D. Hiden Ramsey Papers, 1877-1966

Summary

Creator:
Ramsey, D. Hiden (Darley Hiden), 1891-1966.
Abstract:

Darley Hiden Ramsey of Asheville, N.C., was a newspaper editor, public speaker, city and state official, member of educational boards, writer, and sportsman.

The collection includes correspondence, speeches, and writings of Ramsey, including more than 200 manuscript speeches on a wide variety of subjects and occasions and 30 essays and articles on public issues and events. Correspondence is with politicians, businessmen, educators, writers, and conservationists concerning the North Carolina Democratic Party and the civic life, economic development, and history of the North Carolina mountain region. Correspondents included Emily Bridgers, Oliver Max Gardner, Josiah William Bailey, Clyde Roark Hoey, Robert F. Campbell, John Temple Graves, Richard Heath Dabney, Virginius Dabney, Hoyt M. Dobbs, Josephus Daniels, Jonathan Daniels, Josh L. Horne, Glenn Tucker, and Wilma Dykeman. The bulk of the papers are 1940-1965, although the speeches date back to 1912. Also included are materials pertaining to the Asheville municipal government in the early 20th century, personal recollections concerning Thomas Wolfe and Woodrow Wilson, and information on the death of Elisha Mitchell.

Extent:
6600 items (9.0 linear feet)
Language:
Materials in English
Library Catalog Link:
View UNC library catalog record for this item

Background

Biographical / historical:

Darley Hiden Ramsey, son of Simeon Clay and Lucy (Pinckard) Ramsey, was born in Gretna, Va., in 1891. In 1903, his family moved to Asheville, N.C., to the same neighborhood as Thomas Wolfe. Ramsey received two degrees from the University of Virginia, an A.B. (1912) and an M.A. (1913) in economics. He also pursued a year of doctoral studies as Supply Professor of Economics.

In 1915, Ramsey was elected Commissioner of Public Safety of Asheville and served a year in the same capacity in Winston-Salem after his term expired in 1919. In 1920, he joined the Asheville press as associate editor of the Citizen, and was successively editor of the Asheville Times, 1921-1926; general manager of the Times, 1926-1930; and general manager of the Citizen-Times Company, 1930-1954.

Ramsey was actively connected with public education during most of his career. He served as chairman of the board of trustees of Western Carolina College; a member of the State Board of Education, 1945-1953; and on the first Board of Higher Education, 1955-1960. Among other civic posts he held were president of the North Carolina Conference for Social Service, 1923-1924; chairman of the State Planning Board, 1944-1945; president of the North Carolina Press Association and director of the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association; chairman of the Buncombe County Sinking Fund Commission, the clean-up operation in the wake of the Asheville-Buncombe County financial default; treasurer of the School of Journalism Foundation of North Carolina, 1949-1953; director of the North Carolina Forestry Association; and director of the James G. K. McClure Education and Development Fund (Farmers Federation Fund), which engaged in health, educational, and religious philanthropies in Western North Carolina.

Ramsey was often urged by his correspondents and by editors in the state press to become a candidate for governor. He never sought public office after 1919, but was influential in the state Democratic Party through keynote addresses, writing party platforms, and campaigning for governors. He was a presidential elector in 1940 and 1960.

Ramsey was much in demand as a speaker for commencements, elections campaigns, radio broadcasts, memorials, dedications, and other civic occasions. Besides editorials, he frequently wrote magazine articles on journalism, education, conservation, Western North Carolina history, and other topics.

Ramsey married Mary Sumner in 1926. He was made Doctor of Laws by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Doctor of Letters by Western Carolina College.

Scope and content:

The collection consists primarily of correspondence, both to and from Ramsey, and speeches between the years 1940 and 1965. Correspondence includes many letters relating to organizational affiliations. Speeches include addresses for commencements, campaigns, and political and civic occasions. Papers from the Board of Education, the Board of Higher Education, and the Foundation of Journalism are separated into different series. Subject files include papers other than correspondence that touch on many of the subjects discussed in letters. Clippings include articles by and about Ramsey.

Acquisition information:

Received from Mrs. D. Hiden Ramsey of Asheville, N.C., in April 1968.

Processing information:

Processed by: Suzanne Ruffing, March 1996

Encoded by: ByteManagers Inc., 2008

Updated by: Dawne Howard Lucas, July 2021

This collection was processed with support from the Randleigh Foundation Trust.

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.

Access and use

Restrictions to access:

No restrictions. Open for research.

Restrictions to use:

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

No usage restrictions.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], in the D. Hiden Ramsey Papers #3805, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Special Collections Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Location of this collection:
Louis Round Wilson Library
200 South Road
Chapel Hill, NC 27515
Contact:
(919) 962-3765
wilsonlibrary@unc.edu