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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.
Funding from the State Library of North Carolina supported the encoding of this finding aid.
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Collection Overview
| Size | 72.0 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 61300 items) |
| Abstract | The University of North Carolina was chartered by the state's General Assembly in 1789. Its first student was admitted in 1795. The governing body of the University, from its founding until 1932, was a forty-member Board of Trustees elected by the General Assembly. The Board met twice a year; at other times the business of the University was carried on by the Board's secretary-treasurer and by the presiding professor (called president beginning in 1804). Other faculty members later assumed the responsibilities of registrar and bursar. The administrative structure of the University remained essentially the same until the twentieth century. The collection consists of routine administrative correspondence and miscellaneous financial papers of the University of North Carolina as well as miscellaneous student and faculty records. Papers prior to 1874 are mainly those of the Secretary-Treasurer of the Board of Trustees; post-1874 papers are largely those of the President of the University. Twenty-three letterpress volumes contain the correspondence of Presidents Alderman and Venable, 1898-1904. The records also contain a number of early plats and other documents pertaining to University lands. Also included are numerous papers related to the University Normal School, a summer program for public school teacher training that began in 1877. The records also contain the correspondence, regulations and pay records of the World War I Student Army Training Corps. There is also a group of documents collected by President Swain for a proposed history of the University and a partial narrative written by Swain. The records in this group constitute most of the surviving eighteenth-, nineteenth-, and early twentieth-century records of the University. Individuals figuring prominently include Edwin Anderson Alderman; Kemp P. Battle; Joseph Caldwell; Robert H. Chapman; Harry Woodburn Chase; James Smiley Gillespie; Edward Kidder Graham; Charles Wilson Harris; Elisha Mitchell; Charles Phillips; Solomon Pool; Marvin Hendrix Stacy; David L. Swain; F. P. Venable; and George Tayloe Winston. |
| Creator | University of North Carolina (1793-1962). |
| Curatorial Unit | University Archives, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill |
| Language | English |
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Information For Users
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Subject Headings
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.
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Historical Information
The University of North Carolina was chartered by the state's General Assembly in 1789. Its first student was admitted in 1795. The University's governing body was its Board of Trustees. The original Board, composed of forty members, was named in the Charter; after 1804 Board members were elected by the General Assembly (except during the period of Reconstruction). The Board met twice a year; at other times the business of the University was carried on by the Board's Secretary-Treasurer and by the presiding professor (called President beginning in 1804). Other faculty members later assumed the responsibilities of registrar and bursar. The administrative structure of the University remained essentially the same until the twentieth century.
Many of the University's eighteenth- and nineteenth-century records have not survived. No doubt some were removed by departing faculty, who viewed them as personal rather than public documents. Others were lost during the period 1868-1875, when the University suspended operations and records were removed from the campus for supposed safekeeping.
The records known as the University Papers and described here consitute most of the extant records of the University from its founding to 1930. Exceptions are the minutes of the Board of Trustees, minutes of the faculty, and certain financial records, which will be found in other records groups in the University Archives. Additional information on the early University and its faculty will be found in the personal papers of various presidents and professors in the Southern Historical Collection. A chronological list of presiding professors and Presidents is provided below.
