Sam Ragan Papers, 1948-1998

Access restrictions

Some materials from this collection have restrictions.
See restrictions

Summary

Creator:
Ragan, Sam, 1915-
Abstract:

Papers document the career of Samuel Talmadge Ragan (1915-1996), a white journalist, poet, and patron of the arts in North Carolina. Ragan was managing and executive editor of the News and Observer (Raleigh, N.C.), 1948-1969 and editor and publisher of The Pilot (Southern Pines, N.C.), 1969-1996. He served as the first secretary of the North Carolina Department of Art, Culture, and History from 1972 to 1973, and was also chair of the North Carolina Arts Council, chair of the North Carolina Writers' Conference, and president of the Friends of Weymouth, which operates the Weymouth Center for Arts and Humanities in Southern Pines. In 1982, he was named Poet Laureate of the state of North Carolina by Governor James B. Hunt. Correspondence files include materials relating to newspaper organizations, the North Carolina Arts Council, North Carolina Writers' Conference, North Carolina Writers' Network, and the Weymouth Center for the Arts and Humanities. Subject files include information about the Freedom of Information Act and on the Free Press-Fair Trial confrontation of 1968, along with correspondence from various North Carolina writers. Writings include materials regarding Ragan's The Tree in the Far Pasture (Blair, 1964), typescripts of commentaries from "Sam Ragan Reports," which aired on WTVD television in Durham, and drafts of works by other writers. There are also materials relating to Ragan's tenure at the News and Observer, typescripts of the columns, and letters to the editor used on the editorial page of The Pilot. Financial information chiefly relates to the The Pilot. Also included are photographs of Sam Ragan alone and with others and audio and video recordings of North Carolina Writers' Conference banquet dinners.

Extent:
32,600 items (51.5 linear feet)
Language:
English.
Library Catalog Link:
View UNC library catalog record for this item

Background

Biographical / historical:

Samuel Talmadge Ragan was born in Berea in Granville County, N.C., in 1915. He was graduated from Atlantic Christian College in 1936 and was awarded a Doctorate of Literature from there in 1972. Ragan served as the first secretary of the North Carolina Department of Art, Culture, and History from 1972 to 1973. He wrote two award winning collections of poetry, The Tree in the Far Pasture in 1964 and To the Waters Edge in 1971, along with several works of non-fiction and prose. In 1982, he was named Poet Laureate of the state of North Carolina by Governor James B. Hunt, Jr. He could be seen on television giving commentaries on WUNC-TV and doing "Sam Ragan Reports"on WTVD in Durham.

Ragan was active in the promotion of literature and the arts in North Carolina. He was chair of the North Carolina Arts Council, a member of the founding commission and original Board of Trustees of the North Carolina School of the Arts, president of the North Carolina Literary and Historical Association, and president of Friends of Weymouth, which operates the Weymouth Center for Arts and Humanities in Southern Pines. Additionally, Ragan chaired the North Carolina Writer's Conference; conducted workshops for writers at North Carolina State University for nine years; and served on the faculties of St. Andrews College, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina State University, and Sandhills College.

For twenty years, Ragan served as managing editor and executive editor of the News and Observer in Raleigh, N.C. When Katherine Boyd gave up ownership of The Pilot, a weekly newspaper in Southern Pines, N.C., Ragan took over as editor. For 27 years, Ragan edited and published The Pilot and continued to publicize and promote North Carolina writers by publishing more book reviews and literary news than most larger papers. Ragan died at his home in Southern Pines on 11 May 1996 after a long illness.

Scope and content:

These papers primarily document Sam Ragan's participation in the journalism profession and his role as patron of the arts in North Carolina. There is only a small amount of material related to his own poetry. Correspondence files include materials from professional newspaper associations, such as the North Carolina Associated Press News Council and the Associated Press Managing Editors Association, and from organizations devoted to the arts, particularly the North Carolina Arts Council and North Carolina Writers' Conference. Later correspondence files include applications for the Writers In Residence Program at Weymouth Center in Southern Pines. Frequent correspondents are Doris Betts, Virginia Love Long, Heather Ross Miller, and Thad Stem, Jr. among others.

Subject files include materials relating to the Freedom of Information Act and the Free Press-Fair Trial confrontation of 1968. There is a significant amount of material regarding the North Carolina Arts Council, North Carolina Writers' Conference, North Carolina Writers' Network, and Weymouth Center. Subject files also contain correspondence from writers, including Doris Betts, Charles Edward Eaton, Paul Green, Bernice Kelly Harris, Heather Ross Miller, and Charleen Swansea, along with literary works submitted for publication in The Pilot.

Writings authored by Sam Ragan include manuscripts of the poems, correspondence, and production materials for A Tree in the Far Pasture (Blair, 1964). There are typescripts of and note cards from speeches on various newspaper and literary topics as well as introductions. Also included are book reviews, editorials, and other works written for The Pilot and the News and Observer. Works by Joe Clarke, Edward Dixon Garner, Heather Ross Miller, Ovid Williams Pierce, Thad Stem, Jr., Nell Joslyn Styron, and Ross Talarico are also included. There are materials relating to Heres to the Land: A Celebration of 60 Years by the North Carolina Poetry Society (North Carolina Poetry Society, 1992) and Weymouth: An Anthology of Poetry (St. Andrews Press, 1987).

There are also typescripts of the columns and letters to the editor used on the editorial page of The Pilot. There is financial information relating to the News and Observer, The Pilot, and Ragan's personal finances. Also included are photographs chiefly of Sam Ragan alone and with others and audio and video recordings of North Carolina Writers' Conference banquet dinners. Recordings are on audiocassette, 1/4" open reel audio, and VHS.

Additions of 2002 and 2007 include material similar in nature to the original deposit. Additions have not been integrated.

Acquisition information:

Received from Samuel T. Ragan of Southern Pines, N.C., in September 1987 (Acc. 87072), May 1994 (Acc. 94073), and June 1996 (Acc. 96095); Charles Blackburn in April 1999(Acc. 98356); transferred from Duke University in April 2002 (Acc. 99221); and received from Chapel Hill Rare Books in September 2007 (Acc. 100851).

Processing information:

Processed by: Jackie Dean, 1998.

Encoded by: Jackie Dean and Linda Sellars, 1998

Updated by: Noah Huffman, 2008; Anne Wells and Melanie Meents, August 2021

In 2017, we began using "white" as an ethnic and racial identity for individual and families, in addition to "Black," "African American," "Jewish," and other familiar identity terms that we have used for decades in collection descriptions. We use this identity term so that whiteness is no longer the presumed default of the people represented in our collections. To determine identity, we rely on self-identification; other information supplied to the repository by collection creators or sources; public records, press accounts, and secondary sources; and contextual information in the collection materials. Omissions of ethnic and racial identities in finding aids created or updated after August 2017 are an indication of insufficient information to make an educated guess or an individual's preference for identity information to be excluded from description. When we have misidentified, please let us know at wilsonlibrary@unc.edu.

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:

Access to audio or moving image materials may require production of listening or viewing copies.

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 Sam Ragan Papers #04490, 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