Restrictions to Access

Restricted. May be read for information only. Permission to cite, copy, or publish must be requested from Victor Stuart Vance of Chapel Hill.

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 Rupert Bayless Vance papers #4014, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Received from the North Carolina Collection, UNC-CH Library, in 1971, and from Rheba U. Vance of Chapel Hill in February 1977 and February 1990.

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.

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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--20th century.
• Davidson, Donald, 1893-1968.
• Odum, Howard Washington, 1884-1954.
• Sociology--Study and teaching--North Carolina.
• Southern States--Economic conditions.
• Southern States--Social conditions.
• University of North Carolina (1793-1962)--Faculty--History--20th century.
• University of North Carolina (1793-1962). Institute for Research in Social Science--History.
• Vance, Rupert Bayless, 1899-
• Woodward, C. Vann (Comer Vann), 1908-1999.

• HOWARD WASHINGTON ODUM PAPERS (#3167)
• GUY BENTON JOHNSON PAPERS (#3826)

Rupert Bayless Vance was born in 1899 in Plummerville, Arkansas. He received a masters degree in economics from Vanderbilt University, then, in 1926, joined the faculty of the Sociology Department of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He remained at Chapel Hill for forty years, playing a leading role in the introduction of the sociological study of the South.

Vance was a prolific writer, publishing seven books and hundreds of articles. Through his writings, teaching, and public appearances, he made it clear that he was not only interested in the analysis of social problems. Following the lead of his mentor Howard W. Odum, Vance often went beyond analysis, daring to suggest solutions and urging the South to embrace economic, political, and social progress. Vance's approaches to his work evolved along with the discipline of sociology, and, in the 1950s and 1960s, he concentrated on new statistical methods and demography.

Vance's interests and activities ranged beyond sociology. He served, for example, on the governing board of the University of North Carolina Press and was active in community work. Rupert Vance died on 25 August 1975.

For additional information see sketches of Vance by Edgar T. Thompson in The Encyclopedia of Southern History and by Elizabeth McGehee in Encyclopedia of Southern Culture (1989).

These papers chiefly relate to Rupert Vance's career as a sociologist. The extent of the collection is disappointing. According to his wife, this is partly explained by the fact that Vance routinely discarded incoming correspondence Some incoming correspondence survives, however, especially from the early and later years, and there is enough material to give a sense of the range of Vance's professional interests.

• P-4014/1-4