Correspondence and Loose Papers, 1886-1915

Biographical Information

Addresses

1886-1913: Correspondence chiefly concerns the state of Georgia and deals with illiteracy and crime, country churches, rural-urban population comparisons and Georgia county studies. Also includes speeches and essays concerning farm tenancy, "Know-Your-Home-State" clubs, the "Georgia Club, " good roads, and African American farm ownership.

1914: Correspondence deals with Branson's recommendation by the University of North Carolina Board of Trustees to the University faculty as Professor of Rural Economics and Sociology, Branson's acceptance of the invitation, and housing arrangements in Chapel Hill, N.C., for the Branson family. Other correspondence concerns Orange County, N.C., studies, long-term and low-interest farm mortgage loans, problems of race relations, effects of World War I on education and agriculture, agricultural systems in the South, community service work, farm tenancy, rural credit, the merchant-supply system, the North Carolina Club, the Orange County Club, Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) work, land ownership, and child labor. There are also reports on a survey Branson made of the Wisconsin Agricultural College and speeches made by Branson at various high schools in North Carolina.

1915: Includes correspondence concerning murder by lynching, rural credit legislation, child labor, child welfare, farm cooperatives, sanitations surveys, African American land ownership, Orange County, N.C., home and health surveys, school and church surveys, farm tenancy, the North Carolina Club, the Commission on Race Relations, the Southern Educational Council, the Chattanooga Conference for Education and Industry, the Phelps-Stokes Fund, the North Carolina State Bureau of Publicity, the University of North Carolina newsletter, typhoid fever, illiteracy, tariff policy, the crop lien law, compulsory military training, education for the blind and deaf, agriculture systems, urban problems, homicides, religious beliefs, farmers' union, handling surplus agricultural products, "open-air schools," university extension work, prohibition, the Jeans Fund, and speeches made by Branson at county fairs.

Correspondence, 1916-1918

1916: Includes correspondence concerning murder by lynching, immigration, rural schools, child labor, race relations, the University of North Carolina faculty, property taxes, farm tenancy, African American schools, roads and convict labor, rural churches, the presidency of Agricultural and Mechanical College, YMCA work, the Country Life Institute, summer school in Mississippi, African Americans in Orange County, N.C., farm conditions in Mississippi, the Farm Land Loan Board, crime in the United States, conditions in textile mills, African American education in Louisiana, meat inspection in North Carolina, Massachusetts illiteracy, flood disasters, speech by Governor Locke Craig, preventive medicine, and speeches by Branson for the Twin City Club at Columbia University.

1917: Includes correspondence related to African Americans in Orange County, N.C., cooperative extension work, African American schools, murder by lynching, the University of North Carolina News Letter, social service legislation, roads in Orange County, N.C., rural church problems, YMCA work, tax valuation and collection, farm tenancy, effects of World War I on agriculture, illiteracy, effects of World War I on education, the Country Life Institute, Northern migrations of African Americans, proposal for unicameral legislature, venereal disease, Liberty Loan Bonds, cooperative farming, the North Carolina Council of Defense, conservation of food, county government studies, the North Carolina Club, juvenile delinquency, salaries and fees, the Orange County (N.C.) Food Administration, plans for a school of social work, equal suffrage, and speeches by Branson at the Rural Welfare Conference, Flatrock Baptist Association in Denison, Va., and in Army camps in Georgia and South Carolina.

1918: Includes correspondence concerning glassmaking during World War I, county government, North Carolina schools, road building, Know-Your-Home-State clubs, education of mill village children, use of convict labor for the war effort, home demonstration work, YMCA work, African American schools, North Carolina Club, rural church work, World War I publicity campaign, the University Commission on Race Relations, the North Carolina Council of Defense, serach for an African American "draft dodger," the National Committee on Country Life, the Student Army Training Corps, Liberty Loan Bonds campaign, appointment of Branson to the Army Overseas Education Commission, murder by lynching, readjustment problems of veterans, death of E. K. Graham, and work of Southern Publicity Committee for better race relations.

