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 | 9.0 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 5000 items) |
Abstract | Richard Thurmond Chatham, Democratic congressman, industrialist, and philanthropist of Elkin, N.C., worked for the Chatham Manufacturing Company, owned by his family and the world's largest manufacturer of blankets, 1919-1955; served in the U.S. Navy, 1917-1919 and 1942-1945; and served in the U.S. Congress, 1949-1957, where he was a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. The collection includes correspondence, bills and receipts, and other materials relating to Richard Thurmond Chatham, chiefly 1949-1956. Most materials touch on Chatham's legislative career only superifically; very few deal directly with legislation or other issues in which Chatham must have been involved. Files include a mixture of personal materials (clubs; travel, including hunting and fishing expeditions; some family materials; interests in birding, gardening, farming; life in Washington, D.C.), business materials (Chatham Manufacturing Company, land deals, and other investments), and legislative/political materials (mostly minor references to various issues and elections, except for 1954-1956 when there are files on foreign affairs). Included are a few letters of Thurmond Clarke, California Superior Court judge, and, later, U.S. District Court judge, about social affairs and his confirmation to the district court, and from H. Smith Richardson, a hunting companion of Chatham's whose letters sometimes touch on political issues. Items relating to foreign affairs, while not extensive, include materials about the House Committee of Foreign Affairs; the Foreign Service; and mutual defense and educational exchange legislation. There are also a few family photographs and several photographs of the flood of 1898, when part of the Chatham Manufacturing Company's plant floated away. |
Creator | Chatham, Thurmond, 1896-1957. |
Curatorial Unit | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection. |
Language | English |
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.
Richard Thurmond Chatham (1896-1957), U.S. congressman, industrialist, and philanthropist, was born in Elkin, Surry County, N.C., the only son of Hugh Gwyn and Martha Lenoir Chatham. His grandfather was Alexander Chatham, founder of Chatham Manufacturing Company in Winston-Salem, N.C. Chatham was educated in the public schools; at Woodberry Forest School in Orange, Va.; at the University of North Carolina, 1915-1916; and at Yale University, 1916-1917. He left college in 1917 to enter the U.S. Navy as a seaman, serving until he was discharged as an ensign in June 1919.
In July 1919, Chatham began working at the Chatham Manufacturing Company, which was the world's largest manufacturer of blankets. After serving as treasurer of the company, he became president in 1929 and chairman of the board of directors in 1945. During his presidency, the company grew in capacity, variety of products, and profits.
From 1942 to 1945, Chatham served in the U.S. Navy with the Bureau of Ordnance and the office of the secretary of the navy. He also saw combat in Europe and the Pacific theater. He attained the rank of commander in the U.S. Naval Reserve and was awarded the Bronze Star Medal, the secretary of the navy's Commendation Medal, the Royal Order of Nassau with Swords from the Dutch government, and numerous battle stars and theater ribbons. After the war, Chatham founded the Navy Bulletin (later Armed Forces) and operated it at a loss for five years.
With his only previous political experience as a county commissioner in Forsyth County, N.C., Chatham was unsuccessful in a 1946 bid for the Democratic nomination to the 80th Congress from the fifth congressional district. As a member of the Democratic Party's National Committee on Finance during the election of 1948, he was an active Truman supporter and a substantial contributor to the Party. He was elected to the 81st Congress in 1948 and to three succeeding terms, 1949-1957. While in Congress, he was a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and was an advocate of a strong internationalist policy, including recognition of China and support for the Marshall Plan. He lost his seat in Congress in 1956 to Ralph J. Scott, primarily because he refused to sign the "Southern Manifesto," a document that pledged opposition "by all legal means" to school integration. Most of Chatham's southern colleagues in Congress signed the manifesto; in North Carolina, the only non-signer to win renomination in 1956 was Harold D. Cooley.
Chatham was a trustee of the University of North Carolina and of Woodberry Forest School; a member of the National Association of Manufacturers, until he resigned protesting its reactionary policies; president of the Winston-Salem Chamber of Commerce; and a member of the National Association of Wool Manufacturers, the American Legion, and the Veterans of Foreign Wars. In 1948, he served on the North Carolina Board of Conservation and Development and was president of the North Carolina Dairymen's Association.
His clubs included the Metropolitan Club and the Army and Navy Club in Washington, D.C., and the Racquet and Tennis Club in New York City. He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Textile Science degree from North Carolina State University in 1948. He belonged to the Methodist Church and to Delta Kappa Epsilon Fraternity.
