Abstract: David Irvin Craig was born in Orange County, N.C., in 1849. He received his early education at the old Hughes Academy at Cedar Grove, N.C.; was a student at Davidson College, 1874-1875; and, in 1878, graduated from the Theological Seminary in Columbia, S.C. He was licensed to preach in May 1878 in Greensboro, N.C., and served as pastor at the Reidsville Presbyterian Church in Reidsville, N.C., until 1925. In 1881, Craig married Isabel Gertrude Newman of Columbia, S.C., with whom he had four children. Craig was elected as a representative of Orange Presbytery in the General Assembly, served as Moderator of Synod and the Presbytery, was one of ten original regents of Barium Springs Orphanage, held the Stated Clerk position for both the Orange Presbytery and the Synod, and was a trustee of Davidson College and Union Theological Seminary. He wrote historical works on Presbyterianism. Craig died in 1925. The collection includes one account book, one day book, 14 diaries, and some loose papers. The account book, 1878-1924, includes information about marriages, baptisms, and burials performed by D.I. Craig. It also contains insurance information and lists new members of Reidsville Presbyterian Church, 1878-1897, with some gaps. The day book, 1912-1923, contains salary, expenditure, and debt information for D.I. Craig and his family. The diaries, 1884-1925, include stories of his experiences on the Craig family “plantation,” which was established in Orange County, N.C., during the 1750s. Craig also recorded a short history of the Craig and Strayhorn families in the 1884 diary and discussed family history in other diaries. Entries discuss President Grover Cleveland’s appearance at the Great Centennial Celebration of the Presbyterian General Assembly in May 1888, local and national elections, his experiences with African Americans at the polls on election days, thoughts on Prohibition, meetings with the Synod and Presbytery, his perspective on racial issues, farm life, family members, and the local gossip. Also included are entries describing the Wilmington race riots of 1898 and race riots across the country that followed first black Heavyweight Champion of the World (1908-1915) Jack Johnson’s defeat of Jim Jeffries, a white boxer and former world heavyweight champion who came out of retirement to fight Johnson on 4 July 1910. Loose papers, 1878-1925, include clippings mentioning D.I. Craig’s life and work, a program for Reidsville Presbyterian Church, and photographs of New Hope Cemetery in the 1920s. The cash book, 1914-1929, contains information on sermons preached and prayer meetings held at Reidsville Presbyterian Church as well as a list of baptisms, marriages, and funerals performed by D.I. Craig. There are also loose papers throughout the book primarily addressed to D.I. Craig’s son, Carl B. Craig. The notebooks, 1876-1878, consist of a collection of writings, sermons, and lectures given by educators at the Theological Seminary in Columbia, S.C., and they also include some written thoughts and reflections of D.I. Craig. The Addition of August 2010 consists of a single volume providing genealogical information about the Craig family written by D.I. Craig in 1899. Other information in the volume is written in another hand and includes a transcription of an obituary of a relative who died in the Civil War during the Battle of Bean’s Station (14 December 1863) and a transcription of a letter purported to have been found by a servant at a federal army camp near Camden, S.C. Dated 26 February 1865, the letter from Thomas J. Myers to his wife in Boston, Mass., recounts the looting and pillaging that occurred, likely in Camden, S.C., as General William T. Sherman’s army travelled north through the state.

Repository: Southern Historical Collection

Collection highlights: Some of the material in this collection has been digitized. Click here to access the finding aid to link to the digital material.

The diaries (1884-1925) contain entries describing Craig’s interactions with African Americans at the polls during election day, as well as his views on race relations.

The Diary from August 1897-1900 (Oversize Volume SV-5399/4) contains an entry describing the Wilmington Race Riots of 1898.

The Diary from 1908-1910 (Oversize Volume SV-5399/7) includes an entry about the 4 July 1910 fight between Jack Johnson, an African-American man, who defeated Jim Jeffries, a white man. The event provoked race riots across the country.

Abstract: James A. Hutchins Jr., an alumnus of the University of North Carolina, grew up in Winston-Salem, N.C. He came to Chapel Hill on a scholarship to play tennis, but wound up playing football instead, becoming a star fullback for the University of North Carolina Tar Heels. In 1939, he accepted his first job with the United States Department of Agriculture. Hutchins served in the United States Navy during World War II, after which he returned to the Department of Agriculture. At the Department of Agriculture, Hutchins worked against rural and urban hunger and helped create one of the nation’s first school lunch programs. He also served as the chief of the Department of Agriculture’s Direct Distribution Branch, where he coordinated programs in 84 countries, and as the head of the federal government’s Commodity Credit Corporation, where he helped stabilize and protect domestic prices and farm income. Hutchins married Marguerite Hutchins in 1940; the couple had three children: Julia, Alex, and Glenn. The collection contains a scrapbook and other materials chiefly chronicling the college football and United States Navy career of James A. Hutchins. Included are photographs, letters, ticket stubs, game programs, and clippings relating to the University of North Carolina football seasons, 1934-1936; photographs and other materials from Hutchins’s time in the United States Navy; and other items, some of which relate to pre-flight schools established in the 1940s, including the one at the University of North Carolina.