Correspondence, 1918-1920

1919: Includes correspondence concerning the League of Enforced Peace, the National Country Life Association Conference, proposal of Harlan Fiske Stone for president of the University of North Carolina, African American wage earners, social work in rural communities, Branson's job offer from the University of Virginia, educational work with American Expeditionary Force, appointment of Branson as Kenan Professor of Rural Economics, the League of Nations, African American rights, the National Social Work Conference, bolshevism, appointment of Branson as director of War Saving Stamps, the Smith-Hughes Act, property taxes, meeting of Inter-Racial Committee, the Public Ownership League of America, the State Reconstruction Commission, farm tenancy, attempts to get Howard Odum to come to the University of North Carolina, public health in New Hanover County, N.C., a school of public welfare at the University of North Carolina, and progressive property tax.

January-June 1920: Includes correspondence concerning race relations, social work, the Southern Sociological Congress, Howard Odum's arrival at the University of North Carolina, water power development in North Carolina, National Social Work Conference, plans for School of Public Welfare, influenza epidemic, jail conditions in Rutherford County, attempts to get North Carolina Press Association to meet in Chapel Hill, recommendation by Branson of Frank Porter Graham for interracial work with the YMCA, legislation to accelerate organization of farmers, censorship of motion pictures, and beginning of Public Welfare Institute at Chapel Hill.

Correspondence, 1920-1921

July-December 1920: Includes correspondence concerning the Orange County, N.C., church survey, the State and County Council, community service schools, departmental budget, health problems of North Carolina, the American Country Life Association, election of Branson as president of North Carolina Conference of Social Service, loss of Branson's papers in Georgia, large and small farms, agreement by Branson to serve on executive board of the American Civic Association and the National Municipal League, finances for Social Science Building, and rural population.

January-June 1921: Includes correspondence concerning the North Carolina Good Roads Movement, state government finance, murder by lynching, water power development in North Carolina, increase of racial prejudice in the South, the American Country Life Association, the University of North Carolina newsletter, cooperative farming, and inter-church movement, vacation by Branson in Ontario, Calif., army desertion, bonds for school improvement, and speeches at Southern California Sociological Society in Los Angeles, Calif., and at the University of California at Ontario.

Correspondence, 1921-1923

July-December 1921: Includes correspondence concerning illiteracy, farm to city migration, county government, the North Carolina Club, tuberculosis in North Carolina, Bible study in college, income taxes, Branson's philosophy as illustrated in his work, the American Country Life Association, and Farmers' Week at Tuskegee, Ala.

January-June 1922: Includes correspondence discussing corporate law in North Carolina, illiteracy in North Carolina, home ownership in mill villages, effect of boll weevil on crops, cooperative unions, taxes in North Carolina, credit unions, Branson's appointment to the Commission on County Government, tax on securities, conditions at state prisons, the State Farm Tenancy Commission, and consolidation of secondary schools.

July-December 1922: Includes correspondence concerning tax reforms, incorporation of rural communities, freedom of speech at the University of North Carolina, money and credit, attitudes toward the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) a white supremacist and domestic terrorist organization, Branson's selection to serve on Committee of American Political Science Association, good roads program in North Carolina, and the scientific theory of evolution and religion.

1923: Includes correspondence concerning property taxes in North Carolina, farm tenancy, credit unions, federal aid to education, mill village life, the Giles agricultural bill, women students at the University of North Carolina, the Land Settlement Commission, Branson's departure for Europe, German cities and farms, comparison of Denmark with North Carolina, Danish folk high schools, industrial development in North Carolina, and credit union laws of North Carolina.

Correspondence, 1923-1925

1924: Includes correspondence discussing rural credit unions, Branson's return to the United States and the University of North Carolina, finance of North Carolina government, reports of the Port Commission, diversified farming, agricultural education, the cash rent contract system in the South, cooperative marketing, property taxes, Branson's leave of absense to teach summer school at Logah, Utah, establishment of the Institute for Research in Social Science, taxes on farms, road building in North Carolina, county government studies, Wilmington Port Bill Campaign, a freight-rate discrimination controversy, water transportation, county manager plan of government, and comments on Branson's book Farm Life Abroad.

1925: Includes correspondence concerning farm taxes, rural credit in North Carolina, and industrial commission report, rural depopulation, jail conditions in North Carolina, Branson's interest in being appointed Ambassador to Denmark, Branson's appointment to the board of the North Carolina Department of Conservation and Development, farm tenancy, summer school at Auburn, Ala., scientific theory of evolution and the Scopes Trial, compliments on Branson's book, and research in county government.

