Research Triangle Foundation Records, 1955-1999

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Summary

Creator:
Research Triangle Foundation
Abstract:

The Research Triangle Foundation (RTF) is the owner and developer of Research Triangle Park, N.C., a research park housing research institutes and other businesses in Piedmont North Carolina.

Records of the Research Triangle Foundation include files of predecessor organizations and other organizations related to the planning and development of the Research Triangle Park, among them the Pinelands Company, Inc.; the Research Triangle Committee, Inc.; the Triangle Service Center; and the Research Triangle Regional Planning Commission. Also included are materials relating to the Research Triangle Institute and the Triangle Universities Center for Advanced Studies, Inc. Files contain correspondence, memoranda, agendas and minutes of meetings, financial records, legal documents, maps, plats, architectural drawings, speeches, promotional materials, newspaper clippings, publications of Research Triangle Park organizations, reference materials, photographs, slides, moving image films, and audio recordings. These materials document the daily operations of the above organizations, including the recruitment and relocation of businesses and other organizations to the Research Triangle Park; land acquisition and land management; city and infrastructure planning; zoning; research and administrative facilities development; community outreach; fundraising; promotion of the Research Triangle Park area to various industries; publicity for press conferences and special events; and budgeting, loan repayment, and management of other financial operations. The materials also document the work of key figures in the development of the Foundation, Park, Institute, and related organizations, including Elizabeth Aycock; Archie K. Davis; Romeo Guest; George R. Herbert; George Watts Hill; Luther Hodges; Ned E. Huffman; G. Akers Moore, Jr.; James B. Shea, Jr.; George L. Simpson; and Pearson H. Stewart.

Extent:
88000 items (125.0 linear feet)
Language:
Materials in English
Library Catalog Link:
View UNC library catalog record for this item

Background

Biographical / historical:

The private, not-for-profit Research Triangle Foundation (RTF) owns the Research Triangle Park (RTP), an internationally recognized center for research and development on a 6,900-acre campus in North Carolina's Piedmont region. RTP is named for the triangle formed by the three cities and universities closely associated with the development of multi-disciplinary research strengths in the Park: the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina State University in Raleigh, and Duke University in Durham.

Research Triangle Park is a public/private, planned research park, created in 1959, by North Carolina Governor Luther Hodges and leaders from business, academia, and industry.The research park concept, however, had been introduced years before. In 1952, Howard Odum, professor of sociology at the University of North Carolina, proposed several research center formats that incorporated the idea of cooperation among research organizations. In the mid-1950s, Romeo Guest, a land developer and building contractor in Greensboro, became one of the first people to use the phrase "Research Triangle." Guest's conception of a research and development park and his behind-the-scenes contacts with investors were valuable assets to Governor Hodges and the early Park planners.

Governor Hodges formed the Research Triangle Committee in September 1956 to explore the idea of creating a research center to be located centrally to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina State University in Raleigh, and Duke University in Durham. Members of the Committee included leaders from across the state of North Carolina in government, business, and the universities.

In April 1957, investor Karl Robbins agreed to provide funds to acquire options on land. In September 1957, Romeo Guest formed a for-profit company called Pinelands Company, Inc., with Robbins as the major stockholder. By the end of the year, nearly 4,000 acres had been optioned or purchased at a cost of approximately $700,000.

In August 1958, Robert Hanes, chair of the Research Triangle Committee, asked Archie K. Davis of Wachovia Bank to find other possible investors from North Carolina for the Pinelands Company. Davis made two important suggestions: first, that the Research Triangle Committee be reconstituted as the non-profit Research Triangle Foundation of North Carolina; and second, that he solicit contributions for RTF rather than sell stock for Pinelands Company. By 31 December 1958, Davis had raised $1.25 million in contributions from individuals and businesses from all across the state. This amount would enable RTF to purchase all of the shares of Pinelands stock and create a separate non-profit Research Triangle Institute (RTI) to perform independent contract research. On 9 January 1959, Governor Hodges formally announced the Research Triangle Foundation and Davis's successful fund-raising drive. He also announced the establishment of RTI; the planned construction of the Robert M. Hanes Building to house RTF and RTI; and the acquisition of land assembled by Pinelands Company, which thereafter would be managed by the Foundation.

