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.
Size | 6.5 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 4,300 items) |
Abstract | Educator, educational historian, and child labor reformer Charles L. Coon taught in Lincoln County and Charlotte, N.C., and served as superintendent of schools in Salisbury, N.C., 1903; as superintendent of African American normal schools in North Carolina, 1904-1906; as chief clerk of the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, 1907; and as superintendent of schools in Wilson and Wilson County, N.C., 1907-1927. Correspondence and writings include material related to Coon's work as an educator and education reformer, including his efforts to improve education for African Americans, especially regarding funding and teacher training. Topics in education include curricula; the establishment of a school for the mentally handicapped; adoption of textbooks; teacher training, certification, and evaluation; farm life schools; legislation for mandatory school terms; professional ethics; school athletics; school financing; and Coon's work for the Bureau of Information of the Southern Education Board, the North Carolina Teachers Assembly, North Carolina African American normal schools, and the schools of Salisbury, N.C., and Wilson County, N.C. Also included are materials about child labor reform; social services; Coon's work with the North Carolina Child Labor Committee and the Wilson Welfare League; pacifism and peace movements; juvenile crime, especially as it relates to illiteracy; and the establishment of a tuberculosis hospital for African Americans. Prominent correspondents include Booker T. Washington, Charles Brantley Aycock, Clarence Poe, A. J. McKelway, and Claude Kitchin. Educational materials include collected articles on education; notes on the history of education; and subject files on various topics in education, information about North Carolina schools and teachers, and teaching and testing materials. In addition, there are documents pertaining to Coon's historical research, especially the educational history of North Carolina; materials regarding residents of Mecklenburg County, N.C., 1775-1874; and clipping files, chiefly related to education. |
Creator | Coon, Charles L. (Charles Lee), 1868-1927. |
Curatorial Unit | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection. |
Language | English |
Processed by: SHC Staff and Jessica Sedgwick, August 2008
Encoded by: Jessica Sedgwick, August 2008
Updated by: Nancy Kaiser, October 2020
Back to TopThe 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.
Charles Lee Coon (1868-1927) was an educator, educational historian, and child labor reformer. Born 25 December 1868 near Lincolnton, N.C., Coon was the eldest of nine children of David A. Coon and Frances (Hovis) Coon. The family was of German ancestry and the name Coon was originally spelled Kuhn. Coon joined the Lutheran Church at age twelve and attended the neighborhood schools and Concordia College in Conover, N.C. He edited the Lincoln Democrat, 1895-1896, and was a journalist for the Charlotte Observer, 1896-1899. In the 1890s, he also taught school in Lincolnton, at Concordia College, and in Charlotte, N.C. While in Charlotte, he was engaged in historical research for Daniel A. Tomkin's History of Mecklenburg County and the City of Charlotte: From 1740 to 1903. Coon was married to Carrie Louise Sparger of Mount Airy, N.C., on 21 October 1903. They had three children: Frances Elizabeth, Mary Moore, and Charles Lee Coon.
Coon served as superintendent of schools in Salisbury 1899-1903, and in 1903 went to Knoxville, Tenn., to do publicity work for the Southern Education Board, editing 20 issues of Southern Education. From 1904 to 1906, he acted as superintendent of North Carolina African American normal schools, and during 1907 was chief clerk in the office of the North Carolina Superintendent of Public Instruction. In 1907, Coon moved to Wilson, N.C., and remained there as a public school administrator for the rest of his life, serving as superintendent of Wilson City Schools, 1907-1927, and as superintendent of Wilson County Schools, 1913-1927. He was president of the Wilson Welfare League in 1914; secretary of the North Carolina Child Labor Committee, 1906-1916, president of the North Carolina Teachers Assembly in 1911, and was a member of the editorial board of the North Carolina Historical Review, 1924-1927. He authored numerous newspaper and magazine articles, addresses, teachers' manuals, and was the editor of educational documents published as The Beginnings of Public Education in North Carolina, 1790-1840, and North Carolina Schools and Academies, 1790-1840. He received the LL. D. degree from the University of North Carolina in 1926 and was president-elect of the State Literary and Historical Association of North Carolina when he died on 23 December 1927.
Back to TopThe collection contains correspondence, writings, biographical materials, educational materials, historical research and related materials, and clippings.