On 28 October 1919, Chatham married Lucy Hodgin Hanes, with whom he had two sons, Hugh Gwyn II and Richard Thurmond, Jr. After Lucy died, Chatham married Patricia Firestone Coyner on 16 November 1950. The couple had one son, Walter Firestone, born in 1952. Chatham died in Durham, N.C., and was buried in Winston-Salem. His estate was valued at almost $2,000,000, of which $250,000 was used to establish the Chatham Foundation, a charitable trust supporting education.
[Based on the note by Julian M. Pleasants in the Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, Volume 1, 1979.]
Back to TopCorrespondence, bills and receipts, and other materials relating to Richard Thurmond Chatham, chiefly 1949-1956. Most materials touch on Chatham's legislative career only superifically; very few deal directly with legislation or other issues in which Chatham must have been involved. Files include a mixture of personal materials (clubs; travel, including hunting and fishing expeditions; some family materials; interests in birding, gardening, farming; life in Washington, D.C.), business materials (Chatham Manufacturing Company, land deals, and other investments), and legislative/political materials (mostly minor references to various issues and elections, except for 1954-1956 when there are files on foreign affairs). Included are a few letters of Thurmond Clarke, California Superior Court judge, and, later, U.S. District Court judge, about social affairs and his confirmation to the district court, and from H. Smith Richardson, a hunting companion of Chatham's whose letters sometimes touch on political issues. Items relating to foreign affairs, while not extensive, include materials about the House Committee of Foreign Affairs; the Foreign Service; and mutual defense and educational exchange legislation. There are also a few family photographs and several photographs of the flood of 1898, when part of the Chatham Manufacturing Company's plant floated away.
Back to TopArrangement: alphabetical by year.
Correspondence, bills and receipts, and other materials relating to Richard Thurmond Chatham.
The few materials dated 1906-1948 include a letters and other items relating to the Chatham Manufacturing Company, Elkin, N.C.; Hugh G. Chatham of Winston-Salem, N.C.; and R. M. Chatham of Elkin. In the 1940s, there are materials addressed to Richard Thurmond Chatham at the Chatham Manufacturing Company. Most of the items from this period are about taxes and private and company financial deals.
Most materials 1949-1956 appear to touch on Chatham's legislative career only superficially; very few deal directly with legislation or other issues in which Chatham must have been involved. Folders contain a mixture of personal materials (clubs; travel, including hunting and fishing expeditions; some family materials; interests in birding, gardening, farming; accounts and correspondence with merchants), business materials (Chatham Manufacturing Company, for which he served as chairman of the board until February 1955; land deals; and other investments), and legislative/political materials (mostly minor references to various issues, except for 1954-1956 when there are files on foreign affairs; letters documenting political gifts given and received, especially paperweights and blankets that Eleanor Taylor, Chatham's assistant at Chatham Manufacturing Company was directed to send; slight references to elections; and very minor allusions to Strom Thurmond, who Chatham counted among his cousins).
Materials remain in order as received. In most cases, files are labeled only by letter (which may represent surnames of correspondents or subjects treated). Files for some years are not complete. Note, however, that most folders marked with a single year also contain materials from years immediately preceding or following the year marked on the folder.
Some items of interest have been highlighted in the folder list below.
Image P-4701/1-2
P-4701/1P-4701/2 |
Alexander Chatham, photographs, undated. |
Image P-4701/3 |
Hugh Chatham, photograph, undated. |
Image P-4701/4-6
P-4701/4P-4701/5P-4701/6 |
Mattie Thurmond Chatham, photographs, undated. |
Image P-4701/7-9
P-4701/7P-4701/8P-4701/9 |
DeWitt Clinton Thurmond, photographs, undated. |
Image P-4701/10-12
P-4701/10P-4701/11P-4701/12 |
R. J. Thurmond, Jr., photographs, undated. |
Image P-4701/13-17
P-4701/13P-4701/14P-4701/15P-4701/16P-4701/17 |
Richard Jackson Thurmond, photographs, undated. |
Image Folder PF-4701/2 |
Chatham Manufacturing Company, 4 photographs of flood, 23 September 1898, in which part of the factory floated away. |
Image Folder PF-4701/3 |
Oxford Lake, 2 photographs, undated; Fleurus (ship), 2 photographs, undated. |
Image Folder PF-4701/4 |
Unidentified persons, 17 photographs, undated. |