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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 | 84.0 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 66000 items) |
| Abstract | Louis Round Wilson (1876-1979) was librarian and first director of the School of Library Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1901-1932, and dean of the Graduate Library School at the University of Chicago, 1932-1942. From 1901 to 1932, Wilson served on many University of North Carolina committees and was instrumental in founding both the University Press and the Extension Division; he also edited the Alumni Review for twelve years, 1912-1924. When he returned to Chapel Hill from Chicago in 1942, he resumed his many activities at the University, serving on numerous faculty and special University committees until he retired in 1959. He was a consultant to the president of the University from 1959 to 1969. Wilson's papers, which reflect his career as educator, librarian, and writer, contain personal and professional correspondence, memoranda, notes, printed material, clippings, minutes of meetings of both University and professional library association committees, typescripts and reprints of Wilson's published and unpublished works, photographs, and volumes. Volumes include family diaries and albums, as well as writings relating to Wilson's genealogical research about the Wilson, Round, and other families; his role in the administration of the University; and his activities as a professional librarian. There are very few papers pertaining to his years as dean of the Graduate Library School of the University of Chicago. Additions of 1989 and 1997 contain personal correspondence, chiefly with his wife, Penelope Bryan Wright Wilson, and his daughters. |
| Creator | Wilson, Louis Round, 1876- |
| Language | English |
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Information For Users
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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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Biographical Information
Louis Round Wilson (1876-1979) was librarian and first director of the School in Library Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1901-1932, and dean of the Graduate Library School at the University of Chicago, 1932-1942. During the years 1901-1932, Wilson served on many University of North Carolina committees and was instrumental in founding both the University of North Carolina Press and the Extension Division. He also edited the Alumni Review for twelve years, 1912-1924.
Wilson was one of the pre-eminent librarians of his day. In addition to his duties as librarian at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, he was active in state, regional, and national associations. He was an early advocate of public support for libraries in the South and worked with various regional educational associations to establish standards for school libraries. As dean of the Graduate Library School of the University of Chicago, he directed a program in graduate education for librarians which was a milestone in the history of professional librarianship in the United States.
Wilson was a prolific writer throughout his professional career. He contributed many articles to professional and education journals, wrote several books in the field of library science, and was author of two histories of the University of North Carolina.
When Wilson returned to Chapel Hill in 1942, he resumed his many and varied activities in the University. He was appointed to a number of faculty and special University committees until he retired in 1959. He was a consultant to the president of the University of North Carolina from 1959 to 1969.
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Scope and Content
The papers in this collection document Louis Round Wilson's career as educator, librarian, and writer. They contain personal and professional correspondence, memoranda, notes, printed material, clippings, minutes of meetings of University and professioinal library association committees, writings, photographs, and volumes. They contain materials that relate to his genealogical research on the Wilson, Round, and related families; his role in the administration of the University of North Carolina; and his activities as a professional librarian. There are very few papers pertaining to Wilson's years as dean of the Graduate Library School of the University of Chicago.
Additions received in 1989 and 1997 contain family papers, including correspondence between Wilson and his wife, Penelope Bryan Wright Wilson, and his daughters, Penelope, Elizabeth, and Mary Louise.
Wilson had arranged and reorganized his papers some time after 1942. He divided them into three categories: family and personal papers; papers which related to his role in the University of North Carolina; and papers which reflected his activities as a professional librarian. Wilson also maintained a general correspondence file of incoming and outgoing letters that contains substantial material relevant to both the University of North Carolina and professional librarianship. This system was retained in processing and the papers were organized into six series, reflecting separate facets of Wilson's life and work. The additions of 1989 and 1997, which contain family correspondence and other family papers, are filed at the end of the collection.
Personal papers are contained in Series 1 and Series 2. Series 1, Family History, 1833-1977, contains family letters and genealogical material. Series 2, Personal Papers, 1895-1985, contains correspondence, a subject file, and newspaper clippings. Personal correspondence in this series includes letters to and from faculty members of the University of North Carolina and the Graduate Library School of the University of Chicago as well as other correspondence with friends, professional colleagues, and family members.
