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 | 15.5 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 7,000 items) |
Abstract | James McBride Dabbs (1896-1970) was a white professor of English at the University of South Carolina and Coker College, Presbyterian churchman, writer, civil rights leader, Penn School Community Services trustee, Southern Regional Council president, and farmer of Mayesville, S.C. He also worked with the South Carolina Council on Human Relations, the Fellowship of Southern Churchmen, the Committee of Southern Churchmen, the Council on Church and Society, and the Delta Ministry. The collection consists of correspondence, writings, subject files, administrative records, and other materials that document Dabbs's professional involvements and interests, including his leadership roles in civil rights councils, religious organizations, and other groups. Almost all of the papers date from 1923 to shortly before Dabbs's death in 1970. Topics include observations on social and political issues of the day (especially in the American South), concerns about racial inequalities and segregation, Dabbs's opposition to the House Committee on Un-American Activities, and Dabbs's own life and religious beliefs. Most writings are drafts are of books, articles, addresses, short stories, poems, and other writings by Dabbs, and most correspondence is between Dabbs and fellow political and religious group members, publishers, and readers of his articles and books. There is light and scattered correspondence with prominent authors, activists, and historians, including Anne Braden, Sarah Patton Boyle, Hodding Carter, Isabel Fiske Conant, Paul Green, Myles Horton, George Mitchell, Eudora Welty, and C. Vann Woodward, among others; some writings by others; and a few photographs of Dabbs's university and church colleagues. |
Creator | Dabbs, James McBride, 1896-1970. |
Curatorial Unit | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection. |
Language | English |
Processed by: Elaine Kaye Lanning, July 1981
Encoded by: Jessica Sedgwick, March 2009
Revisions: Nancy Kaiser, January 2019
Diacritics and other special characters have been omitted from this finding aid to facilitate keyword searching in web browsers.
Since August 2017, we have added ethnic and racial identities for individuals and families represented in collections. To determine identity, we rely on self-identification; other information supplied to the repository by collection creators or sources; public records, press accounts, and secondary sources; and contextual information in the collection materials. Omissions of ethnic and racial identities in finding aids created or updated after August 2017 are an indication of insufficient information to make an educated guess or an individual's preference for identity information to be excluded from description. When we have misidentified, please let us know at wilsonlibrary@unc.edu.
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.
James McBride Dabbs (1896-1970) was a white professor of English, Presbyterian churchman, writer, civil rights leader, Penn Community Services trustee, Southern Regional Council president, and farmer of Mayesville, S.C. He also worked with the South Carolina Council on Human Relations, the Fellowship of Southern Churchmen, the Committee of Southern Churchmen, the Council on Church and Society, and the Delta Ministry.
1896 | Born 8 May, Mayesville, Sumter County, S.C., son of farmer Eugene Whitefield Dabbs and Maude McBride |
1916 | AB, University of South Carolina |
1917-1919 | United States Army Field Artillery |
1918 | Married, 11 May, to Jesse Clyde Armstrong; children: Maude Elizabeth and Carolyn McBride |
1919-1920 | Director, Farm Life School, Vass, N.C. |
1921-1924 | Adjunct and later assistant professor, University of South Carolina |
1923-1930 | Intermittent graduate work in English, Columbia University |
1925-1942 | Professor, English Department, Coker College, Hartsville, S.C. |
1933 | Jesse Clyde Armstrong Dabbs died, 6 November |
1935 | Married, 11 June, to Edith Wells Mitchell; children: James McBride, Dorothy, Richard Whitefield |
1942-1970 | Farmer, writer, and lecturer; lived at Rip Raps Plantation, Mayesville, S.C. |
1947-1952 | Chair, South Carolina Council on Human Relations (member, board of directors, 1957-1963) |
1955-1963 | President, Southern Regional Council (member, executive committee, 1963-1970) |
1957-1963 | Member, executive committee, Fellowship of Southern Churchmen |
1964-1970 | Chair, board of trustees, Penn Community Services (member of the board, 1957-1963) |
1970 | Died, 30 May, Rip Raps Plantation |
Memberships:
Awards:
Books:
The bulk of the papers consists of correspondence, writings, subject files, and administrative records relating to the activities of James McBride Dabbs, a white English professor, churchman, writer, civil rights leader, Penn Community Services trustee, Southern Regional Council president, and farmer of Mayesville, S.C. Almost all of the papers date from 1923 to shortly before Dabbs's death in 1970. Papers document Dabbs's professional involvements and interests, including his leadership roles in civil rights councils, religious organizations, and other groups. Topics include observations on social and political issues of the day (especially in the American South), concerns about racial inequalities and segregation, Dabbs's opposition to the House Committee on Un-American Activities, and Dabbs's own life and religious beliefs. Most writings are drafts of books, articles, addresses, short stories, poems, and other writings by Dabbs, and most correspondence is between Dabbs and fellow political and religious group members, publishers, and readers of his articles and books. There is light and scattered correspondence with prominent authors, activists, and historians, including Paul Green, Eudora Welty, Anne Braden, Sarah Patton Boyle, Myles Horton, Hodding Carter, Isabel Fiske Conant, C. Vann Woodward, George Mitchell, among others; some writings by others; and a few photographs of Dabbs's university and church colleagues. Note that all letters are not in the correspondence series; some are included in subject files which Dabbs himself created.
