Restrictions to Access

No restrictions. Open for research.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the North Carolina Chapter of Delta Upsilon Fraternity Records #40151, University Archives, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Periodic transfer 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 by: University Archives Staff, May 1970, September 1970, October 1971, January 1982, April 2008

Updated: February 2015, February 2019

Encoded by: Johanna Russ, April 2008

This collection contains photographs of white students wearing blackface at what is likely a Halloween party in the mid 1980s.

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.

• Blackface--Photographs.
• College students--North Carolina--Societies, etc.
• Delta Club (University of North Carolina (1793-1962))
• Delta Upsilon Fraternity. North Carolina Chapter (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
• Delta Upsilon Fraternity. North Carolina Chapter (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)--Photographs.
• Greek letter societies--Photographs.
• Greek letter societies.
• North Carolina Delta Upsilon Foundation.
• Sigma Delta Fraternity (University of North Carolina (1793-1962))
• Student activities--North Carolina--History.
• University of North Carolina (1793-1962)--Societies, etc.
• University of North Carolina (1793-1962)--Students--History--20th century.
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill--Societies, etc.
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill--Students--History.
• Watkins, Don (Witcher McDonald)
• North Carolina--Race relations.
• Racism--North Carolina--Photographs.

The North Carolina Chapter of Delta Upsilon Fraternity, located at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, was chartered in April 1953 in response to the Delta Club's application for national affiliation the year before. In 1925, 1926, and 1927, another local fraternity, Sigma Delta, had made three such applications but was denied each time. In 1954 the North Carolina Delta Upsilon Foundation was incorporated. It owns the chapter's house, provides scholarship aid for members, and funds the chapter's educational programs. The fraternity began a program to conduct major renovations of the house in 1969. These renovations were not completed until 1976. Witcher McDonald Watkins, Class of 1927 (better known as Don or W. D. Watkins), served as adviser to the fraternity for a number of years in the 1960s and 1970s. He was instrumental in the push to affiliate the Delta Club and Sigma Delta with the national Delta Upsilon Fraternity, and later he played a large advisory role during the renovations of the Delta Upsilon house.

The collection includes petitions, 1926-1927, from Sigma Delta to Delta Upsilon; records of the North Carolina Chapter of Delta Upsilon; records of the North Carolina Delta Upsilon Foundation; and records of Don Watkins, adviser to the chapter. Chapter records include alumni newsletters; bylaws; budgets; newspaper clippings; correspondence; incorporation certificates; meeting minutes; membership lists and alumni directories; photographs; publications, including a history of the chapter; event fliers and other publicity items; rush booklets; and a reel-to-reel audiotape of the 1967 Founder's Day Banquet. Foundation records include correspondence, financial information, meeting minutes, and a great deal of information on the Delta Upsilon house renovations, including correspondence with the architects, public hearing notices for zoning meetings, fund raising information, newspaper clippings, and architectural plans. Don Watkins's records include correspondence from the university to him about fraternity performance and correspondence between Watkins and fraternity members and alumni. Photographs of students and fraternity members in social settings include images of white students wearing blackface at what is likely a Halloween party in the mid 1980s.

• Audiotape (T-40151/1)
• Extra oversize paper folder (XOPF-40151/1-2)
• Photographs (P-40151/1-10)