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This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held in the Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in our reading room, and not digitally available through the World Wide Web. See the Duplication Policy section for more information.
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Collection Overview
| Size | 5 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 2500 items) |
| Abstract | The collection of Laura Spivey Massie (1912-2001), a white social worker and civil rights activist in Lexington, Ky., contains scattered correspondence, clippings, notes, journals from the 1970s and 1980s with brief entries, and personal items such as collected poems and her report cards from Agnes Scott College. Materials from the 1960s reflect her civil rights work as coordinator of the Lexington Committee on Religion and Human Rights and as a participant in voter registration work in Selma, Ala., through the Summer Community Organization and Political Education project (SCOPE) sponsored by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). The Addition of August 2020 includes materials from Laura Spivey Massie and William K. Massie, including civil rights materials, family correspondence, documents, and photographs and slides, as well as information about a surgical technique using the Massie Sliding Nailplate method. |
| Creator | Massie, Laura Spivey, 1912-2001. |
| Curatorial Unit | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection. |
| Language | English |
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Information For Users
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Processing Information
Processed by: Laura Hart, February 2018
Encoded by: Laura Hart, February 2018
Updated by: Laura Hart, February 2021; Flannery Fitch, Davia Webb, and Laura Smith, October 2023
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Subject Headings
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.
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Related Collections
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Biographical Information
| 1912 | Born Laura Jarman Spivey on 29 May 1912 to Emma Jarman Spivey and Thomas C. Spivey in Eatonton, Ga. |
| 1929-1933 | Attended Agnes Scott College in Decatur, Ga., where she participated in interracial meetings at Atlanta University (a historically black university) with her professor, rural sociologist and civil rights proponent Arthur Franklin Raper. |
| 1935-1936 | Met William K. Massie, Jr., in Chicago, Ill., at the World's Fair. They married in 1936. |
| 1930s | Studied social work at the University of Chicago and the Presbyterian Training School in Richmond, Va., where she earned a master's degree. Worked in the Massachusetts Reformatory for Women in Framingham, Mass., as a social worker while William Massie attended Harvard Medical School. |
| 1937 | Birth of her daughter Laura Spivey Massie. |
| 1942 | Birth of her daughter Lucy Logan Massie. |
| 1942-1945 | William K. Massie, M.D., served in the U.S. Army as an orthopedist. He was stationed in England. |
| 1945 | Birth of her son William Kenney Massie. |
| 1952 | Massie family moved to Lexington, Ky. |
| 1954 | Birth of her son Robert Jarman Massie. |
| late 1950s | William K. Massie, M.D., developed the "Massie I" and Massie II" orthopedic sliding nails for treating fractured hips. |
| 1960s | Participated in the civil rights movement in Lexington, Ky. |
| 1965 | Participated in a voter registration drive in Selma, Ala., through the Summer Community Organization and Political Education Project (SCOPE) organized by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). |
| 1965 | Honored by the Lexington (Ky.) chapter of the National Conference of Christians and Jews for her role as coordinator of the Lexington Committee on Religion and Human Rights. "The Committee was established in 1963 to fight racial and religious discrimination. It worked for open housing, non-discrimination in public accommodations, voting rights, and integration of the University of Kentucky athletic teams, among other civil rights goals." (University of Kentucky Library's finding aid for the Lexington Committee on Religion and Human Rights Records (http://kdl.kyvl.org/catalog/xt7w3r0psf0f/guide). Accessed 1 February 2018.) |
| 1981 | William K. Massie, M.D., died on 10 June 1981. |
| 2001 | Died in Napa, Calif., on 9 March 2001. |
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Scope and Content
The collection of Laura Spivey Massie (1912-2001), a white social worker and civil rights activist in Lexington, Ky., contains scattered correspondence, clippings, notes, journals from the 1970s and 1980s with brief entries, and personal items such as collected poems and her report cards from Agnes Scott College. Materials from the 1960s reflect her civil rights work as coordinator of the Lexington Committee on Religion and Human Rights and as a participant in voter registration work in Selma, Ala., through the Summer Community Organization and Political Education project (SCOPE) sponsored by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). The Addition of August 2020 includes materials from Laura Spivey Massie and William K. Massie, including civil rights materials, family correspondence, documents, and photographs and slides, as well as information about a surgical technique using the Massie Sliding Nailplate method.
