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No usage restrictions.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Records #40270, University Archives, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Received from the Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies in May 2004 (Records transfer 20040525.1).

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: Jennie Rose Halperin, October 2011

Encoded by: Jennie Rose Halperin, October 2011

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.

• Henderson, Karla A.
• Meyer, Harold D. (Harold Diedrich), 1892-1974.
• Meyer, Lee E.
• Recreation--Study and teaching (Higher)--North Carolina--Chapel Hill.
• Sessoms, H. Douglas (Hanson Douglas)
• Universities and colleges--North Carolina--Departments.
• University of North Carolina (1793-1962)--History.
• University of North Carolina (1793-1962)--Photographs.
• University of North Carolina (1793-1962). Curriculum in Recreation Administration.
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill--History.
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill--Photographs.
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Curriculum in Leisure Studies and Recreation Administration.
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Curriculum in Recreation Administration.
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dept. of Recreation and Leisure Studies.

• Office of Chancellor: Robert Burton House Records (#40019)
• Office of Chancellor: William Brantley Aycock Records (#40020)
• Office of Chancellor: Nelson Ferebee Taylor Records (#40023)
• Office of Chancellor: Christopher C. Fordham Records (#40024)
• Office of Chancellor: Paul Hardin Records (#40025)
• Office of Chancellor: Michael Hooker Records (#40026)
• Office of Chancellor: James Moeser Records (#40228)
• Office of the Provost Records (#40039)
• Office of the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences (#40076)
• Office of the Dean of the Graduate School (#40107)

The University of North Carolina's first course in recreation was offered in the Department of Sociology in 1921. By 1941, several courses designed to prepare students for careers in recreation leadership were being offered. Beginning in 1955-1956, two recreation-related graduate degrees were offered: the master of arts in sociology with emphasis on recreation leadership and the master of science in recreation administration. Though most of the courses for the master of science degree were in sociology, some were in other departments. Thus, the Curriculum in Recreation Administration was established. It was housed initially in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, then in the School of Education (1968-1974), and then in the College of Arts and Sciences. In 1986, the name of the curriculum was changed to Curriculum in Leisure Studies and Recreation Administration. In 1998, the curriculum became the Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies. The department was dissolved in 2004, and its curriculum was transferred to the Department of Exercise and Sport Science.

Harold D. Meyer, who joined the sociology faculty in 1921, led the development of coursework in recreation and became the first chair of the Recreation Curriculum. He was succeeded in 1963 by H. Douglas Sessoms, who served as chair until 1990. From 1990 until 1995, Lee E. Meyer was chair. Charles Bullock served briefly before being succeeded by Karla A. Henderson, who chaired the department from 1996 until it was dissolved in 2004.

Records consist largely of the correspondence, speeches, and other writings of the chairs of the curriculum and, later, the department. Also included are annual reports, faculty meeting minutes, materials related to symposia and other events, and numerous photographs. Much of the material documents the activities of Harold D. Meyer, who joined the sociology faculty in 1921 and was the first chair of the Curriculum in Recreation Administrtation. Included is a scrapbook, dated approximately 1913 to 1918, kept by Harold Meyer while he was at the University of Georgia. Other chairs who figure prominently in the records are H. Douglas Sessoms, Lee E. Meyer, and Karla A. Henderson.