Back to TopArrangement: chronological.
This series is comprised chiefly of letters written to Dabbs about his writings and speaking engagements, his integrationist stance, and his involvement with religious, college, and civil rights groups. Many letters are "fan mail," praising his writings, as well as "hate mail," prompted by Dabbs's civil rights activism and writings in the 1940s-1960s. Responses to Dabbs's public opposition to the House Un-American Activities Committee are included, especially in the 1961 correspondence. There are scattered letters from prominent authors, activists, and historians, including Paul Green, Eudora Welty, Sarah Patton Boyle, Myles Horton, Hodding Carter, Isabel Fiske Conant, C. Vann Woodward, and George Mitchell, among others. These letters include discussions of the lives, writings, and beliefs of these individuals. Letters from pastors and religious leaders are common, as are letters commenting on the treatment of African Americans, especially in the South. There are occasional copies of letters Dabbs wrote to fellow writers, association members, friends, admirers, and groups. Note that letters from members of groups to which Dabbs belonged may also be found in the subject files.
Folder 1 |
1912-1922 |
Folder 2 |
1923-1924 |
Folder 3 |
1928-1929 and circa 1920s |
Folder 4 |
1933 |
Folder 5 |
1934-1935 |
Folder 6-7
Folder 6Folder 7 |
1936 |
Folder 8 |
1937 |
Folder 9 |
1938-1939 and circa 1930s |
Folder 10 |
1940-1941 |
Folder 11 |
1942-1943 |
Folder 12 |
1944 |
Folder 13 |
1945-1949 |
Folder 14 |
1950-1951 |
Folder 15 |
1952 |
Folder 16 |
1953-1955 |
Folder 17 |
1956 |
Folder 18 |
1957 |
Folder 19 |
1958 |
Folder 20 |
1959 |
Folder 21 |
1960 |
Folder 22 |
1961 |
Folder 23 |
1962 |
Folder 24 |
1963 |
Folder 25-26
Folder 25Folder 26 |
1964 |
Folder 27-28
Folder 27Folder 28 |
1965 |
Folder 29-30
Folder 29Folder 30 |
1966 |
Folder 31 |
1967 |
Folder 32 |
1968 |
Folder 33 |
1969 and circa 1960s |
Folder 34 |
1970-1974 |
Folder 35 |
Undated |
Arrangement: by material type.
This series includes various types of published and unpublished writings by James McBride Dabbs. Drafts of Dabbs's book-length manuscripts, articles, and public addresses constitute the bulk of the writings. Poems, short stories, and plays date from his student and teaching days in the 1920s-1930s. Starting in the mid-1930s, Dabbs devoted his energies to writing non-fiction prose. Also included are Sunday school lessons, book reviews, letters to editors, course notebooks, teaching notes and exams, diary entries, and other writings. For a comprehensive bibliography of Dabbs's published writings, see folders 682-683 of these papers: "James McBride Dabbs: A Life Story," by Thomas L. Johnson.
Arrangement: alphabetical by title.
Drafts or partial drafts of Dabbs's five published books; of his proposed dissertation in English at Columbia University, "The Poetic Experience," which was not accepted; and two unpublished manuscripts, "The Poetry of Life," and "Religious Values in American Life." Correspondence with publishers about most of these works is included in Series 4. Subject files, under their respective titles.