Sample item:
Correspondence and writings include material about Coon's work as an educator and education reformer. Materials relate to Coon's efforts to improve education for African Americans, particularly regarding funding and teacher training. Topics in education include curricula; the establishment of a school for the mentally handicapped; adoption of textbooks; teacher training, certification, and evaluation; farm life schools; legislation for mandatory school terms; professional ethics; school athletics; school financing; and Coon's work for the Bureau of Information of the Southern Education Board, the North Carolina Teachers Assembly, North Carolina African American normal schools, and the schools of Salisbury, N.C., and Wilson County, N.C. Also included are materials about child labor reform; social services; Coon's work with the North Carolina Child Labor Committee and the Wilson Welfare League; pacifism and peace movements; juvenile crime, especially as it relates to illiteracy; and the establishment of a tuberculosis hospital for African Americans. Prominent correspondents include Booker T. Washington, Charles Brantley Aycock, Clarence Poe, A. J. McKelway, and Claude Kitchin. Also of note are letters and clippings related to Coon's controversial 1909 address, "Public Taxation and Negro Schools," given at the Twelfth Conference for Education in the South in Atlanta, Ga. Biographical information on Coon is also included as is a bibliography of Coon's writings, speeches, and addresses.
Educational materials include collected articles on education; notes on the history of education; information about North Carolina schools and teachers; book lists; and subject files on topics such as textbook adoption, anti-hookworm campaigns, and teachers' duties. Teaching and testing materials include sample lesson plans, copies of tests, outlines, Coon's suggestions for teaching various subjects, and other items used in the training of teachers. Scrapbooks are of clippings, images, and stories used by Coon as teaching tools.
Historical research and related materials collected by Coon in his research on North Carolina history include transcribed excerpts, copies of documents, and notes from Colonial Records, State Records, Laws of North Carolina, and various North Carolina newspapers on such topics as education, religion, Germans in North Carolina, slave codes, the establishment of North Carolina common schools, the Literary Fund, textbooks, institutes, and the administration of State Superintendent Calvin H. Wiley. Also included are documents created by residents of Mecklenburg County, N.C., probably collected while Coon was engaged in research for Daniel A. Tompkins's History of Mecklenburg County and the City of Charlotte: From 1740 to 1903.
Clippings are of newspaper articles concerning Coon's activities and interests, primarily regarding education, child labor reform, juvenile crime, and peace movements in North Carolina, including articles authored by him. There are also clippings of responses to addresses given by Coon, namely "The Need of a Constructive Educational Policy for North Carolina" and "Public Taxation and Negro Schools." Also included are a few scattered broadsides and pamphlets.
Back to TopArrangement: chronological.
Correspondence is professional in nature and focuses primarily on Charles L. Coon's involvement in education and child labor reform. Interfiled with correspondence are writings on related topics. Prominent correspondents include Booker T. Washington, Charles Brantley Aycock, Clarence Poe, A. J. McKelway, and Claude Kitchin.
Topics in education include the education of African Americans, especially the betterment of North Carolina African American normal schools and the proposed racial division of school funds; curricula; the establishment of a school for the mentally handicapped; adoption of textbooks; teacher training, certification, and evaluation; farm life schools; legislation for mandatory school terms; professional ethics; school athletics; school financing; the history of education; courts and school support; statistical research on southern education; libraries; tests and measurements; college English; educational campaigns in Louisiana and Tennessee; Coon's connection with schools in Franklinton and Wilson, N.C., in the 1850s; adult illiteracy; and Wake Forrest summer school. Materials also reflect Coon's work as the superintendent of schools in Salisbury, N.C., 1899-1903; head of the Bureau of Information of the Southern Education Board in 1903; superintendent of North Carolina African American normal schools, 1904-1906; president of the North Carolina Teachers Assembly in 1911; and superintendent of Wilson city schools, 1907-1927, and of Wilson County schools, 1913-1927. Materials from 1909 relate to Coon's controversial address, "Public Taxation and Negro Schools," given at the Twelfth Conference for Education in the South in Atlanta, Ga.
Topics in child labor reform include Coon's activity in campaigns for state regulation, such as his work as secretary of the North Carolina Child Labor Committee, 1906-1916, associate member of the National Child Labor Committee, and his support of the bill to establish the Federal Children's Bureau. There are also related materials on working conditions in mills, especially in Reidsville, N.C., filed among 1911 materials.
Other topics discussed include public health, especially the founding and financing of the Negro Tuberculosis Sanatorium in Wilson, N.C., 1912-1917; pacifism and peace movements; historical research; juvenile crime, especially as it relates to illiteracy; racial prejudice; welfare work, especially with the Wilson Welfare League, of which Coon was president in 1914; Coon's wartime experience as chaplain for the United States Army; national defense; evolution; tax reform; and transportation.
