a faculty member in the department's religion and culture concentration but also including reports, correspondence, and other materials related to the administration of the department. The Addition of June 2016 consists of annual reports, meeting minutes, newsletters and correspondence relating to the administration of the department.