Series 3, 4, and 5 contain professional papers. Series 3, University of North Carolina, 1901-1976, contains subject files, which reflect Wilson's career and his contribution to the development of the Alumni Association, the University of North Carolina Press, and the Extension Division, as well as his activities as University Librarian. Series 4, General Correspondence, 1915-1976, contains letters to and from University colleagues, librarians, former students, friends, and prominent public figures. Most of it is dated after 1942. Series 5, Professional Librarianship, 1904-1977, contains files that document Wilson's role as one of the notable professional librarians in the United States in the twentieth century. They relate to his activities as librarian, educator, pioneer in the development of school and public libraries in the southern United States, and active member of library associations. There is, however, little material about Wilson's years at the University of Chicago.
Series 6, Volumes, contains writings, papers of the University of North Carolina Library, and volumes of professional material.
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Series Quick Links
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Series 1. Family Papers, 1833-1977.
These family papers were drawn together by Louis Round Wilson when he was compiling a genealogical study of his family. They contain an 1833 letter from Wilson's paternal grandfather, Jethro Starbuck Wilson, which lists the names of his children and gives information about his brothers, Joseph and William Jesse Wilson. There are notes by Louis Round Wilson about the descendants of the people mentioned in the letter. There are also manuscript autobiographical sketches of Jethro Reuben Wilson and Louisa Jane Round Wilson, Wilson's parents. Louisa Jane Wilson's sketch contains descriptions of life in Lenoir, North Carolina, during the Civil War, and an account of her father's trip across Confederate and Union lines when he went back to New York state to claim land belonging to the Round Family. Jethro Reuben Wilson's sketch describes his life as an apprentice in Lenoir, North Carolina. There is one 1836 letter from Wilbur Fisk, president of Wesleyan University, to George Hopkins Round, Wilson's maternal grandfather, and a genealogical record of the Round family of Otsego County, New York, compiled by George Hopkins Round, who had settled in Lenoir, North Carolina.
There is also correspondence about the Hoyle family of Shelby and Lincolnton, North Carolina, the McCants family of South Carolina (Mary Louisa McCants married George Hopkins Round) and the Puette family of Lenoir. There is some correspondence with members of the Puette family who had settled in Glen Flora and Wharton, Texas. There are also some letters which indicate Wilson's kinship with the Worth, Wood, Mendenhall, and Folger families of North Carolina.
These papers also contain information about the Wright family of Coharie, Sampson County, North Carolina, and the Herring family of Duplin County, North Carolina. Mrs. Louis Round Wilson was Penelope Wright and she was descended from the Herring family.
This series also contains Dr. Wilson's personal correspondence with his three brothers and one sister. There are letters from Edwin Mood Wilson, for many years headmaster of the Haverford School; Robert North Wilson, professor of chemistry at Duke University from 1910 until 1948; and George Wood Wilson, an attorney of Gastonia, North Carolina. Alice Wilson, a 1900 graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, taught science at East Carolina's Teacher's College for twenty one years and her letters contain some references to that institution. There is some additional correspondence in this series between Wilson and the children of his brothers.
The volumes in this series include the diary of William Capers Round, Louis Round Wilson's uncle, which he kept when he was a student at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania and during his brief service in the Civil War. There are descriptions of camp life at Camp Pickins in the diary. William Capers Round was killed in the battle of Cold Harbor on June 27, 1862.
Series 1 also includes William Capers Round's autograph book as well as a souvenir album kept by Louisa Jane Round which contains commonplace entries and autographs. There is another autograph album which belonged to Bettie Vaiden Herring Wright, the mother of Mrs. Louis Round Wilson.
Wilson's own small diary and account book for the years 1895-1900 is in this series. There are not many personal entries; the book is largely a running record of expenditures and the payments of a debt owed to his brother Edwin.
Wilson's unpublished volume, "The Jethro Reubens Wilson Family", a very complete narrative genealogical study, is also in this series.
There are a number of photographs of Wilson in this series, taken over a period of years, beginning in 1886.
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Series 2. Personal Papers, 1895-1985.