The digitized indexes and bibliography referred to in Additional Descriptive Resources above can be used to locate materials in this and other series. For a more detailed folder list, refer to the original finding aid for this collection in Folder 1.
Folder 1 |
Biographical materialsIncludes a copy of the original finding aid for this collection, biographical data on Charles L. Coon, and a bibliography of Coon's writings. |
Folder 26 |
Correspondence and writings, 1903-1905 |
Folder 27 |
Correspondence and writings, 1906-1908 |
Folder 28 |
Correspondence and writings, 1909Included is material related to Charles L. Coon's controversial address, "Public Taxation and Negro Schools," given at the Twelfth Conference for Education in the South in Atlanta, Ga. The address presented statistics demonstrating that African American education was not a burden on white tax payers and also commented on what impact the proposed racial division of school funds would have on African American education. |
Folder 29-30
Folder 29Folder 30 |
Correspondence and writings, 1910 |
Folder 31-36
Folder 31Folder 32Folder 33Folder 34Folder 35Folder 36 |
Correspondence and writings, 1911Includes address given by Charles L. Coon as president of the North Carolina Teachers Assembly on "The Need of a Constructive Educational Policy for North Carolina." |
Folder 37-41
Folder 37Folder 38Folder 39Folder 40Folder 41 |
Correspondence and writings, 1912 |
Folder 42-45
Folder 42Folder 43Folder 44Folder 45 |
Correspondence and writings, 1913 |
Folder 46-47
Folder 46Folder 47 |
Correspondence and writings, 1914 |
Folder 48-50
Folder 48Folder 49Folder 50 |
Correspondence and writings, 1915 |
Folder 51-53
Folder 51Folder 52Folder 53 |
Correspondence and writings, 1916 |
Folder 54-56
Folder 54Folder 55Folder 56 |
Correspondence and writings, 1917 |
Folder 57-58
Folder 57Folder 58 |
Correspondence and writings, 1918 |
Folder 59-61
Folder 59Folder 60Folder 61 |
Correspondence and writings, 1919 |
Folder 62-65
Folder 62Folder 63Folder 64Folder 65 |
Correspondence and writings, 1920 |
Folder 66 |
Correspondence and writings, 1921 |
Folder 67 |
Correspondence and writings, 1922 |
Folder 68-69
Folder 68Folder 69 |
Correspondence and writings, 1923 |
Folder 70-71
Folder 70Folder 71 |
Correspondence and writings, 1924 |
Folder 72-75
Folder 72Folder 73Folder 74Folder 75 |
Correspondence and writings, 1925 |
Folder 76-82
Folder 76Folder 77Folder 78Folder 79Folder 80Folder 81Folder 82 |
Correspondence and writings, 1926 |
Folder 83-87
Folder 83Folder 84Folder 85Folder 86Folder 87 |
Correspondence and writings, 1927 |
Folder 88-89
Folder 88Folder 89 |
Correspondence and writings, 1928 |
Arrangement: By subject and material type.
Educational material includes collected articles on education; notes on the history of education; information about North Carolina schools and teachers; book lists; and subject files on topics such as textbook adoption, anti-hookworm campaigns, and teachers' duties. Teaching and testing materials include sample lesson plans, copies of tests, outlines, Charles L. Coon's suggestions for teaching various subjects, and other items used in the training of teachers. Scrapbooks are of clippings, images, and stories used by Coon as teaching tools.
Note that most of these files were removed from their original binders, with the original contents and arrangement preserved. The digitized indexes and bibliography referred to in Additional Descriptive Resources above can be used to locate materials in this and other series.
