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.
Size | 1.5 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 800 items) |
Abstract | The Southern Council on International Relations (SCIR) was established in 1937 as a non-partisan, nonprofit, civic association by a group of civic, religious, and educational leaders representing the ten southeastern states. The purpose of the council was to counter the growth of isolationism in the South and the nation by promoting international understanding through public education. The council supported the United Nations, the International Trade Organization, the international exchange of students and teachers, the Good Neighbor Policy, the strengthening of ties between the people of the United States and Latin America, and other international institutions and programs promoting cooperation among nations in the interest of peace, prosperity, and mutual understanding. The central office of the council was located at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. Executive secretaries of the council were Keener Chapman Frazer of the University of North Carolina Department of Political Science, 1937-1943; Fletcher Melvin Green of the university's Department of History, 1943-1944; and Eugene Pfaff, 1944-1946. Records of the Southern Council on International Relations (SCIR) consist primarily of files of the executive secretary or director. Most of the material is correspondence with members of the council and with officials of civic, religious, and political organizations. Also included are minutes of Executive Committee meetings; planning materials for meetings, institutes, educational centers, and other activities; and correspondence with and annual reports to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Also included is a folder comprised mainly of correspondence with Leon F. Sensabaugh of Birmingham Southern University, who chaired the SCIR's Committee on the South and Latin America, 1940-1943. |
Creator | Southern Council on International Relations. |
Curatorial Unit | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. University Archives. |
Language | English. |
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The Southern Council on International Relations was established 20 November 1937, as a non-partisan, non-profit, civic association by a group of civic, religious, and educational leaders representing the ten southeastern states. The council was organized to counter the growth of isolationism in the south and the nation by promoting international peace, international trade, and international understanding through public education.
The Executive Committee--consisting of a president, vice president, executive secretary, and treasurer--and an executive board directed the council's activities. In the main, these activities involved the organization of institutes and the operation of a speakers bureau; the distribution of literature; the establishment of centers to conduct programs on international relations and provide accommodations for foreign visitors; the international exchange of students and teachers; the encouragement of foreign travel for educational purposes; the organization of conferences to improve the teaching of foreign relations; the publication and distribution of memoranda on International Problems (later known as The South in World Affairs); the organization of groups in Latin America to promote the aims of the council in the Caribbean countries; and the promotion of international trade by cooperation with the International Trade Organization, the United States State Department, agencies of state governments, and local chambers of commerce.
The central office of the Southern Council on International Relations was located at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. The major forces in the council's establishment and operation were University of North Carolina President Frank Porter Graham, who served as president of the council's Executive Committee; Professor Keener Chapman Frazer of the Department of Political Science at the University of North Carolina, who served as executive secretary from 1937 until June 1943, when he entered military service; Professor Fletcher Melvin Green of the university's Department of History, who replaced Frazer; and Dr. Eugene Pfaff, who replaced Green in July 1944 and served as director of the council until Frazer returned to Chapel Hill in January 1946.
Back to TopRecords of the Southern Council on International Relations (SCIR) consist primarily of files of the executive secretary or director. Most of the material is correspondence with members of the council and with officials of civic, religious, and political organizations. Also included are minutes of Executive Committee meetings; planning materials for meetings, institutes, educational centers, and other activities; and correspondence with and annual reports to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Also included is a folder comprised mainly of correspondence with Leon F. Sensabaugh of Birmingham Southern University, who chaired the SCIR's Committee on the South and Latin America, 1940-1943.
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Folder 1-2
Folder 1Folder 2 |
General, 1937 |
Folder 3-6
Folder 3Folder 4Folder 5Folder 6 |
General, 1938 |
Folder 7-8
Folder 7Folder 8 |
General, 1939 |
Folder 9 |
General, 1940 |
Folder 10 |
General, 1941 |
Folder 11 |
Subscription and Membership Record Volume, March 1940-February 1942 |
Folder 12-18
Folder 12Folder 13Folder 14Folder 15Folder 16Folder 17Folder 18 |
General, 1942 |
Folder 19-23
Folder 19Folder 20Folder 21Folder 22Folder 23 |
General, 1943 |
Folder 24-26
Folder 24Folder 25Folder 26 |
General, 1944 |
Folder 27 |
General, 1945 |
Folder 28 |
General, 1946 |
Folder 29 |
General, 1947 |
Folder 30-31
Folder 30Folder 31 |
General, 1948-1949 |
Folder 32 |
Memoranda on International Problems, I, No. 4 (28 September 1938)-I, No. 14 (15 March 1939) |
Folder 33 |
The South in World Affairs, I, No. 15 (1 April 1939-II, No. 20 (undated) |
Folder 34 |
Committee on the South and Latin America, 1938; 1940-1943; 1978; undated(chaired by Leon Sensabaugh of Birmingham Southern University; included is a 1978 letter from Sensabaugh to Tennant McWilliams, author of The New South Faces the World) |