Willis D. Weatherford Papers, 1911-1969

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Summary

Creator:
Weatherford, Willis D. (Willis Duke), 1875-1970.
Abstract:

Willis D. Weatherford of Black Mountain, N.C., was president of the Blue Ridge Assembly, Black Mountain, N.C., 1906-1944; president of the Y.M.C.A. Graduate School, Nashville, Tenn., 1919-1946; trustee of Berea College, Berea, Ky., 1916-ca. 1962; faculty member of Fisk University, 1936-1946; director of the Southern Appalachian Studies Project, 1956-1968; and lifelong student of race relations in the South.

The collection includes correspondence, financial records, printed material, reports, writings, speeches, photographs, and other material relating to the professional and personal life of Willis D. Weatherford. Many items are records, 1917-1944, of the YMCA Graduate School and of the Blue Ridge Assembly. Other papers document Weatherford's involvement, 1911-1943, in the YMCA at the regional and national level; his tenure, 1936-1946, as a professor at Fisk University; his involvement in the Commission for Interracial Cooperation and other interracial organizations, 1923-1969; his position on the board of trustees and as assistant to the president of Berea College, Berea, Ky., 1924-1969; his role as initiator and director of the Southern Appalachian Studies Project, 1956-1968; his membership on the North Carolina Governor's Coordinating Council on Aging; and his service on the board of directors of the American Cast Iron Pipe Company of Birmingham, Ala., which supported the Blue Ridge Assembly. Individuals important in the collection include Thomas Elsa Jones, president of Fisk University; William J. Hutchins and his son Francis S. Hutchins, both presidents of Berea College; playwright Paul Green; Tennessee congressman John Sparkman; writer and Weatherford biographer Wilma Dykeman; individuals involved with the Commission on Interracial Cooperation, including director Will W. Alexander, secretary James D. Burton, women's work director Jessie Daniel Ames, educational director Robert B. Eleazor, Arthur F. Raper, and Howard W. Odum; Roy Rowe; North Carolina Governor Dan K. Moore; and Fletcher Sims Brockman of the YMCA.

Extent:
49,000 items (49.5 linear feet)
Language:
Materials in English
Library Catalog Link:
View UNC library catalog record for this item

Background

Biographical / historical:
Date Event
1 December 1875
Born in Weatherford, Tex., son of Samuel L. and Margaret Turner Weatherford
1895
B.S., Weatherford [Junior] College, Weatherford, Tex.
1899
B.A., Vanderbilt University
1900
M.A., Vanderbilt University
1907
Ph.D., Vanderbilt University
1902-1919
International student secretary of YMCA
1903-1907
Married Lula Belle Trawick
1906-1944
President, Blue Ridge Assembly (later known as Blue Ridge College, Inc.)
1907
Set up the Southern Summer School for Social Science and Christian Workers of Blue Ridge
1907
Author: Fundamental Religious Principles in Browning's Poetry; College Problems
1910
Author: Negro Life in the South
1911
Author: Introducing Men to Christ
1912
Author: Present Forces in Negro Progress
1912
Served on Standing Committee on Negro Problems of the Southern Sociological Congress
1914-1957
Married Julia McCrory
1915
Served on Board of Governors of the Southern Sociological Congress
1916
Author: Christian Life, a Normal Experience; Personal Elements in Religious Life
1916-circa 1962
Trustee, Berea College, Berea, Ky.
1917
Editor: Report on Law and Order Conference
1917
Organized a law and order conference dealing with the lynching problem in the South, held at Blue Ridge, N.C.
1919
Attended organizational meeting of the Commission on Interracial Cooperation, Atlanta, Ga.
circa 1919
Took part in forming the Interracial Commission in Tennessee from the Tennessee Law and Order League
1919-1936
President, Southern College of the YMCA (later known as the YMCA Graduate School), Nashville, Tenn.
1920
Editor: Interracial Cooperation
1924
Author: The Negro from Africa to America
1925
Chair, Tennessee Commission on Interracial Cooperation; member, Board of Directors, Atlanta University
1927-1970
Member of the Board of Directors of ACIPCO
1932
Editor: Survey of the Negro Boy in Nashville
1934
Editor: Survey of Negro Boy Life in Nashville, Tenn.
1934
Author: Race Relations (co-authored with Charles S. Johnson, President, Fisk University)
1935
Author: Life Sketch of James Brownson Dunwoody DeBow
1936
YMCA Graduate School closes
1936-1946
Head, Department of Religion and Humanities, Fisk University, Nashville, Tenn.
1945
Blue Ridge Association sold to the Southern Region Headquarters of the YMCA
1946
Accepted position at Berea College dealing with instructional development and student recruitment
1948
Author: Analytical Index of DeBows Review
1954-1957
Organized and directed the development of the outdoor pageant, Wilderness Road
1955
Editor: Religion in the Appalachian Mountains; Educational Opportunities in the Appalachian Mountains
1955
Author: Pioneers of Destiny
1956-1968
Organizer and director of the Southern Appalachian Studies Project
1957
Author: American Churches and the Negro
1962
Author: Life and Religion in Southern Appalachia (co-authored with Earl D. C. Brewer); Studies in Christian Experience
1962
Editor: The Southern Appalachian Region: A Survey (co-edited with Thomas R. Ford)
1965-1967
Served on the Governor's Council on Aging
21 February 1970
Died
Scope and content:

Correspondence, financial records, printed material, reports, writings, speeches, photos, and other material relating to the professional and personal life of Willis D. Weatherford. Many items are records, 1917-1944, of the YMCA Graduate School and of the Blue Ridge Assembly. Other papers document Weatherford's involvement, 1911-1943, in the YMCA at the regional and national level; his tenure, 1936-1946, as a professor at Fisk University; his involvement in the Commission for Interracial Cooperation and other interracial organizations, 1923-1969; his position on the board of trustees and as assistant to the president of Berea College, Berea, Ky., 1924-1969; his role as initiator and director of the Southern Appalachian Studies Project, 1956-1968; his membership on the North Carolina Governor's Coordinating Council on Aging; and his service on the board of directors of the American Cast Iron Pipe Company of Birmingham, Ala., which supported the Blue Ridge Assembly. Individual important in the collection include Thomas Elsa Jones, president of Fisk University; William J. Hutchins and his son Francis S. Hutchins, both presidents of Berea College; playwright Paul Green; Tennessee congressman John Sparkman; writer and Weatherford biographer Wilma Dykeman; individuals involved with the Commission on Interracial Cooperation, including director Will W. Alexander, secretary James D. Burton, women's work director Jessie Daniel Ames, educational director Robert B. Eleazor, Arthur F. Raper, and Howard W. Odum; Roy Rowe; North Carolina Governor Dan K. Moore; and Fletcher Sims Brockman of the YMCA.

Acquisition information:

Received from Willis D. Weatherford Jr. of Berea, Ky., in December 1971.

Processing information:

Processed by: Rebecca McCoy and Lynn Roundtree, 1987

Encoded by: Eben Lehman, April 2007

Sensitive materials statement:

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

Access and use

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This collection contains additional materials that are not available for immediate or same day access. Please contact Research and Instructional Service staff at wilsonlibrary@unc.edu to discuss options for consulting these materials.

Restrictions to use:

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

No usage restrictions.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], in the Willis D. Weatherford Papers #3831, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Special Collections Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Location of this collection:
Louis Round Wilson Library
200 South Road
Chapel Hill, NC 27515
Contact:
(919) 962-3765
wilsonlibrary@unc.edu