Correspondence, 1926-1929

1926: Includes correspondence concerning tenancy and crime, cooperative farming, declining financial condition of Athens, Ga., Country Life Academy at Star, N.C., land speculation in Florida, religious fundamentalism and the Ku Klux Klan, county government, public waterways and port terminals, railroad and freight rates, lawlessness and crime in Orange County, N.C., sickness and death of Branson's sister-in-law in his home, and corporation and property taxes.

1927: Includes correspondence discussing the handling of cotton surplus, the North Carolina tax system, the state constitutional convention, adult illiteracy, landlessness and crime, African American voting in the South, North Carolina dairy farming, the State County Government Commission, county government studies, the Sacco-Vanzetti case, bank failures in North Carolina, the death of Branson's friend A. P. Bourland, the Social Reclamation Conference in Washington, D.C., and land reclamation projects.

1928: Includes correspondence concerning reclamation of farm land and planned rural development, county government, Mormonism, the candidacy of Al Smith for the American presidency, "Search and seizure, " diversified farming, tenancy in the South, bank failures in Georgia, discussion of Andrew Johnson's paternity, alcoholic control laws, nomination of Herbert Hoover for president, inheritance and estate taxes, crop conditions in the South, an illness, and election loss of Al Smith.

1929: Includes correspondence concerning tax delinquency, reclamation of farmland, the Poole Bill to abolish the county government advisory commission, mobility of white tenant farmers in the Virginia-Carolina cotton belt, the Crisp-McKellar bill to organize farm communities, mill strikes, farm forecasting, county government studies, trial of labor organizers in death of a Gastonia, N.C., police chief, an automobile accident involving Branson's family, water supply competition in North Carolina, North Carolina's cooperation with other Southern states on county government studies, and a survey of Chapel Hill, N.C.,'s mosquito and malaria control.

Correspondence, 1930-1949

1930: Includes correspondence discussing the Simmons-Whittington Bill, farm diversification, the University of North Carolina News Letter, decreasing land values in Florida, worsening agricultural conditions in Georgia, tenant farm failures, county government studies in Mississippi, faculty salaries reduced, local campaign to rid community of flies and mosquitos, labor conditions in cotton mills, a family vacation in Canada, lawsuit related to automobile accident, worsening of national financial situation, and the failure of 56 North Carolina banks.

1931: Includes correspondence concerning farm group activities in the South, cooperative marketing, life in central China, bronchitis and pneumonia epidemic in Chapel Hill, N.C., consolidation of the University of North Carolina, capital punishment, county government studies, more bank failures in North Carolina and Virginia, the Lindberg kidnapping, the Scottsboro case, effect of the Depression on education and politics, commercial and industrial development of Wilmington, N.C., activities at Shanghai University, farm colonies and federal sponsorship, the "back-to-the-farm" movement, discussion of the Federal Reserve Act, automobile accident lawsuit, academic freedom of speech, and the Koonce Plan to relieve national depression.

1932: Includes correspondence concerning the effect of the depression on local community, the University of North Carolina News Letter, economic plans for economic recovery, University of North Carolina faculty salary cuts, farm tenancy in Mississippi, Japanese military activities in Shanghai, China, illiteracy in the South, banking reforms, progressive land tax, Wilmington, N.C., interwaterway development, the Southern Economic Council, population migration to the farms, Purnell Act and agriculture experimental stations, the Roosevelt-Hoover campaign, establishment of the Institute of Government by Albert Coates, money and credit, Rockingham, N.C., strike, the social gospel, consolidation of the University of North Carolina, and southern agriculture diversification.

1933: Includes correspondence discussing the organization of farmers, consolidation of government, the money and banking system, and Branson's illness and death.

