Restrictions to Access

No restrictions. Open for research.

Restrictions to Use

No usage restrictions.

Copyright Notice

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 Joseph Hyde Pratt Papers, #2169, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Received from Mrs. Joseph Hyde Pratt and Joseph Hyde Pratt Junior between 1942 and 1952.

Additional materials received from Joseph Hyde Pratt Junior of Rochester, Minn., January 1991 (Acc. 91015).

Additional Descriptive Resources

A copy of the original finding aid for this collection is filed in folder 1a.

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: SHC Staff

Encoded by: Noah Huffman, December 2007

Updated by: Kate Stratton and Jodi Berkowitz, September 2009

This collection was rehoused and a summary created with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

This finding aid was created with support from NC ECHO.

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.

• College teachers--North Carolina--History.
• Conservation of natural resources--North Carolina--History.
• Geological Survey (U.S.)--History--20th century.
• Geology--North Carolina--Surveys.
• Geology--Study and teaching (Higher)--North Carolina--History.
• Mines and mineral resources--North Carolina.
• North Carolina Geological Survey (1883-1905)
• North Carolina Geological and Economic Survey--History.
• North Carolina. State Geologist.
• Pratt, Joseph Hyde, 1870-1942.
• Roads--North Carolina--History--20th century.
• University of North Carolina (1793-1962)--Faculty--History.

• North Carolina Geological Survey Papers (#2306); Mary Bayley Pratt Papers (#3888).

Joseph Hyde Pratt (1870-1942), a native of Hartford, Conn., received his bachelor's degree from the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale University in 1893. In 1892 and in subsequent summers he was employed by the North Carolina Geological Survey, with S. L. Penfield and under Joseph Austin Holmes, North Carolina state geologist. In the winters he did graduate work in chemistry and mineralogy and taught at Yale and Harvard universities. He received his Ph.D. in 1896.

In 1897 Pratt was briefly general manager of the Toxaway Company in Jackson County, N.C., and at the same time became mineralogist to the North Carolina Geological Survey and a consulting mining engineer. He was lecturer in mineralogy at the University of North Carolina, 1898-1901, and professor of economic geology at the university, 1904-1925.

Pratt served as the North Carolina state mineralogist, 1897-1906; was acting state geologist in the absence of Joseph Austin Holmes, 1905; and was state geologist, 1906-1923. He was also secretary of the North Carolina Good Roads Association, 1905-1920; and was sometime president of the North Carolina Drainage Association, North Carolina Forestry Association, Southern Appalachian Power Conference, and North Carolina Conference for Social Service; secretary of North Carolina Fisheries Association; and participated actively in other such organizations at the state, regional, and national level. He also wrote and published in his field and was retained by numerous mining companies as consulting engineer. From 1918 to 1919 he served with the 105th Engineers, 30th Division, American Expeditionary Force.

Pratt was also one of the organizers of the Made-in-Carolina Association, 1922; was president of Western North Carolina, Inc., 1925-1927; member of Appalachian Forest Research Council and Southern Forestry Congress; and engineer-consultant for the United States Geological Survey in the 1930s, serving sometime in Washington, D.C., and sometime as regional consultant in Chapel Hill, N.C.

The collection includes professional correspondence, 1915-1942, scientific writings, reports, notes, clippings, programs, pamphlets, bulletins, releases, and other material. Much material is related to the North Carolina Geological Survey, 1897-1906; to the Geological and Economic Survey, 1906-1923; to his work as professor of geology at the University of North Carolina, 1898-1925; and to his work as engineer-consultant for the United States Geological Survey in the 1930s. Also included are materials related to the North Carolina good roads movement and to various organizations for conservation and development of fisheries, forests, minerals, water, and other resources. There are also several maps of wartime-France and a training manual related to Pratt's enlistment with the 105th Engineers, 30th Division, American Expeditionary Force, 1918-1919.

• Oversize volume (SV-2169/12)