Frank Porter Graham Papers, 1908-1990

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Summary

Creator:
Graham, Frank Porter, 1886-1972.
Abstract:

Frank Porter Graham was president of the University of North Carolina, a U.S. senator, and a United Nations official.

The collection includes correspondence, congressional and campaign files, speeches and other writings, notes, photographs, sound recordings, and other materials documenting the personal and professional life of Frank Porter Graham. Included are materials reflecting his service as president of the University of North Carolina, 1930-1949; U.S. senator from North Carolina, 1949-1950; United Nations representative in the dispute between India and Pakistan; and in various other capacities during the New Deal, World War II, and the Cold War. The papers reflect Graham's interests and activities in education, race relations and civil rights, labor arbitration, southern regional development, international mediation, and other southern and national liberal concerns. The addition of 1994 includes materials relating to Dr. Frank: The Life and Times of Frank Porter Graham (1994), a documentary biography film by John B. Wilson Jr., and Martin Clark for the Arts and Sciences Foundation of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of North Carolina Center for Public Television. Included are logs documenting contents of video tapes, typed transcriptions of parts of interviews with Frank Porter Graham and others, and video tapes in various formats. Among the topics covered are civil rights; race relations; education, with emphasis on Graham's career at the University of North Carolina; and Graham's political activities and government service. Included are interviews with several persons involved in the bloody 1950 senatorial campaign. Persons important in these materials include Warren Ashby, William B. Aycock, Augustus Merrimon Burns, Julius L. Chambers, John Hope Franklin, William C. Friday, Alexander Heard, Douglass Hunt, Charles Kuralt, William Edward Leuchtenburg, Benjamin Elijah Mays, Claude Pepper, Julian M. Pleasants, Julian M., John L. Sanders, Terry Sanford, J. Carlyle Sitterson, Mack Smith, William D. Snider, George Brown Tindall, Willis P. Whichard, Tom Wicker, and Edwin Yoder. Materials in other additions are similar to those in the original deposits.

Extent:
102,400 items (168.5 linear feet)
Language:
Materials in English
Library Catalog Link:
View UNC library catalog record for this item

Background

Biographical / historical:
Date Event
1886
Born 14 October, Fayetteville, N.C., son of Katherine Sloan and Alexander Graham
1909
Received A.B. from University of North Carolina
1910
Licensed to practice law in North Carolina
1911-1913
English teacher at Raleigh High School
1914-1916
Instructor of history, UNC
1916
Received M.A. from Columbia University
1917-1919
U.S. Marine Corps private (mustered out as first lieutenant)
1920-1921
Assistant professor, UNC; head of statewide campaign for funding a program for state institutions
1921-1927
Associate professor, UNC; member of the President's Committee on Education; twice president of the North Carolina Conference of Social Service (sponsored and prepared first worker's compensation act in North Carolina); founded Citizens' Library Movement of North Carolina
1927-1930
Professor of history, UNC
1930-1932
President of UNC (Chapel Hill)
1931
Served on commission that wrote plan for consolidation of North Carolina State College, Women's College, and the University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill)
1932-1949
President of the Consolidated University of North Carolina
1932
Married Marian Drane
1934
Chair of the National Advisory Council of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Security
1941-1942
Member of the National Defense Mediation Board
1942-1946
Public member of the National War Labor Board; member of the Maritime War Emergency Board
1945
Chair of the Public Hearings Committee of the President's Labor-Management Conference
1945-1946
Chair of the Oil Panel of the President's Labor-Management Conference
1946-1947
Member of the President's Committee on Civil Rights
1947-1948
U.S. representative on the United Nations Committee of Good Offices in the Dutch Indonesian Dispute; president of the National Association of State Universities
1949-1950
U.S. senator; appointed after death of J. Melville Broughton
1950
Lost primary campaign for U.S. Senate to Willis Smith
1951
Defense Manpower Administrator for U.S. Department of Labor
1951-1968
U.N. Representative in the dispute between India and Pakistan
1952-1969
Chair of the Board of the National Sharecroppers Fund
1954-1963
Board member of American Association for the United Nations
1961-1962
President of board of directors of the Civil Liberties Foundation
1962-1964
Chair of the Carolina Charter Tercentenary Committee
1963-1965
Chair of the National Advisory Committee on Area Redevelopment
1967
27 April, Marian D. Graham died
1968
Retired from responsibilities at the United Nations
1972
16 February, Frank Porter Graham died
Scope and content:

These papers document virtually every aspect of the adult life of Frank Porter Graham, although his professional activities are more thoroughly documented than his private and family affairs. Early correspondence was apparently destroyed in a 1928 fire at the home of Edward K. Graham. Graham's official papers as president of the University of North Carolina are in the University Archives (General Administration: Office of the President Records: Frank Porter Graham Series).

Series 1 is the largest series in this collection (almost 77 cubic feet). Arranged by calendar year from 1920 to 1972 and then by subject, Series 1 provides the most substantial documentation of Graham's personal and professional life. The arrangement of this series closely follows the arrangement established by Graham himself. The original order of the material in Series 2 was also largely maintained.

These papers were processed in two separate projects. Subseries 1.1, Yearly Files for the period 1920-1943, was processed in 1968-1971. Materials in the other series were processed in 1985. Additions received after 1989 are maintained separately.

The first processing project generated an exhaustive index of names in Subseries 1.1. This index is at the Southern Historical Collection.

Acquisition information:

Received from Frank Porter Graham. Additions received from Manuscripts Department, Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in December 1990 (Acc. 90155); John B. Wilson, Jr., in October 1994 (Acc. 94159); an anonymous donor in December 1997 (Acc. 97166); William Geer of Pittsboro, N.C., in March 1998 (Acc. 98060); an anonymous donor in December 1999 (Acc. 98522); Mary Ellen Bierk of Chapel Hill, N.C., in August 2000 (Acc. 98717); John Parker of Chapel Hill, N.C., in September 2000 (Acc. 98742); Grady L. E. Carroll of Morehead City, N.C., in September 2001 (Acc. 99080); Mary Alice Dorton of Chapel Hill, N.C., in June 2004 (Acc. 99805); Jerry Sidney Lanier of Stanley, N.C., in November 2007 (Acc. 100815); Sally Coe of Chapel Hill, N.C., in June 2008 (Acc.100947); Joff Coe of Chapel Hill, N.C., in September 2008 (101031); and Sarah Lindsay Tate of in August 2010 (Acc. 101326).

Processing information:

Processed by: SHC Staff

Encoded by: Lynn Holdzkom, September 2000

Additions received after 1989 have not been integrated into the original deposit of materials. Researchers should check the descriptions of these additions for materials potentially of interest.

Portions of this collection have been digitized as part of "Content, Context, and Capacity: A Collaborative Large-Scale Digitization Project on the Long Civil Rights Movement in North Carolina." The project was made possible by funding from the federal Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS) under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA), as administered by the State Library of North Carolina, a division of the Department of Cultural Resources.

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.

Access and use

Restrictions to access:

Addition of 1994 RESTRICTED: permission from the donor must be obtained for uses other than personal research.

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:

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], in the Frank Porter Graham Papers #1819, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Special Collections Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Location of this collection:
Louis Round Wilson Library
200 South Road
Chapel Hill, NC 27515
Contact:
(919) 962-3765
wilsonlibrary@unc.edu