The first component in this series is Wilson's personal correspondence, arranged chronologically, with friends and professional associates, especially those who were members of the faculties of the University of North Carolina and the Graduate Library School of the University of Chicago. There is correspondence about Wilson's decisions not to accept appointments at the University of Georgia in 1904 and the University of Texas in 1911. There are letters from Wilson to Edward Kidder Graham, written by Wilson when he was a patient at the Trudeau Sanatorium, Saranac, New York, in 1916.
In 1926 Wilson was offered the deanship of the Graduate Library School of the University of Chicago. He corresponded with Max Mason, president of the University of Chicago, and consulted friends in the University of North Carolina and librarians around the United States before declining the offer. In 1932 he was offered the position again, and accepted it. A few months after Wilson moved to Chicago in 1932, a subcommittee of the Board of Trustees of the University of North Carolina recommended him for the position of vice president of the newly consolidated University of North Carolina, with administrative responsibilities for the campus at Chapel Hill. The position never materialized.
Wilson's correspondence for this period, 1931-1933, is extensive. Wilson corresponded with friends in the University of North Carolina and librarians around the United States before he accepted the appointment in Chicago. The letters from friends in Chapel Hill, written to Wilson when it was thought he might return to the University in 1933, are especially significant for the insight they provide into the condition of the University during the depression and the attitude of the faculty to consolidation.
There is little general correspondence for the period 1932-1942. Most of it relates to Wilson's 1935 trip to Europe to attend an international conference of librarians and the several consulting jobs he had at academic libraries during the period.
Wilson returned to Chapel Hill in 1942. The correspondence from then until his death in 1979 deals principally with personal matters, and with Wilson's many and varied interests at the University of North Carolina and in the state.
The second component in Series 2 is a subject file of personal material, including autobiographical notes, memoranda and notes for Maurice F. Tauber, Wilson's autobiographer; letters of appreciation for his various books and articles; birthday letters; and congratulatory letters when the University library was named for Wilson. Much of this material comprised Wilson's self-designated "ego file."
This section of Wilson's papers contains typed copies and reprints of Wilson's articles, reports, essays, book reviews, and speeches, arranged chronologically, under the heading "Papers." Many of these may also be found in the bound volumes of Wilson's papers in Series 6. Series 2 does not contain all of the material found in Series 6, but it does include a few items not in the bound volumes, especially short articles Wilson wrote for the Alumni Review, 1912-1924, and some book reviews he wrote for the Greensboro Daily News in the 1920's.
A third component of Series 2 is a clipping file of newspaper articles either about Wilson or written by him. They are arranged alphabetically by subject.
The correspondents in Series 2 include: William S. Bernard; Kemp D. Battle; William Warner Bishop; Eugene Cunningham Branson; Pierce Butler; Lenoir Chambers; Harry Woodburn Chase; Donald Coney; Robert Diggs Wimberly Connor; Jackson Davis; Frank Porter Graham; Edwin Greenlaw; J.G. deRouhlac Hamilton; Luther Hodges; Robert Burton House; Robert Maynard Hutchins; Gerald Johnson; Federick Keppel; Edgar Knight; August Frederick Kuhlman; William DeBerniere MacNider; Carl Milam; Edwin Mims; Howard W. Odum; M.L. Raney; Maurice F. Tauber; Maurice Van Hecke; Henry M. Wagstaff; Douglas Waples; Carl White; Edwin Mood Wilson; Robert North Wilson.
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Series 3. University of North Carolina, 1901-1976.
Arrangement: alphabetical by subject
These are subject files, alphabetically arranged, which contain correspondence, reports, notes, memoranda, and clippings about the University of North Carolina, 1901-1932, and 1942 to 1979. The files reflect Wilson's activities in a number of different University enterprises, especially the Alumni Association and the Alumni Review, the Extension Division, the University Press, the Development Council, the Plans and Projects Committee of the Faculty Council, the Faculty Retirement Supplementation Fund, the Sesquicentennial Celebration and subsequent study made of the needs of the University (this was essentially an effort at long-range post-war planning), the sequicentennial publications of which Wilson was general editor, and the building of Graham Memorial. There are also files on the many faculty and special University committees on which Wilson served. These files contain correspondence, notes, memoranda, and minutes of committee meetings. See alphabetical list below.
Wilson's files on the University library, the School of Library Science, and the Friends of the Library are also in Series 3.
