Restrictions to Access

No restrictions. Open for research.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], Department of Botany of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Records #40078, University Archives, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Provenance

Periodic transfers from the offices that create these records.

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.

Processed: August 1992, January 2008, March 2017; Jennifer Coggins and Gergana Abernathy, February 2016 and July 2017

Encoded by: Lynn Holdzkom, March 2002

Updated by: Nancy Kaiser, February 2021

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.

• Botany--Study and teaching--North Carolina.
• Continuing education--North Carolina.
• Education, Higher--North Carolina--History.
• General education--North Carolina--History.
• Universities and colleges--North Carolina--Departments.
• University of North Carolina (1793-1962)--Curricula.
• University of North Carolina (1793-1962)--History.
• University of North Carolina (1793-1962). Botany Conference for College Teachers of General Botany and General Biology.
• University of North Carolina (1793-1962). Dept. of Botany.
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill--Curricula.
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill--History.
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Botany Conference for College Teachers of General Botany and General Biology.
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dept. of Biology.
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dept. of Botany.
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Summer Research Participation Program for College Teachers.

• Office of the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Records (#40076)
• Office of the Provost Records (#40039)
• North Carolina Botanical Garden Records (#40072)
• William C. Coker Papers (#3220)
• John Nathaniel Couch Papers (#3810)
• Henry R. Totten Papers (#3842)

While instruction in botany at the university can be traced to the 1880s, it was not until 1902 that, William C. Coker was hired as the first Professor of Botany. Shortly thereafter, Botany emerged as an independent department. Under Coker's leadership the botanical program expanded and developed into one of worldwide reputation. During the 1950s and 1960s, declining enrollments and increasing emphasis on biological sciences caused repeated attacks on the department's existence as a separate entity. In the early 1980s such attacks led to the appointment of a special committee to investigate the feasibility of combining the Departments of Botany and Zoology. The committee's recommendation that such a merger be made was approved, and on 1 July 1982 the botanical program was absorbed into the new Department of Biology.

The records of the Department of Botany consist mainly of the administrative correspondence and memoranda of the chairman and annual reports of the department. Of special note are letters relating to the National Science Foundation Summer Institutes for Science Teachers and the separate files concerning the North Carolina Botanical Garden and the establishment of the Department of Biology.