J. S. Dorton Papers on the Proposed Collection of War Products Exhibit, 1945

Summary

Creator:
Dorton, J. S.
Abstract:

The collection of J.S. Dorton, the white manager of the North Carolina State Fair, consists of papers related to Dorton's proposed exhibit of wartime products manufactured and processed in North Carolina during the Second World War. Papers include the proposal, official endorsements of the proposal, information about related local exhibits, and Dorton's correspondence with state officials, including North Carolina Governor Gregg Cherry and Commissioner of Agriculture W. Kerr Scott, and with contributing individuals and corporations from across the state. Also included are portraits of many of the politicians involved with the project.

Extent:
55 items
Language:
Materials in English
Library Catalog Link:
View UNC library catalog record for this item

Background

Biographical / historical:

J. S. Dorton was a long-time manager of the North Carolina State Fair, named to the post in 1937 by North Carolina Commissioner of Agriculture W. Kerr Scott. During World War II, when the State Fair was closed, Dorton served as the director of the War Manpower Commission. In that capacity, he was instrumental in planning an exhibit, to be permanently housed in Raleigh, N.C., of representative samples of everything manufactured, produced, or processed in North Carolina as a testimonial of North Carolina's civilian contribution to war effort. The display was meant to serve as a testimonial to North Carolina's civilian contribution to World War II.

Scope and content:

The collection consists of papers relating to North Carolina War Manpower Commission Director J. S. Dorton's proposed exhibit of a collection of war products manufactured and processed in North Carolina during World War II. Besides the formal proposal, there is correspondence between Dorton and other state officials, including North Carolina Governor Gregg Cherry and Commissioner of Agriculture W. Kerr Scott, and between Dorton and contributing individuals and corporations from across the state. There are also official endorsements of the proposal, information about related local exhibits, and other items.

Acquisition information:

Received from Mary Alice Dorton of Chapel Hill, N.C., in 2007 (Acc. 100760).

Received from Mary Alice Dorton of Chapel Hill, N.C., in 2010 (Acc. 103640).

Processing information:

Processed by: Joyce Chapman, October 2007; Patrick Cullom, September 2019

Encoded by: Joyce Chapman, October 2007

In 2017, we began using "white" as an ethnic and racial identity for individual and families, in addition to "Black," "African American," "Jewish," and other familiar identity terms that we have used for decades in collection descriptions. We use this identity term so that whiteness is no longer the presumed default of the people represented in our 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.

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:

No restrictions. Open for research.

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 J. S. Dorton Papers on the Proposed Collection of War Products Exhibit #5353, 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