There are a number of folders in this series labeled "University of North Carolina," which include Wilson's files on the Commission on University Consolidation, 1931-1932, of which he was a member, as well as his files on the Faculty Committee on University Government, 1945-1952. There are other folders with this heading which contain miscellaneous correspondence, memoranda, and notes about University people, buildings and events. This material was brought together by Wilson when he was working on his articles and books about the University of North Carolina.
Series 3 also contains notes, memoranda, and correspondence about Wilson's two histories of the University. The notes for The University of North Carolina, 1900-1930 are alphabetically and topically arranged. Those for The University of North Carolina Under Consolidation, 1931-1963 are arranged by chapter. There are similar files for Wilson's study The University Plans for the Future (the "needs" book) and The Selected Letters of Cornelia Phillips Spencer, which he edited. There are letters, notes, and various drafts of chapters of Wilson's book, Louis Round Wilson's Historical Sketches, filed under the original title of the book, Men and Movements.
While on the staff of the University and a resident of the town of Chapel Hill, Wilson was active in the Methodist Church. He served as chairman of the Board of Stewards for a number of years and helped in the building program of the present University Methodist Church. He helped to start the School of Religion in 1926, which was housed in the Methodist Church, and which was a forerunner of the University Department of Religion. Wilson was one of the founders of the Wesley Foundation in Chapel Hill and served on the Board of Directors for a number of years, retiring in 1965. Wilson's files on the church are located in Series 3.
The final section in Series 3 is a newspaper clippings file of material relating to the University of North Carolina which Wilson kept while he was working on The University of North Carolina Under Consolidation and Louis Round Wilson's Historical Sketches.
University Committees on which Wilson served, with inclusive dates indicating the years of Wilson's appointment to the committees:
| 1915-1932 | Advisory Board |
| 1912-1924 | Alumni Association |
| 1912-1924 | Alumni Review |
| 1955 | University President Appointment Committee |
| 1955-1956 | Chancellor, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Appointment Committee |
| 1953-1954 | Dean, School of Library Science, Appointment Committee |
| 1959-1960 | Dean, School of Library Science, Appointment Committee |
| 1953-1954 | University Librarian, Appointment Committee |
| 1957 | Aycock Installation Committee |
| 1952-1955 | Development Council |
| 1912-1920 | Extension Division |
| 1954-1959 | Faculty Council |
| 1948-1951 | Faculty Retirement Supplementation Fund |
| 1950-1956 | Ford Foundation Grant Committee |
| 1932; 1945-1960 | Friends of the Library |
| 1952-1953 | O. Max Gardner Awards Program Committee |
| 1919-1931 | Graham Memorial Building Committee |
| 1953 | Graphic Arts Committee |
| 1950 | Gray Inaugural Committee |
| 1927-1931; 1946-1948 | Honorary Degrees Committee |
| 1924-1932; 1948-1958 | Institute for Research in Social Science |
| 1951 | Joint Committee of Faculty on Library Needs |
| 1944-1949 | Koch Memorial Theater Committee |
| 1957 | Elisha Mitchell Memorial Committee |
| 1952-1959 | Plans and Projects Committee |
| 1953 | Pro-tem Committee on Educational Television |
| 1952-1954 | Public Occasions Committee |
| 1958 | Relation of University to Board of Higher Education |
| 1943-1946 | Sesquicentennial Celebration |
| 1943-1949 | Sesquicentennial Publications |
| 1953; 1954 | State of the University Conference Committee |
| 1944-1952 | University Government Committee |
| 1922-1932; 1942-1959 | University Press Board of Governors |
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Series 4. General Correspondence, 1919-1977.
Arrangement: alphabetical by name.
This series contains Wilson's incoming and outgoing correspondence with faculty members and professional colleagues at the University of North Carolina, librarians from all over the United States, prominent public figures and friends. The material is arranged alphabetically by name. There are some files of general correspondence, identified only by letter, which are interfiled with the name file. See list below.
This series begins in 1942, with only a few exceptions, notably the correspondence with Harry Woodburn Chase and Howard W. Odum.