Folder 36-40
Folder 36Folder 37Folder 38Folder 39Folder 40 |
Civil Rights in Recent Southern Fiction |
Folder 41-49
Folder 41Folder 42Folder 43Folder 44Folder 45Folder 46Folder 47Folder 48Folder 49 |
Haunted by God |
Folder 50-58
Folder 50Folder 51Folder 52Folder 53Folder 54Folder 55Folder 56Folder 57Folder 58 |
"The Poetic Experience" |
Folder 59-67
Folder 59Folder 60Folder 61Folder 62Folder 63Folder 64Folder 65Folder 66Folder 67 |
"The Poetry of Life" |
Folder 68-74
Folder 68Folder 69Folder 70Folder 71Folder 72Folder 73Folder 74 |
"Religious Values in American Life" |
Folder 75-85
Folder 75Folder 76Folder 77Folder 78Folder 79Folder 80Folder 81Folder 82Folder 83Folder 84Folder 85 |
The Road Home |
Folder 86-95
Folder 86Folder 87Folder 88Folder 89Folder 90Folder 91Folder 92Folder 93Folder 94Folder 95 |
Southern Heritage |
Folder 96-104
Folder 96Folder 97Folder 98Folder 99Folder 100Folder 101Folder 102Folder 103Folder 104 |
Who Speaks for the South? |
Acquisitions Information: Accession 103508
Drafts of Dabbs's writings.
Box 31 |
Southern Heritage |
Who Speaks for the South? |
Arrangement: alphabetical by title.
Articles and essays are chiefly drafts that Dabbs submitted to publishers. There are also scattered outlines and earlier drafts that differ substantially from finished products. Articles are about religion, desegregation, war and peace, southern life, college teaching, and other issues.
Arrangement: alphabetical by title.
Addresses are transcripts, drafts, outlines, and notes pertaining to speeches made to civic, church, and college groups. Frequent topics include religion, southern life, and desegregation.
Arrangement: alphabetical by type of writing, then by title or year.
Other writings by James McBride Dabbs include columns, editorials, letters to editors, Sunday school lesson outlines, poems, short stories, plays, book reviews, course notebooks, teaching notes, diary entries, and various fragments. Letters to editors were addressed primarily to South Carolina newspapers, 1935-1968. Through these letters, particularly one in April 1944, Dabbs first made his liberal civil rights stance known. There are also outlines of Sunday school lessons Dabbs delivered to a men's class at the Black River Presbyterian Church in Mayesville, S.C., from 1944 to 1963. Titled paragraphs were probably written in the 1960s as newspaper fillers. Poems were written while Dabbs was in graduate school and during his early years as a college professor and are chiefly final drafts with some notations of journals to which poems were submitted. Plays and short stories appear to have been written during Dabbs's early Coker College days as he experiemented with various forms of writing and actively participated in campus life.
Arrangement: alphabetical.
This series is comprised chiefly of administrative records of Penn Community Services of Frogmore, S.C. During the 1950s and 1960s, Penn was a center for civil rights debates and conferences and a sponsor of community improvement programs in South Carolina. Dabbs served as a trustee from 1957 to 1970, as chair of the board of trustees from 1964 to 1970, and as chair of the nominating committee. Records include board of trustees correspondence and minutes, financial statements, committee reports, and program development plans and reports. Some of the materials relate to day-to-day operations of Penn Community Services, such as property ownership and personnel actions. Newspaper clippings, press releases, and printed attacks and defenses of Penn and its programs are also included.
Arrangement: alphabetical.
This series includes correspondence, committee reports, financial records, minutes of organization meetings, research material, newspaper clippings, and printed reports reflecting Dabbs's political, religious, educational, and writing activities. Several folders contain correspondence with publishers about articles, poems, and book-length manuscripts he submitted and with church, college, and civic groups about his addressing their meetings. "Fan mail" and correspondence with publishers about specific books are filed by book title. Organizational records are of the Southern Regional Council, South Carolina Council on Human Relations, Fellowship of Southern Churchmen, Committee of Southern Churchmen, Council on Church and Society, Delta Ministry, and other civic groups to which Dabbs belonged. Research material that Dabbs collected is in files with titles such as "Freedom of Thought in Southern Colleges" (which contains correspondence between Dabbs and professors at southern colleges and universities about the issue of freedom to comment on desegretation events) and "The economic effect of the racial struggle." Most of these subject files were created by Dabbs himself; the remainder were created during the processing of these papers.