Folder 25 |
"Declaration against Illiteracy" drafts and other materialsIncludes information on schools in Wilson, N.C., and Locke Township, Rowan County, N.C. |
Folder 90 |
Notes and writings on North Carolina educational and social history |
Folder 93 |
Copies of magazine articles, primarily on education, 1917-1926 |
Folder 94 |
Social service in Wilson County, N.C., 1910-1914 |
Folder 95 |
Textbook adoption, 1916-1917Includes mostly newspaper clippings |
Folder 96 |
List of North Carolina teachers, circa 1896 |
Folder 97 |
Evaluation of teachers |
Folder 98-99
Folder 98Folder 99 |
School administration in Wilson County, N.C., 1913-1917Includes topics such as attendance, anti-hookworm campaign, school census, school terms, "moonlight schools," teachers' duties, and taxes. |
Folder 100 |
High school organization, Wilson County, N.C., 1927-1928 |
Folder 101-103
Folder 101Folder 102Folder 103 |
Book lists and library materials, 1920's |
Folder 104-106
Folder 104Folder 105Folder 106 |
Supplementary books, 1926? |
Folder 107 |
Teaching and testing materials, 1911-1917? |
Folder 108-112
Folder 108Folder 109Folder 110Folder 111Folder 112 |
Testing materials, 1920sIncludes some standardized tests, information on teaching Latin, and results of the Sheboygan percentage test. |
Folder 113-114
Folder 113Folder 114 |
Teaching and testing materials: Arithmetic |
Folder 115-118
Folder 115Folder 116Folder 117Folder 118 |
Teaching materials: History, geography, and current events. |
Folder 119 |
Teaching materials: Bible study |
Folder 120 |
Teaching materials: English |
Folder 121-131
Folder 121Folder 122Folder 123Folder 124Folder 125Folder 126Folder 127Folder 128Folder 129Folder 130Folder 131 |
Teaching materials: Reading and language |
Folder 132-133
Folder 132Folder 133 |
Teaching materials: Spelling |
Folder 134-138
Folder 134Folder 135Folder 136Folder 137Folder 138 |
Teaching materials: OtherIncludes suggestions by Charles L. Coon on teaching of spelling, history, current events, reading, science, and health. Also included are sample lesson plans and information on supervision and teachers homes. |
Folder 139 |
Teacher examinations, 1909, 1913, 1917Includes "An Exhibit of Wilson County Teachers' Errors in English, 1924-1925" |
Folder 163 |
Scrapbook, 1897-1898 (formerly Volume 2)Scrapbook of examples of bad grammar and diction made while Charles L. Coon was living in Lincolnton, N.C., and Charlotte, N.C. Also included are thoughts on the status of the teaching profession. |
Folder 164 |
Scrapbook, 1900 (formerly Volume 3)"Little People of Other Lands"; contains clipped pictures of people from various parts of the world with a few stories and poems. |
Folder 165-166
Folder 165Folder 166 |
Scrapbooks, 1900-1901 (formerly Volumes 4 and 5)Two notebooks with clipped poems and stories for children. |
Folder 167 |
"Teachers' meetings" scrapbook, 1901-1902 (formerly Volume 6)Contains book lists for libraries and teachers, and advertisements of various publishing companies. |
Folder 168 |
Notebook, 1902-1903 (formerly Volume 7)Includes information on a course of study and textbooks Charles L. Coon drew up while Superintendent of Salisbury Public Schools. Also includes notations on work of teachers at institutes in 1904 at Elizabeth City, N.C., and Onslow County, N.C. |
Folder 169 |
Scrapbook, 1905-1907 (formerly Volume 8)Contains magazine and newspaper clippings on various aspects of teaching and education. |
Folder 174 |
Notebook, 1918-1919 (formerly Volume 13)A study of the World Speller, made by Wilson, N.C., city and county teachers in an attempt to improve the quality of teaching spelling and phonetics. |
Folder 175 |
Notebook, 1927 (formerly Volume 14)Charles L. Coon's roll book at Wake Forrest Summer School. |
Folder 177 |
Arithmetic book, 1862 (formerly Volume 16)Includes a note from Charles L. Coon saying that this manuscript was copied from a Warrenton school boy. |
Oversize Volume SV-177/1-2
SV-177/1SV-177/2 |
Scrapbooks: Clippings and pictures on North Carolina history, especially Mecklenburg County (formerly Volumes 18-19). |
Oversize Volume SV-177/3 |
Scrapbooks: Clippings and pictures on the Spanish-American War (formerly Volume 20) |
Oversize Volume SV-177/4 |
Scrapbooks: Clippings and pictures on the Spanish-American War and American and English Victorian writers (formerly Volume 21) |
Arrangement: chronological.
Material collected by Charles L. Coon in his research on North Carolina history, including transcribed excerpts, copies of documents, and notes from Colonial Records, State Records, Laws of North Carolina, and various North Carolina newspapers on such topics as education, religion, Germans in North Carolina, slave codes, the establishment of North Carolina common schools, the Literary Fund, textbooks, institutes, and the administration of State Superintendent Calvin H. Wiley. Also included are manuscripts documents created by residents of Mecklenburg County, N.C., probably collected while Coon was engaged in research for Daniel A. Tompkins's History of Mecklenburg County and the City of Charlotte: From 1740 to 1903, and several volumes and photographs.
The digitized indexes and bibliography referred to in Additional Descriptive Resources above can be used to locate materials in this and other series. For a more detailed folder list, see the original finding aid in Folder 1 of this collection.