It is important to note that prior to 1942 Wilson maintained very few correspondence files. All of his papers, except those mentioned above, were filed by subject. After 1942, however, much of Wilson's correspondence was filed under the name of the correspondent, regardless of the subject of the correspondence. Consequently these correspondence files contain a great deal of material that relates to both the University of North Carolina and professional librarianship.
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Series 4A. Correspondence and Other Papers, 1899-1938 (Additions of 1989).
Acquisition Information: Accession 89075, 89129
Chiefly family correspondence involving Louis Round Wilson, his wife Penelope Wright Wilson, his parents and siblings, and, later, his children. Scattered through this series are occasional letters from friends and colleagues of Wilson, but very little of this correspondence is of a professional nature.
A small number of miscellaneous items--drawings, financial records, and various others papers--are also included in this series.
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Subseries 4.1A. Correspondence, 1899-1938.
Acquisitions Information: Accession 97098
Arrangement: chronological.
Letters between Louis Round Wilson and his parents and siblings, his fiancee and wife Penelope Bryan Wright, colleagues at the University of North Carolina, and eventually, his daughters as they grew up and went away to school. The letters relate to many aspects of Wilson's life during the period 1900-1938: his relationship with his family, his education, his courtship and eventual marriage, his work and affiliations with the University of North Carolina, raising his children, his bout with tuberculosis, and many other matters
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Subseries 4.1.1A. 1899-1909.
Arrangement: chronological.
This ten-year period starts just after Wilson's graduation from the University of North Carolina in 1899, traces his graduate education (Wilson was the University of North Carolina's eleventh Ph.D., in 1905), and details his courtship of and marriage to Penelope Bryan Wright. The bulk of letters in this period are to Louis Round Wilson from family, friends, and Penelope Wright.
Correspondence of note includes: an I.O.U. for money Wilson borrowed from University of North Carolina President E.A. Alderman in 1899; a very early letter (1901) from Wilson to Penelope Wright accepting an invitation to visit her family home, "Coharie"; many notes of congratulation when Wilson received his Ph.D. from The University of North Carolina in May 1905; letters in 1908 detailing Louis R. Wilson's and Penelope Wright's engagement/wedding announcement, and, later in the year, concerning his father's death. In 1910 there are letters about the birth of the Wilson's first child, Elizabeth Wright Wilson, in April, as well as detailed letters from Wilson about life in New York during a summer of studies at Columbia University.
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1899-1902 #03274, Subseries: "4.1.1A. 1899-1909." Box 56, Folder 1 |
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1903 #03274, Subseries: "4.1.1A. 1899-1909." Box 56, Folder 2 |
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1904 #03274, Subseries: "4.1.1A. 1899-1909." Box 56, Folder 3 |
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1905 #03274, Subseries: "4.1.1A. 1899-1909." Box 56, Folder 4 |
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1906 #03274, Subseries: "4.1.1A. 1899-1909." Box 56, Folder 5-6 |
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1907 #03274, Subseries: "4.1.1A. 1899-1909." Box 56, Folder 7-9 |
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1908 #03274, Subseries: "4.1.1A. 1899-1909." Box 56, Folder 10-12 |
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Folder 13-20 Folder 13Folder 14Folder 15Folder 16Folder 17Folder 18Folder 19Folder 20 |
1909 #03274, Subseries: "4.1.1A. 1899-1909." Box 57, Folder 13-20 |
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Subseries 4.1.2A. 1910-1922.
Arrangement: chronological.
Correspondence from this period relates to Wilson's employment and other affiliations with the University of North Carolina, the construction of his home in Chapel Hill, the birth and upbringing of his children, Wilson's struggle to overcome tuberculosis, and his frequent work-related travel. The bulk of his letters in this portion of the collection are from Wilson to his wife, Penelope.
Notable items include letters in 1911 from Wilson to his wife discussing the construction of their house and others from that year written while he considered taking a job offered at the University of Texas--soon followed by a raise and promotion at the University of North Carolina. In 1916, Wilson contracted tuberculosis; in addition to his frequent letters describing his condition, there are also letters from family members, friends, and colleagues such as E.A. Alderman, R.D.W. Connor, and J.G. de Roulhac Hamilton.