The Research Triangle Institute was the Park's first tenant and served as a focal point for companies interested in the Park. The Park grew slowly through the early 1960s. Then, in 1965, with the arrival of both International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, the Park began to grow in earnest. By 1969, 21 companies had RTP addresses. From 1970 to 1979, 17 additional companies moved on campus. By 1989, 28 more companies chose locations in the Park. From 1990 to 2000, more than 42 new companies established facilities in RTP.

Some of the industries represented in the Park include textiles, forestry, health and health-care organizations, electronics, computers, chemicals, education, pharmaceuticals, biomedical instrumentation, and statistical research.

(Adapted from information available on the Research Triangle Foundation website, November 2001.)

Scope and content:

Records of the Research Triangle Foundation, owner and developer of Research Triangle Park, N.C., a research park housing research-driven institutes and businesses in Piedmont North Carolina. Also included are records of the Pinelands Company, Inc., and the Research Triangle Committee, Inc., the predecessor organizations to the Research Triangle Foundation; records of other organizations related to the planning and development of the Research Triangle Park, including the Triangle Service Center and the Research Triangle Regional Planning Commission; materials relating to plans for the Research Triangle Institute, a non-profit entity created by the Research Triangle Foundation but jointly owned by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina State University, and Duke University; and materials relating to a Research Triangle Park history project directed by the Triangle Universities Center for Advanced Studies, Inc. (TUCASI), a consortium created in 1975 to promote joint intellectual activity among the three Triangle universities.

Files contain correspondence, memoranda, agendas and minutes of meetings, financial records, legal documents, maps, plats, architectural drawings, speeches, brochures, binders, clippings, publications of Research Triangle Park organizations, reference materials, photographs, slides, moving image film, and audio recordings on audiocassette and open reel tape. These materials document the daily operations of the above organizations, including the recruiting and relocation of businesses and other organizations to the Research Triangle Park; land acquisition and land management; city and infrastructure planning; zoning; research and administrative facilities development; community outreach; fundraising; promotion of the Research Triangle Park area to various industries; publicizing press conferences and special events; and budgeting, loan repayment, and management of other financial operations. The materials also document the work of key figures in the early development of the Foundation, Park, Institute, and related organizations, including Elizabeth Aycock; Archie K. Davis; Romeo Guest; George R. Herbert; George Watts Hill; Ned E. Huffman; G. Akers Moore, Jr.; James B. Shea, Jr.; George L. Simpson; and Pearson H. Stewart.

Note that original file folder titles have chiefly been retained. There is considerable overlap within the chronologically arranged subseries of Series 2. General Correspondence, and between Series 2. and subsequent subject-based series. Researchers are advised to search broad and narrow terms to find multiple files on the same subject dispersed throughout the collection.

Acquisition information:

Received from the Research Triangle Foundation of Research Triangle Park, N.C., in November 2001 (Acc. 99120).

Processing information:

Processed by: Nancy Kaiser, July 2003

Encoded by: Nancy Kaiser, June 2003

Updated by: Anne Wells and Andrew Crook, August 2019; Nancy Kaiser, February 2021

Processing of this collection was made possible by funding from the Research Triangle Foundation.

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

Restrictions to access:

Use of audio and moving image materials may require production of listening or viewing copies.

This collection contains additional materials that are not processed and are currently not available to researchers. For information about access to these materials, contact Research and Instructional Services staff. Please be advised that preparing unprocessed materials for access can be a lengthy process.

Restrictions to use:

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 Research Triangle Foundation Records #5081, 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