Presiding Professor:
| 1794-1796 | David Ker |
| July-December 1796 | Charles W. Harris |
| 1796-1797 | Joseph Caldwell |
| 1797-1799 | James S. Gillaspie |
| 1799-1804 | Joseph Caldwell |
President (inlcudes Acting Presidents and Chairs of the Faculty who acted as senior administrator of the University):
| 11 July 1804-December 1812 | Joseph Caldwell |
| 1813-November 1816 | Robert Hett Chapman |
| December 1816-January 1835 | Joseph Caldwell |
| February-December 1835 | Elisha Mitchell, Acting |
| December 1835-1867 and June-July 1868 | David Lowry Swain |
| 8 January 1869-9 April 1874 | Solomon Pool |
| August 1875-17 June 1876 | Charles Phillips, Chair of the Faculty |
| 17 June 1876-June 1891 | Kemp Plummer Battle |
| 15 August 1891-15 August 1896 | George Tayloe Winston |
| 15 August 1896-15 June 1900 | Edwin Anderson Alderman |
| 15 June 1900-31 August 1914 | Francis Preston Venable |
| 3 June 1913-31 August 1914 | Edward Kidder Graham, Acting |
| 31 August 1914-26 October 1918 | Edward Kidder Graham |
| October 1918-21 January 1919 | Marvin Hendrix Stacy, Chair of the Faculty |
| 28 January 1919-16 June 1919 | Harry Woodburn Chase, Chair of the Faculty |
| 16 June 1919-20 February 1930 | Harry Woodburn Chase |
| 9 June 1930-1932 | Frank Porter Graham |
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Scope and Content
The collection consists of routine administrative correspondence and miscellaneous financial papers of the University of North Carolina as well as miscellaneous student and faculty records. Papers prior to 1874 are mainly those of the Secretary-Treasurer of the Board of Trustees; post-1874 papers are largely those of the President of the University. Twenty-three letterpress volumes contain the correspondence of Presidents Alderman and Venable, 1898-1904. The records also contain a number of early plats and other documents pertaining to University lands. Also included are numerous papers related to the University Normal School, a summer program for public school teacher training that began in 1877. The records also contain the correspondence, regulations and pay records of the World War I Student Army Training Corps. There is also a group of documents collected by President Swain for a proposed history of the University and a partial narrative written by Swain. The records in this group constitute most of the surviving eighteenth-, nineteenth- , and early twentieth-century records of the University. Individuals figuring prominently include Edwin Anderson Alderman; Kemp P. Battle; Joseph Caldwell; Robert H. Chapman; Harry Woodburn Chase; James Smiley Gillespie; Edward Kidder Graham; Charles Wilson Harris; Elisha Mitchell; Charles Phillips; Solomon Pool; Marvin Hendrix Stacy; David L. Swain; F. P. Venable; and George Tayloe Winston.
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Series Quick Links
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Series 1. Administrative Papers, 1763-1930.
Arrangement: chronological.
Administrative papers, dated from the founding of the University to 1930, include the correspondence of the presidents of the University, faculty, students, members of the Board of Trustees, alumni, and friends of the University. Also included are speeches, memoranda, notes, descriptions of the University lands and buildings, reports, and miscellaneous financial records and business papers.
The papers prior to 1874 are largely those of the secretary treasurer of the Board of Trustees, who usually lived in Raleigh. To these have been added miscellaneous papers pertaining to the University in this period, acquired through the years from various sources. These early records include many plats and other documents pertaining to University lands.
The post-1874 papers are primarily those of the Presidents. (Note also the letterpress copies of Presidents' correspondence, 1898 1904, bound in volumes and listed below.) There are also letters from faculty members, departmental reports, and financial records as well as numerous papers related to the University Normal School, which began in 1877.
A card index chiefly containing the names of correspondents in the administrative papers is available. From 1875-1914, the index also includes selected subjects.
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Series 2. Subject and Undated Files, 1788-1930 and undated.
Arrangement: alphabetical.
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Series 3. Volumes, 1898-1904.
Arrangement: chronological.
Volumes contain letterpress copies of outgoing correspondence written by University of North Carolina Presidents Edwin A. Alderman and Francis P. Venable. Letters received by the President's Office during this period will be found in Series 1, folders 650-770.
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Series 4. Oversized Items, 1757-1935 and undated.
Arrangement: by type.
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Subseries 4.1. Miscellaneous Manuscripts, 1757-1928 and undated.
Mainly land grants, deeds, various financial accounts, reports of the Bursar, reports of the Treasurer of the Board of Trustees.
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Subseries 4.2. Plats and Plans of University of North Carolina Lands, 1792-1793, 1795, 1817,
1919, 1932.
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Subseries 4.3. Drawings of University of North Carolina Buildings, 1793, 1856, 1935.
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Subseries 4.4. Photograph, 1912-1913.
| Oversize Paper Folder OPF-40005/19 |
University of North Carolina Student Body, 1912-1913 #40005, Subseries: "4.4. Photograph, 1912-1913." OPF-40005/19 |
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Items Separated
Processed by: University Archives Staff, December 1997 and September 2010
Encoded by: Peter Hymas, May 2005
Updated by: Kathryn Michaelis, July 2010; Nancy Kaiser, October 2020; Dawne Howard Lucas, May 2021; Rebecca Stubbs and Laura Smith, May 2022
Funding from the State Library of North Carolina supported the encoding of this finding aid.
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