Folder 486 |
Alabama Council on Human Relations |
Folder 487 |
Alcoholism |
Folder 488 |
American Friends Service Committee |
Folder 489 |
Bibliography: Race situation in the South |
Folder 490-491
Folder 490Folder 491 |
Board of Christian Education, Presbyterian |
Folder 492 |
Braden, Carl: Case, 1961Correspondence, clippings, petitions, and other materials related to Carl Braden's United States Supreme Court case. Braden was investigated by the House Un-American Activities Committee and imprisoned for helping an African American family buy a home in a racially segregated neighborhood in Louisville, Ky., which was dynamited soon after. Includes correspondence with Anne Braden of the Southern Conference Educational Fund, who organized a petition, for which Dabbs as an initiator, for clemency on Carl Braden's behalf. |
Folder 493-495
Folder 493Folder 494Folder 495 |
Chaflin University |
Folder 496-497
Folder 496Folder 497 |
Christian Action Conference |
Folder 498-499
Folder 498Folder 499 |
Civil Rights in Recent Southern Fiction, Southern Regional Council |
Folder 500-501
Folder 500Folder 501 |
Coker College: General |
Folder 502 |
Coker College: Palm Awards |
Folder 503 |
Coker College: Student recommendations |
Folder 504-506
Folder 504Folder 505Folder 506 |
Committee of Southern Churchmen, 1963-1970 |
Folder 507 |
Conference lists, 1958-1969 |
Folder 508 |
Correspondence with publishers, 1922-1936 |
Folder 509 |
Correspondence with publishers, 1937-1941 |
Folder 510 |
Correspondence with publishers, 1942-1961 |
Folder 511 |
Correspondence with publishers, 1962-1969 |
Folder 512-518
Folder 512Folder 513Folder 514Folder 515Folder 516Folder 517Folder 518 |
Council on Church and Society |
Folder 519 |
Daughter Maude's prayers and Dabbs's analysis of them |
Folder 520 |
Delta Ministry |
Folder 521 |
Economic effect of racial struggle: Clippings |
Folder 522 |
Fellowship for Racial and Economic Equality (FREE) |
Folder 523-524
Folder 523Folder 524 |
Fellowship of Southern Churchmen, 1950-1963 |
Folder 525 |
Field Foundation |
Folder 526 |
Field Foundation: "The Southern Project" |
Folder 527-528
Folder 527Folder 528 |
Financial and legal records: Publishers |
Folder 529-535
Folder 529Folder 530Folder 531Folder 532Folder 533Folder 534Folder 535 |
"Freedom of Thought in Southern Colleges," 1958-1959Includes letters from professors of southern colleges and universities describing their impressions of the impact that the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court ruling had on freedom of thought in their institutions, as requested by Dabbs for an article he was writing for Commentary. Also included are newspaper clippings, reports, articles, and notes related to this article. |
Folder 536-538
Folder 536Folder 537Folder 538 |
House Committee on Un-American ActivitiesIncludes articles, pamphlets, clippings, and other materials on the HCUA, especially regarding a 1960 propaganda film made by the HCUA, "Operation Abolition," about demonstrations against the HCUA organized by student groups in San Francisco, Calif. |
Folder 539 |
Koinonia Farms, Inc.: Newsletters, 1957 |
Folder 540 |
Lectures: Wide World Lecture Bureau |
Folder 541 |
Little River Funds |
Folder 542-543
Folder 542Folder 543 |
Miscellaneous clippings |
Folder 544 |
Miscellaneous printed material |
Folder 545 |
Miscellaneous writings about Dabbs |
Folder 546 |
NAACP |
Folder 547 |
National Urban League |
Folder 548-549
Folder 548Folder 549 |
North Carolina Council on Human Relations |
Folder 550-551
Folder 550Folder 551 |
On the Southern Liberal |
Folder 552 |
The Palmer Course |
Folder 553-554
Folder 553Folder 554 |
Personal records |
Folder 555 |
Reviews of Dabbs's books |
Folder 556 |
The Road Home, Christian Education Press |
Folder 557 |
Rockefeller Foundation |
Folder 558 |
Eleanor Roosevelt's dinner in honor of Southern Regional Council and Dabbs |
Folder 559-560
Folder 559Folder 560 |
Segregation and integration: Clippings and reports |
Folder 561 |
Societe Europeene de culture |
Folder 562 |
The South: General |
Folder 563 |
South Carolina Council on Human Relations |
Folder 564 |
South Carolina Council on Human Relations: Finance Committee, 1953-1956 |
Folder 565 |
South Carolina Council on Human Relations: Finance Committee, 1957-1958 |