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Subseries 4.1.3A. 1923-1938 and Undated.
Arrangement: chronological.
Most letters from this period relate to the Wilsons' daughters' college experiences. Letters to Betty (Elizabeth Wright Wilson) and Penelope from their parents, relatives, and friends dominate this period. The bulk of this material, in fact, relates to Penelope's experiences at the North Carolina College for Women in Greensboro.
Notable letters include three undated letters to Wilson from University of North Carolina President Edward K. Graham, and a letter dated 3 May 1935 from the Department of State nominating Wilson as the United States delegate to the 2nd International Congress of Librarianship and Bibliography in Spain.
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Subseries 4.2A. Other Papers, 1896-1937.
Arrangement: by subject.
Announcements, brochures, programs, an academic transcript (1910 summer session, Columbia University), receipts and financial records (1896-1937), drawings by Penelope Wilson, and Wilson's "Tuberculosis Record Book," a diary of daily activities he kept while at Saranac Springs, New York.
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Series 4A. Correspondence and Other Papers, 1939-1980 (Addition of July 1997).
Acquisitions Information: Accession 97098
About 230 letters, almost all from Wilson to his daughter Mary Louise Wilson Edmonds, describing life in Chapel Hill, Wilson's projects at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, his contacts with colleagues in the library profession, and news of the Wilson family. There are a few letters from Wilson's other two daughters, Penelope and Elizabeth, to Mary Louise, which were often included in the envelope with his. There are typed transcriptions of almost all the letters. There are also many financial and legal papers, including wills of several members of the Wilson family, other documents related to settling their estates, birth certificates for Wilson's daughters, Wilson's passport, and other materials
Materials were restricted during the lifetime of Penelope Wilson and Elizabeth Wright Wilson.
Box 64-66
Box 64Box 65Box 66 |
Letters and other papers #03274, Series: "4A. Correspondence and Other Papers, 1939-1980 (Addition of July 1997)." Box 64-66 |
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Series 5. Professional Librarianship, 1904-1968.
Arrangement: alphabetical by subject.
The papers in this series, alphabetically arranged by subject, document Wilson's many contributions to the field of professional librarianship. He was a practicing librarian and library administrator of note, a teacher of library science, a prolific contributor to library literature, and an active member of many professional library associations. He was also a major force in library development in the South.
Wilson's papers which demonstrate his role in developing and administering the library of the University of North Carolina are in Series 3 with his other University papers. There are a number of files in Series 5, however, which indicate his profound interest in all phases of university library administration. These papers, which include correspondence, printed material, graphs, charts, statistics, and notes, are filed under a number of headings, including: "Cataloging," "Library Administration" (these are notes and a bibliography for a book on library administration that Wilson hoped to publish), and "College and University Libraries." There are several units of outlines, syllabi, and bibliographies for courses Wilson taught on the subject of library administration.
That Wilson was in frequent demand as a library surveyor is further testament to his well-known ability as an administrator. His files on the many surveys he conducted are very complete. They are found under the headings "Library Consultant" and "Library Surveys," with a sub-heading which indicates the name of the various campuses Wilson visited. These papers contain correspondence, printed material, historical material, statistics, notes, and manuscripts. The material about the surveys Wilson conducted at Stanford, Notre Dame, and Cornell Universities in the 1940's is of particular interest. The papers for these surveys are very complete and provide insight not only into the techniques involved in conducting a successful survey but give a very well documented picture of each of the institutions at the time the survey was conducted.
There are very few papers which relate to Wilson's term as dean of the Graduate Library School of the University of Chicago. There are a few memoranda which Wilson drafted for use as grant proposals with various philanthropic agencies and his own retrospective memorandum on the role of the Graduate Library School in graduate education for librarianship. There is, however, significant correspondence about the Graduate Library School filed under "Graduate Library School: 1948." The letters in this file are from a number of prominent librarians, alumni, and former faculty colleagues at the Graduate Library School who gave Wilson their appraisal of the strengths and weaknesses of the program at the Graduate Library School.