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Series Quick Links
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Papers, 1919-2017 and undated.
| Folder 1 |
Report cards for Eatonton Public Schools (Georgia), 1919-1928 |
| Folder 2 |
Report cards for Agnes Scott College (Georgia), 1929-1933 |
| Folder 3 |
Clippings, 1926Pertain to the death of an adolescent Margaret Walls of Eatonton, Ga. Photographs of Walls are included. |
| Folder 4 |
Clippings, 1981-2004 and undatedIncludes a 2004 New York Times article about the Lexington, Ky., newspaper The Herald-Leader and its intentional lack of coverage during the 1960s of the local and state civil rights movement. |
| Folder 5 |
Journal, December 1974-January 1975Brief journal entries about daily activities. |
| Folder 6 |
Appointment book, 1976 |
| Folder 7 |
Journal, 1982Brief journal entries about daily activities. |
| Folder 8 |
Journal, 1983Brief journal entries about daily activities. |
| Folder 9 |
Journal, June 1984 |
| Folder 10 |
Narrative about Summer Community Organization and Political Education (SCOPE) in Selma Ala., circa 1965-1966Laura Spivey Massie's personal narrative about her participation in the SCLC sponsored voter registration drive in Selma, Ala., the summer following the Selma to Montgomery Marches in 1965. Massie alludes to the marches in her narrative and also comments on the murder of Viola Liuzzo during those demonstrations. Liuzzo, a white woman from Detroit, Mich., was shot and killed while seated in a car with a young black man, who was providing transportation for demonstrators. |
| Folder 11 |
Memorial materials for William K. Massie, Jr., 1981 |
| Folder 12 |
Memorial materials for Laura Spivey Massie, 2001 |
| Folder 13 |
Notes and miscellaneous, 1940, 1958 and undatedIncludes a list of "1940 Best Books." |
| Folder 14 |
Correspondence, 1926-1936Chiefly letters to Laura Spivey (Massie) from her mother. Includes two letters from William K. Massie, Jr. to his mother and father. |
| Folder 15 |
Correspondence, 1946Letters to Laura Spivey Massie and William K. Massie, Jr., from Ruth. |
| Folder 16 |
Correspondence, 1957-1958Chiefly letters to Laura Spivey Massie from Lucy Logan Massie (Phenix). |
| Folder 17 |
Correspondence, 1963-1969Scattered letters chiefly to Laura Spivey Massie, some concerning civil rights and the Lexington Committee on Religion and Human Rights. In a 29 June 1966 letter Presbyterian minister James W. Angell writes from Los Angeles, Calif: "I miss the influence of your life upon mine....I often think of you as I try to find my place in the Human Rights Struggle as it is being waged in L.A. I have come to know a few of the leaders and to take a little part in what's going on. We are quite aways [sic] from Watts but very near to Venice which is the second hottest spot in town. I hate to see the Stokely Carmichaels-with their shouts of 'black power' taking over but that seems to be what's happening. Malcolm X is definitely the hero of many of the young. Fortunately there are some strong sane voices like Paul Cortes." |
| Folder 18 |
Correspondence, 1977-1982Scattered letters to Laura Spivey Massie. |
| Folder 19 |
Correspondence, 1993-1999Includes a letter with the salutation "Dear friends of Laura Massie" concerning Massie's move to an adult care home and her attendance at a program for people with Alzheimer's disease and dementia. |
| Folder 20 |
Correspondence, undated |
| Folder 21 |
Loose papers, undatedIncludes "Actual Quotations From Letters Received By The Kentucky Department of Welfare" compiled by Laura Spivey Massie. |
| Folder 22 |
Biographical information, 2001 and undated |
| Folder 23 |
Biographical notes compiled by Lucy Massie Phenix, circa 2017 |
| Folder 24 |
Poems, undated |
| Folder 25 |
"Poems by Mary Sallee Milledgeville, Ga." undated |
| Folder 26 |
Poems by Dorthy E. De Zouche, undated |
| Folder 27 |
"Christmas Thoughts in Song" (booklet), 1971 |
| Folder 28 |
"Selected Poems," by William Kenney (Buck) Massie (copy), 1941 |
| Audiocassette C-5770/1 |
"Poems by W.K. Massie Tape I," undatedUse of audio cassette requires the production of a listening copy. |
| Audiocassette C-5770/2 |
"Poems Vol 2," undatedUse of audio cassette requires the production of a listening copy. |
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Addition of August 2020, 1960s-2000s
Acquisitions Information: Accession 20211210.2.
The Addition of August 2020 includes materials from Laura Spivey Massie and William K. Massie, including civil rights materials, family correspondence, documents, and photographs and slides, as well as information about a surgical technique using the Massie Sliding Nailplate method.
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Items Separated