Folder 566-567
Folder 566Folder 567 |
South Carolina Council on Human Relations: Finance Committee, 1959-1960 |
Folder 568-571
Folder 568Folder 569Folder 570Folder 571 |
South Carolina Council on Human Relations: Finance Committee, 1961 |
Folder 572 |
South Carolina Council on Human Relations: Finance Committee, 1962, 1964 |
Folder 573 |
South Carolina Council on Human Relations: Finance Committee, 1965 |
Folder 574 |
South Carolina Council on Human Relations: Finance Committee, 1967-1968, 1972 |
Folder 575-576
Folder 575Folder 576 |
Southern Heritage: A. A. Knopf |
Folder 577-584
Folder 577Folder 578Folder 579Folder 580Folder 581Folder 582Folder 583Folder 584 |
Southern Heritage: Letters |
Folder 585 |
Southern Regional Council: Attacks and defenses |
Folder 586 |
Southern Regional Council: Bylaws |
Folder 587 |
Southern Regional Council: Correspondence about council speakers |
Folder 588 |
Southern Regional Council: Development Committee |
Folder 589 |
Southern Regional Council: Executive Committee, 1951-1964 |
Folder 590 |
Southern Regional Council: Executive Council, 1966 |
Folder 591-596
Folder 591Folder 592Folder 593Folder 594Folder 595Folder 596 |
Southern Regional Council: Executive Council, 1967 |
Folder 597-600
Folder 597Folder 598Folder 599Folder 600 |
Southern Regional Council: Executive Council, 1968 |
Folder 601-606
Folder 601Folder 602Folder 603Folder 604Folder 605Folder 606 |
Southern Regional Council: Executive Council, 1969 |
Folder 607 |
Southern Regional Council: Executive Council, 1970 and undated |
Folder 608 |
Southern Regional Council: To United States Senate on tax-exempt foundations |
Folder 609 |
Southern Regional Council: Lillian Smith Award Committee |
Folder 610 |
Southern Regional Council: Miscellaneous |
Folder 611 |
Southern Regional Council: News releases |
Folder 612-618
Folder 612Folder 613Folder 614Folder 615Folder 616Folder 617Folder 618 |
Southern Regional Council: Reports and papers |
Folder 619 |
Speeches: Announcements |
Folder 620 |
Speeches: Invitations, 1949-1961 |
Folder 621-622
Folder 621Folder 622 |
Speeches: Invitations, 1962 |
Folder 623-624
Folder 623Folder 624 |
Speeches: Invitations, 1963 |
Folder 625-626
Folder 625Folder 626 |
Speeches: Invitations, 1964 |
Folder 627-629
Folder 627Folder 628Folder 629 |
Speeches: Invitations, 1965 |
Folder 630 |
Speeches: Invitations, 1966 |
Folder 631 |
Speeches: Invitations, 1967 |
Folder 632 |
Speeches: Invitations, 1968-1970 |
Folder 633 |
Student human relations activities |
Folder 634-635
Folder 634Folder 635 |
Voter education project, 1966, 1970Includes press releases, reports, and other items. |
Folder 636 |
Voter registration project: Reports, 1962, 1965-1966 |
Folder 637-638
Folder 637Folder 638 |
Who Speaks for the South?, Funk & Wagnalls |
Folder 639-641
Folder 639Folder 640Folder 641 |
Writings by others: Poetry |
Folder 642 |
Writings by others: Other |
This series includes clippings, printed materials, photographs, books about James McBride Dabbs, and other items.
Oversize Paper Folder OPF-3816/1 |
ClippingsTopics include the South, segregation, the House Committee on Un-American Activities, and "The Coming Red Dictatorship." |
Hand drawn chart by Dabbs about "influences on love" |
|
Folder 682-683
Folder 682Folder 683 |
Johnson, Thomas L. "James McBride Dabbs: A Life Story." Ph.D. dissertation in English, University of South Carolina, 1980 (formerly volumes 40-41) |
Folder 681 |
Martin, Neal A. "The Library of James McBride Dabbs: An Inventory," in The Axis, Francis Marion College, 1979 (formerly volume 39) |
Image P-3816/1 |
Photograph: Reverend Joseph A. DeLaine, circa October 1955 |
Image P-3816/2 |
Photograph: Jean Peresenigi, August 1958 |
Image P-3816/3 |
Photograph: Reverend Claude W. Warren, November 1958 |
Image P-3816/4 |
Photograph: Board of trustees, Chaflin University, circa 1965 |
Oversize Paper Folder OPF-3816/1 |
Printed materialsIncludes a printed compilation of news articles written by southern college students in response to race riots at the University of Mississippi in 1962, printed by the Southern Regional Council; a February 1961 issue of "The Student Voice" by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee; and a review of Who Speaks for the South? |