There are copies of Wilson's many articles on the subject of librarianship in Series 6. The papers in Series 5 do not include many manuscripts but they do illustrate Wilson's constant attention to writing. It was Wilson's habit to consult library friends and colleagues about most of his major work and consequently these papers reflect not only Wilson's attitudes and opinions about the current problems of librarianship but those of most of the prominent librarians in the United States as well. Such files as "Research Libraries: Use of Resources," "Southeastern Library Association: 1928," "International Conference: 1935," and many others throughout the series illustrate Wilson's fact and opinion gathering techniques.
There is additional documentation about Wilson's writing in the material he gathered on the subject of reading. In 1922, Wilson wrote a series of newspaper articles entitled "Does North Carolina Read?" (Copies of these articles are found with the newspaper clippings in Series 2.) From an interest in reading in North Carolina, Wilson expanded his interest to reading in the South. The papers in "Reading as a Southern Problem," "Reading: Influence of," and "Southern Libraries" include correspondence, questionnaires, and notes about reading and library service in the region. Ultimately Wilson's horizons extended to the nation and in 1938 he published The Geography of Reading, which won the James Terry White award as the most significant contribution to professional literature that year. There is a little miscellaneous data collected for The Geography of Reading in this series and one spring-back binder of data in Series 6.
Wilson was very active in library associations on the state, regional, and national level. He joined the American Library Association (ALA) in 1904; that same year he joined with other librarians in North Carolina in founding the North Carolina Library Association (NCLA). Wilson was also active in the Southeastern Library Association (SELA) and served as an advisor and consultant to the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) on its program of library service to the Tennessee Valley states. He continued as a consultant to the Tennessee Valley Library Council (TVLC), which was organized to assist the Tennessee Valley Authority in its library program.
Wilson's American Library Association papers contain files on his term as president of the association, 1935-1936, and include correspondence with officials at the American Library Association headquarters and other librarians about the work of various American Library Association committees and the several sponsored conferences held that year. In addition to correspondence and printed material there are notes and clippings about the Richmond meeting in 1936 at which Wilson presided. Wilson's files on the Federal Aid Committee, of which he was chairman, 1935-1936, are filed under "Federal Aid to Libraries," and include correspondence, minutes, notes, and reports. There is a bound copy of the proceedings of the committee in Series 6. In 1943 Wilson was asked to draft a working memorandum on post-war planning for libraries. There is extensive correspondence with Carl Milam and Julia Wright Merrill, as well as printed material and notes filed with Wilson's 1943 papers.
Wilson's association with the North Carolina Library Association included three terms as president. There is considerable correspondence, printed material, and notes about his first term in 1910. There is no material about his second term in 1920 but there is extensive correspondence reflecting his third and final term in 1930-1931. At that time the depression in the United States had caused severe cutbacks in state government spending and Wilson was anxious about threatened reductions in aid to libraries, as well as salary cuts for librarians.
Wilson's Southeastern Library Association papers reflect not only his interest in that organization but document his interest in library developments in the South. Wilson was president of the Southeastern Library Association in 1924-1926. There is extensive correspondence about the 1926 meeting of the Southeastern Library Association over which Wilson presided. The topic for that meeting was library education in the South and Wilson invited a number of librarians from outside the region to attend, as well as many people from the American Library Association and the various philanthropic organizations with which Wilson had close ties. At that meeting Wilson was appointed chairman of a committee to work with the Southern Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools in developing standards for high school libraries. There is considerable correspondence and printed material about the work of the committee filed under "High School Libraries: Committee on Standards." After Wilson returned from Chicago in 1942 he renewed his ties with the Southeastern Library Association and was active on many committees. His papers for the Southeastern Library Association in 1951 include correspondence, minutes, and historical material about the history of the organization.
Wilson's interest in library development in the South is apparent in the files which relate to both the North Carolina Library Association and the Southeastern Library Association as well as in the material in the Tennessee Valley Library Council files. Wilson was appointed chairman of a Tennessee Valley Library Council committee in 1946 which was to survey the library resources of the southern states as a preliminary step in requesting funds from various sources to help strengthen the libraries. The papers in Series 5 contain correspondence, state library reports, notes, printed material and manuscripts about the work of the survey.
