Restrictions to Access

No restrictions. Open for research.

Copyright Notice

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

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the James E. Wadsworth Papers #05075, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Provenance

Received from Ann Beck of Wilmington, N.C., in September 2001 (Acc. 99073).

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.

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.

• Dormitories--North Carolina.
• Morehead Planetarium.
• Public television--North Carolina.
• Student housing--North Carolina.
• Television in science education.
• United States. Navy. Pre-Flight School (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
• United States. Navy. Pre-Flight School (Chapel Hill, N.C.)--Photographs.
• Universities and colleges--North Carolina--History.
• University of North Carolina (1793-1962)--Employees.
• University of North Carolina (1793-1962)--Student housing.
• University of North Carolina (1793-1962). Housing Office.
• University of North Carolina Television Network.
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill--Employees.
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill--Student housing.
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dept. of University Housing.
• Wadsworth, James E. (James Edgar), 1909-1995.

• Records of the Office of University Housing, University Archives, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

James E. (James Edgar) Wadsworth was born in Moore County, N.C., near Pinehurst on 16 December 1909. During the Great Depression, he attended the University of North Carolina and worked at several jobs to pay his tuition. One of those jobs was acting as a chauffeur for Chancellor Robert B. House. Through this job, he met the chancellor's niece, Lallah Palmer, whom he married four days after he graduated with a B.A. in education in 1935.

James and Lallah Wadsworth had two children, James, Jr., and Ann, born in 1939 and 1943 respectively. Wadsworth taught biology for seven years at Durham High School while he earned a Masters of Education degree from the University of North Carolina. He received the M.Ed. in 1941.

In 1942 and 1943, Wadsworth attended and helped organize the Navy Pre-Flight School at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. He went into active duty in the South Pacific, where he fought from 1943 until 1945, rising to the rank of commander.

Upon his return to the United States, Wadsworth was appointed Housing Officer at the University of North Carolina. This was a new office made necessary by the influx of World War II veterans into higher education. In 1956, Wadsworth was named Director of the Housing Office. He was head of housing at the University until he retired in 1973. During this time, Wadsworth was also a narrator at the Morehead Planetarium and was the host of WUNC-TV's educational program, Science and Nature, for 15 years, 1954-1969.

After his retirement from the University of North Carolina, Wadsworth worked part-time at Foushee Realty and continued his volunteer work with the Red Cross and Kiwanis Club. Wadsworth died in Wilmington, N.C., on 28 August 1995.

James E. Wadsworth materials include papers, 1942-1945, relating to the United States Navy Pre-Flight School in Chapel Hill, N.C.; papers, 1946-1973, relating to student housing at the University of North Carolina; files, 1957-1976, relating to Morehead Planetarium; and papers, 1954-1970, relating to WUNC-TV. Papers relating to the United States Navy Pre-Flight School in Chapel Hill, N.C., include memoranda, lists of trainees, programs for social functions and graduation exercises, and other items. Files relating to housing include memoranda about housing policy, lists of rental housing available in Chapel Hill, lists of students assigned to various residential facilities, correspondence about student housing, press releases, and information about the histories of dormitories and housing at the University.

Planetarium files chiefly contain scripts for shows at Morehead Planetarium. Also included in these files are a few letters, press releases, brochures, and other items concerning the Planetarium. The WUNC-TV files, 1954-1955, contain plans, correspondence, schedules and other items for a series entitled The Younger Set, a program for 8-14 year olds that first aired in January 1955. WUNC-TV files, 1956-1970, contain plans, schedules, correspondence and other items for Science and Nature, a show coordinated and moderated by Wadsworth for junior high and senior high school students.

Photographs, 1942-1943, include group photographs of platoons, officers, sports teams and coaches, and a battalion being inspected at the United States Navy Pre-Flight School in Chapel Hill, N.C. Also included are photographs of dormitories at the University of North Carolina in the 1950s and 1960s, photographs of people at Morehead Planetarium, and photographs of Wadsworth and others at UNC television on the Science and Nature set.

Items separated include photographs (PF-5075/1-4).