Folder 2-24
Folder 2Folder 3Folder 4Folder 5Folder 6Folder 7Folder 8Folder 9Folder 10Folder 11Folder 12Folder 13Folder 14Folder 15Folder 16Folder 17Folder 18Folder 19Folder 20Folder 21Folder 22Folder 23Folder 24 |
Historical research materialsMaterial collected by Charles L. Coon in his research on North Carolina history, including transcribed excerpts, copies of documents, and notes from Colonial Records, State Records, Laws of North Carolina, and various North Carolina newspapers on such topics as education, religion, Germans in North Carolina, slave codes, the establishment of North Carolina common schools, the Literary Fund, textbooks, institutes, and the administration of State Superintended Calvin H. Wiley. |
Folder 91 |
Notes on Germans in North Carolina, undated |
Folder 92 |
Notes and draft of article on Germans in North Carolina and German names, undated |
Folder 140 |
Documents from Mecklenburg County, N.C., 1775-1854 |
Folder 141 |
Documents, 1790-1853 |
Folder 142 |
Documents: Harris Family, 1815-1851 |
Folder 143 |
Documents: Gilbert Cowles, 1836-1839 |
Folder 144 |
Documents: A. Hamilton Martin, 1847, 1868-1874 |
Folder 162 |
Ledger: General merchandise, of John S. Davis, Spring Cove, N.C., 1850-1859 (formerly Volume 1) |
Folder 176 |
New Jerusalem Church Record, 1766-1874 (formerly Volume 15)Records of a Lutheran church, originally in Rowan, later in Davie County, N.C. |
Folder 178 |
The Catechism of Health Translated from the German of Doctor Faust, by Thomas Henderson, 1812 (formerly Volume 17) |
Image Folder PF-177/1 |
PhotographsIncludes photographs of T. J. Holton, R. H. Morrison, the tombstone of Grizie Polk, and unidentified men |
Arrangement: chronological.
Clippings of newspaper articles concerning Charles L. Coon's activities and interests, primarily regarding education, child labor reform, juvenile crime, and peace movements in North Carolina, including articles authored by him. There are also clippings of responses to addresses given by Coon, chiefly "The Need of a Constructive Educational Policy for North Carolina" and "Public Taxation and Negro Schools." Also included are a few scattered broadsides and pamphlets and a bibliography of Coon's writings, many of which can be found chronologically filed in these clipping files. Note that there are also clippings in the Educational Materials series, in scrapbooks put together by Coon as instructional tools.
The digitized indexes and bibliography referred to in Additional Descriptive Resources above can be used to locate materials in this and other series.
Folder 145 |
Bibliography and clippingsContains a copy of a self-bibliography made by Charles L. Coon in 1926. Many of the writings listed can be found either in these clipping files or filed chronologically among correspondence. Also included are clippings on the establishment of various schools, 1841-1885. |
Folder 146 |
Clippings, 1894, 1897 |
Folder 147 |
Clippings, 1898-1899 |
Folder 148 |
Clippings, 1900-1908 |
Folder 149 |
Clippings, 1909Includes articles published in response to Charles L. Coon's address at the 12th Conference for Education in the South, "Public Taxation and Negro Schools." |
Folder 150 |
Clippings, 1910 |
Folder 151 |
Clippings, 1911 |
Folder 152 |
Clippings, 1912 |
Folder 153 |
Clippings, 1913 |
Folder 154 |
Clippings, 1914 |
Folder 155 |
Clippings, 1917-1918 |
Folder 156 |
Clippings, 1919 |
Folder 157 |
Clippings, 1920-1923 |
Folder 158 |
Clippings, 1924-1925 |
Folder 159 |
Clippings, 1926 |
Folder 160 |
Clippings, 1927, 1930-1931 |
Folder 161 |
Clippings, undated |
Folder 170 |
Scrapbook, 1910-1916 (formerly Volume 9)Contains clippings on child labor reform in North Carolina and on the activity of the North Carolina Child Labor Committee. |
Folder 171 |
Scrapbook, 1910-1911 (formerly Volume 10)Contains clippings on juvenile crime in North Carolina. |
Folder 172 |
Scrapbook, 1911 (formerly Volume 11)Contains clippings that comment on Charles L. Coon's address before the North Carolina Teachers Assembly, "The Need of a Constructive Educational Policy for North Carolina." |
Folder 173 |
Scrapbook, 1916-1917 (formerly Volume 12)Contains clippings of Charles L. Coon's reports to the local press on Wilson County, N.C., school news. |