Wilson's interest in library development is further documented in his files on the Rosenwald Fund, the General Education Board, and the Carnegie Corporation. Wilson had cordial relations with the officers and field directors of these various philanthropic agencies. These are files for each of the organizations named above, but most of the correspondence with them is filed by subject with the material about which Wilson and the directors were corresponding. The Rosenwald Fund files do not include any material about the 1934-1935 county library study Wilson conducted for the fund. The files were left in Chicago.
NOTE: See Series 6, vol. 36, for an additional description of this series.
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Series 6. Volumes.
This series consists of bound volumes and spring-back binders of Wilson's published and unpublished works and compilations
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Volume 7-15 Volume 7Volume 8Volume 9Volume 10Volume 11Volume 12Volume 13Volume 14Volume 15 |
"Papers of L.R. Wilson," 1899-1972. #03274, Series: "6. Volumes." Box 53, Volume 7-15These volumes include typescripts, reprints, and Xeroxed copies of Wilson's published and unpublished works, many of which are duplicated in his papers in Series 2. |
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Volume 16-20 Volume 16Volume 17Volume 18Volume 19Volume 20 |
"Papers of L.R. Wilson," 1899-1972. #03274, Series: "6. Volumes." Box 54, Volume 16-20These volumes include typescripts, reprints, and Xeroxed copies of Wilson's published and unpublished works, many of which are duplicated in his papers in Series 2. |
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Volume 21 |
"Table of Contents" for the "Papers of L.R. Wilson." #03274, Series: "6. Volumes." Box 54, Volume 21 |
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Volume 22 |
"Early Literary Papers of L.R. Wilson, 1898-1901." #03274, Series: "6. Volumes." Box 54, Volume 22This volume contains papers written by Wilson when he was a student at the University and while he was pursuing his master's degree and Ph.D. degree. It does not include all of his early literary work. Some themes he wrote in 1910 as a summer school student at Columbia University, for instance, are in Series 2. |
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Volume 23 |
"Early Papers of L.R. Wilson," 1902-1930. #03274, Series: "6. Volumes." Box 54, Volume 23Similar to, and overlaps somewhat with, volumes 7-20. |
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Volume 24 |
"Autobiographical Notes." #03274, Series: "6. Volumes." Box 54, Volume 24These are notes compiled at a time when Wilson was contemplating writing his autobiography. There are other notes in Series 2. |
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Volume 25 |
"Campaign for Higher Education in North Carolina." #03274, Series: "6. Volumes." Box 54, Volume 25 |
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Volume 26 |
The Library of the First State University. #03274, Series: "6. Volumes." Box 55, Volume 26Wilson's history of the University library. There is additional study in Series 3. |
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Volume 27 |
The University Plans for the Future. #03274, Series: "6. Volumes." Box 55, Volume 27The volume often referred to in correspondence as the "needs" study. Correspondence about this study is in Series 3. |
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Volume 28 |
"Reading as a Southern Problem." #03274, Series: "6. Volumes." Box 55, Volume 28See also Series 5 |
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Volume 29-30 Volume 29Volume 30 |
"Papers on the University of North Carolina Library." #03274, Series: "6. Volumes." Box 55, Volume 29-30These are essentially a documentary history of the University library. |
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Volume 31 |
"Excerpts from Trustee Minutes on Library Matters." #03274, Series: "6. Volumes." Box 55, Volume 31 |
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Volume 32-33 Volume 32Volume 33 |
Course syllabi. #03274, Series: "6. Volumes." Box 55, Volume 32-33For additional course syllabi, see Series 5. |
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Volume 34 |
"Proceedings of the Federal Aid Committee of the American Library Association." #03274, Series: "6. Volumes." Box 55, Volume 34For correspondence relating to the work of the committee, see Series 5. |
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Volume 35 |
Data collected for The Geography of Reading. #03274, Series: "6. Volumes." Box 55, Volume 35 |
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Volume 36 |
"An Analytical Description of the Papers of Louis Round Wilson Which Relate to Professional Librarianship." #03274, Series: "6. Volumes." Box 55, Volume 36 |
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Processed by: Fran Weaver and Lee Dirks, February 1990
Encoded by: Joseph Nicholson, March 2006
Revised by: Dawne Lucas, July 2020 (folder and volume information added) and April 2021.
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