1935, 1949: Includes correspondence relating to the disposition of Branson's library and personal papers

Classroom material and Pamphlets, 1896-1932 and undated

Clippings, Pictures, Printed materials, 1895-1933 and undated

Includes ten volumes:

• Volume 1: "Sanitation Survey of University of North Carolina," by Arthur H. London Junior, 1925
• Volume 2: "Education and Crime," 1896, and "The Times of Cromwell," undated, by E. C. Branson
• Volume 3: "Psychology Notes," by E. C. Branson, 1895-1896
• Volume 4: "Dunces and Dawdlers," by E. C. Branson, 1897
• Volume 5: "Dunces and Dawdlers," by E. C. Branson, 1897
• Volume 6: "Dunces and Dawdlers," by E. C. Branson, undated
• Volume 7: "The Mission of the Story," by E. C. Branson, undated
• Volume 8: "A Chance Acquaintance" and "A Soul Stripping Itself," by E. C. Branson, undated
• Volume 9: "A Chance Acquaintance" and "A Stranger Letter," by E. C. Branson, undated
• Volume 10: "Mormon Farm Villages in Utah, Wyoming, and Idaho: Studies of the Home Committees of Students in the Utah Agricultural College," directed by E. C. Branson, 1925

Routine correspondence, 1896-1914 and undated

Undated: Includes correspondence and statistical data relating to county government, illiteracy, and Orange County churches; agricultural and financial survey material; and papers by various people with titles including: "Rural School Extension Work," "The Solution of the Rural School Problems," "The Georgia Club: The Home Mission Aspect," "Rural School Extension Work in Laurens County, Ga.," and "Farm Tenancy in South Carolina."

1896-1913: Includes correspondence relating to illiteracy statistics, cotton export to Japan, Georgia education and agriculture statistics, and the Georgia Club.

1914: Includes statistics on homicides, schools, and Georgia economy; and a list of reference on county government.

Routine correspondence, 1915-1916

1915: Includes statistics and correspondence relating to North Carolina banks, agriculture, and commerical ports; historical statistics on the enslavement of people in North Carolina and North Carolina hospitals; a list of references on county government and results for a survey of Forsyth County churches and Sunday schools.

1916: Includes statistics and other information relating to state bureaus, North Carolina agriculture, banks, the North Carolina Club, county government surveys, and the country church; lists of publications relating to publicity for the states and of social research studies made at the University of North Carolina and a questionnaire relating to the Watauga County, N.C., Farm-Home Study.

Routine correspondence, 1917-1918

1917: Includes correspondence and information regarding county government surveys, North Carolina banks, manufacturing and agriculture, and surveys of Orange County; a list of reference works on county governments; and a paper by C. A. Williams entitled, "County School Studies: Report on Forsyth County."

1918: Includes correspondence relating to the job of surveying counties and to the North Carolina Club; and surveys of church membership in High Point, N.C.

Routine correspondence, 1919

Includes correspondence and information concerning the North Carolina Club, county representatives and county surveys.

Routine correspondence, 1920

Includes correspondence and surveys regarding white churches in Orange County, southern universities and rural improvement projects, and a roster of participants at the State Social Work Conference in Goldsboro, N.C.

Routine correspondence, 1921

Includes correspondence regarding rural electrification, telephones, and making surveys; and a list of Branson's publications.

Routine correspondence, 1922

Includes correspondence concerning county surveys, a paper by E. C. Branson and Dickey, "How Farm Tenants Live", and an outline on the county church.

Routine correspondence, 1922-1923

Includes correspondence regarding various county surveys.

Routine correspondence, 1924

Includes correspondence concerning various county surveys and a report made at the University of Chicago, "1923 Report of Local Community Research."

Routine correspondence, 1925

Includes correspondence discussing the results of various county surveys.

Routine correspondence, 1926-1927

Includes correspondence concerning county surveys, research assistants, and court cases.

Routine correspondence, 1928-1931

1928: Includes material on county surveys; a report on farm taxation; and notes on Carteret County, N.C.

1929: Includes correspondence discussing county surveys; papers entitled, "Data on Arkansas Revenue and State Needs" and "A State Finance Plan for 1929 Legislature."

1930: Includes correspondence and other material concerning county surveys, a survey of the Chapel Hill (N.C.) Mosquito Control, and the Chapel Hill budget for 1929-1930.

1931: Includes correspondence regarding county surveys; questionnaires on German families near Ridgeway, N.C.; and correspondence on the Warren County farm survey.

Routine correspondence, 1931-1933

Includes survey material on credit unions and savings banks.