Restrictions to Access

No restrictions. Open for research.

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 A. L. M. Wiggins papers #4301, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Received from Joseph L. Wiggins of Hartsville, S.C., in March 1982 and from the University of Louisville in August (Acc. 92123) and September (Acc. 92137) 1992, and May 1993 (Acc. 93056).

Gift of the Ekstrom Library, University of Louisville, in August 1992.

Gift of the Ekstrom Library, University of Louisville, in September 1992.

Gift of the Ekstrom Library, University of Louisville, in May 1993.

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: Benjamin H. Trask, July 1987 and subsequent additions

Encoded by: ByteManagers Inc., 2008

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.

• American Bankers Association.
• American Telephone and Telegraph Company.
• Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Company.
• Banks and banking--United States--Societies, etc.
• Horace Williams Philosophical Society.
• Louisville and Nashville Railroad Company.
• National Society for Crippled Children and Adults.
• Railroads--Management.
• Railroads--United States--History--20th century.
• Telephone companies--United States--History--20th century.
• Wiggins, A. L. M. (Archibald Lee Manning), 1891-

• Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Records (#4572).

Archibald Lee Manning Wiggins (1891-1981) was born in Durham, North Carolina, the son of Archie Lee and Margaret London Council Wiggins. In 1913, he graduated from the University of North Carolina. Two years later he married Pauline Lawton of Hartsville, South Carolina. The Wiggins family settled in Hartsville where Lee Wiggins began a business partnership with David R. Coker (1870-1933). Coker developed the Pedigreed Seed Company with the assistance of Wiggins (see The Encyclopedia of Southern History, 1979). By 1938, Wiggins had served as treasurer and business manager of the company, as well as general manager of J. L. Coker & Company, and organizer of Coker's Wholesale Company.

In addition to his ties with Coker, Wiggins held several positions with the Bank of Hartsville and purchased a publishing company that published The Hartsville Messenger. Wiggins also served as president of the Southern Retail Merchants Conference in Richmond. During the Depression, he was president of the South Carolina Independent Merchants Association, the South Carolina Bankers Association, and the South Carolina Federation of Commerce, Agriculture and Industry. He was also a member of the Federal Reserve Council and chairman of the Deposit Liquidation Committee for South Carolina.

In 1941, Wiggins started a seventeen-year tenure as a lecturer at the Graduate School of Banking at Rutgers University. Two years later, he was elected president of the American Bankers Association. From 1942 until 1960, Wiggins was a member of the A.B.A.'s committee on governmental borrowing. Shortly after World War II, Wiggins severed all business connections and resigned from his numerous positions to become undersecretary of the United States Treasury, an office he held from January 1947 until July 1948. Wiggins returned to private business as the chairman of the Board of Directors of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad and Louisville and Nashville Railroad Companies, and director of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company. At the age of seventy, Wiggins retired from the railroad post but continued to fill various advisory roles.

Throughout his life, Wiggins dedicated much of his time, money, and financial expertise to a variety of charities and public service organizations, including the American Cancer Society, the American Red Cross, and state and national crippled children societies. He was greatly concerned with the quality of ducation in the South, donating money to his alma mater, serving as chairman of the Darlington County Board of Education from 1934 to 1942, chairing the South Carolina governor's task force on education, and holding membership in the Horace Williams Society.

For all of Wiggins's accomplishments and contributions he received a wealth of awards and honorary degrees. In 1940, he earned a certificate for distinguised service to agriculture from the Clemson Agricultural College (Clemson University). Coker College of South Carolina presented him with the Algernon Sydney Award. Additionally, he accepted honorary degrees from Campbell College, Duke University, and the Universities of North Carolina and South Carolina. Finally, in 1971, he was inducted into the Wisdom Hall of Fame.

Over half of these papers are items received or generated by A. L. M. Wiggins, 1935-1960. This material includes letters, notes, reports, newspaper clippings, telegrams, and speeches concerning various business and governmental pursuits of Wiggins. Almost all the letters written by Wiggins are typed carbon copies. Along with his many corporate interests, this collection contains material on the development of the South Carolina educational system, crippled children societies, donations to the University of North Carolina, and membership in the Horace Williams Society.

This collection does not have any material related to Wiggin's early life in North Carolina, at the University of North Carolina, or as a young businessman in Hartsville, South Carolina. There are very few letters from family members, and no information concerning his involvement with the American Cancer Society or the American Red Cross. Also, the collection holds nothing covering his role as an educator at Rutgers University, and few items concerning his position as undersecretary of the Treasury.

Along with this group of materials housed at the Southern Historical Collection, other papers of A. L. M. Wiggins are held at the Hartsville, South Carolina Historical Society and the University of Louisville's collection of Louisville & Nashville Railroad Records. Further information on Wiggins may be found in his autobiography titled the Autobiography of A. Lee M. Wiggins (Columbia, S.C.: R. L. Bryan Co., circa 1969).

Materials relating to the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad and other ventures. Also personal correspondence.

Albemarle Papers Manufacturing Company, 1956

ALICO Land Development Corporation, 1962 (2 folders)

American Bankers Association, 1948-1954

American Telephone and Telegraph, 1954-1957 (5 folders)

Atlantic Coast Line Railroad

Hartsville Office, 1953-1955

New building, 1958-1960

Miscellaneous (2 folders)

Atlantic Land and Improvement Company, 1951-1958 (3 folders)

Carolina Power and Light Company, 1958

Kingsport, Tenn., 1951-1952

Lawton, Joe and Edgar, 1948-1957

Peninsula and Occidental Steamship Company, 1949-1958

Personal Correspondence, 1952-1953 (2 folders)

Public Relations, 1958 (2 folders)

South Carolina Governor's Tax Advisory Committee, 1951-1955 (8 folders)

South Carolina Reorganization Committee, 1948-1954

United States Chamber of Commerce, 1949-195

• P-4301/1-2