ABOUT UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES

Scope Welcome to the University Archives web site. The Archives is the repository for the historically valuable, official, unpublished records of both the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the major administrative offices of the University of North Carolina System, headquartered in Chapel Hill. Records date from the founding of the University and include the correspondence of presidents and chancellors, minutes of the Boards of Trustees, reports of faculty committees, and records of the student government, as well as most of the University's academic departments and administrative offices.

The Archives is especially rich in materials related to the following subject areas:

• academic freedom;
• buildings and grounds;
• curriculum development;
• desegregation;
• public higher education;
• medical education;
• Speaker Ban;
• student conduct and discipline (19th century);
• student intellectual life (19th century);
• Title IX;
• town and gown relations.

Campus offices and departments may transfer non-current records (those five or more years old) to University Archives in accordance with an approved records retention and disposition schedule. Once transferred, the records are processed and made available for research.

Information about the Archives' holdings is available in several forms. MARC cataloging records for our record groups are accessible through the UNC-Chapel Hill Libraries online catalog. More detailed information is available in the finding aids we maintain for each record group. All processed record groups have finding aids that can be accessed online through this site.

Access
University Archives is open for research in the Wilson Library. Materials in the Archives are non-circulating. Researchers must register to use materials, but no appointment is necessary. Please bring picture identification.

Background
The University's historical records were initially deposited in the Manuscripts Department's Southern Historical Collection (SHC), founded in 1930. In the early 1950s, the Department began to segregate the large volume of University records from the SHC and, in 1973, created the professional staff position of University Archivist.

In February 1978, Chancellor Ferebee Taylor recognized the University Archives and Records Service as the official repository for University records. Today the Archives includes roughly five million items dating from the founding of the University to recent years.

Oversight of University records retention and disposition began in 1992 after the Manuscripts Department received a grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission. The resulting records retention schedules govern the transfer of selected materials to the Archives and ensure that the Archives receives records of enduring historical value.

Other Resources
Southern Historical Collection: Holdings include the personal and professional papers of numerous University administrators, faculty members, and students.

North Carolina Collection: Holdings include course catalogs, yearbooks, the Daily Tar Heel and other University publications, as well as theses and dissertations, and clippings files.

Photographic Archives: The Photographic Archives is the repository for photographs documenting the University's history. Subject matter includes alumni, athletics, buildings and grounds, military affairs, university and student organizations, faculty and staff, special events, and student activities.

We hope that you find the information on this site helpful. If you have questions about the content of record groups or about the existence of records that you do not find listed, please contact us at:

University Archives
CB# 3926, Wilson Library
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC 27514-8890
Telephone: 919-962-0043
FAX: 919-962-4452
Inquiry Form: http://www.lib.unc.edu/mss/mailref.html