Repository: Southern Historical Collection

Collection Highlights: In the scrapbook (Oversize Volume SV-5439/1), there are several clippings about a game during the 1936 season between the University of North Carolina and New York University that created controversy because New York University had an African American student in its starting line-up.

Abstract: The American Association (later Alliance) for Health, Physical Education and Recreation, a division of the National Education Association, was formed in 1927 to “awaken a wide and intelligent interest in physical and health education; to acquire and disseminate knowledge concerning it; and to promote such universal physical and health education as will provide well-trained teachers and secure adequate programs throughout the South.” The Southern District includes Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. The records, which are arranged by year, include lists of members, officers, and convention delegates; convention programs; minutes and reports, including financial reports, of the Southern Division organization, its officers, conventions, and constituent boards and committees; correspondence; publications; clippings; and constitutions. Volumes include biographies of Nathan Taylor Dodson, Edward Hitchcock, Jessie Reid Garrison Mehling, Emma W. Plunkett, Jackson Roger Sharman, Mary Ella Soul?, and Solon B. Sudduth, and histories of the individual state associations and of the development of physical education in the South.

Repository: Southern Historical Collection

Collection Highlights: Folder 6 contains a copy of an announcement for the Section on Health & Physical Education for Negroes at the 9th annual convention in Knoxville, Tenn.

Folder 70 from the 30th Convention contains a list of African American Physical Educations in the organization.

Folder 73 has correspondence from African American Members of the alliance from the 32nd conference in Jacksonville, Fla. There is also information from the committee on Professional Services to Negro Members in 1965 (see Folder 75).

Folders 76-77 and 95-95 have documents from the Committee to Extend Services to Minorities.

Abstract: The Old Hickory Council of the Boy Scouts of America grew from a single troop organized at Fairview Moravian Church in Winston-Salem, N.C., in 1911. The council operated Camp Raven Knob beginning in the 1950s. Records, beginning in 1917, of the Old Hickory Council of the Boy Scouts of America. Included are letters, meeting minutes, reports, financial materials, clippings, training materials, membership lists, photographs, newsletters, pamphlets, and other items. Documentation is uneven; for some years, there are many informative letters, reports, and other materials, while other years are represented by only a few relatively minor items.Some items relate to scouting activities during World War I and World War II; many items document the planning and operation of camping sites, especially, beginning in the 1950s, Camp Raven Knob. Also included are photocopies of two 1964 documents relating to integration of the Council’s troops; a videotape version of a 1955 film about Camp Raven Knob; and two audiotaped interviews, 1976 and 1982, with scout leaders;two photographs of African-American scouts associated with Mount Zion Baptist Church, Winston-Salem, N.C., 1944-1950s; and a CD of photographs entitled “Wahissa and CRK Images Vol. 1, 1500+ Photos,” 1970s-1990s.

Repository: Southern Historical Collection

Collection Highlights: Included are papers relating to integration of the troop (1964). Includes two photographs of African American boy scouts associated with Mount Zion Baptist Church, Winston Salem, 1944-1950s.

In Series 1 (General Files), there are photocopies of two documents in 1964 relating to the Committee on Integration, showing the current racial makeup of Old Hickory Council divisions and Various Degrees of Integration for Consideration, as well as documents pertaining to white flight in eastern Winston-Salem (See Folders 57-58).

In 1965, there is a memo dated  September 15th by district executive Walter Wilson concerning the need to organize new groups of scouts in an area into which blacks had started to move (See Folder 59).

In 1969, the executive board meeting minutes of June discuss restating in detail its racial nondiscrimination policy (See Folders 65-66).

There is a  taped interview from around 1976 with Stanley A. Harris, who was the first Director of Inter-Racial Scouting and worked to develop African-American scout troops in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s. (See Series 3, Tape  T-4688/1),

Also included are two photographs of African American boy scouts associated with Mount Zion Baptist Church in Winston Salem, N.C., circa 1944-1950s. (See Images Folders P-4688/18 and 19.)

Abstract: Chauffeur, butler, and gardener, 1932-1949, for the family of Frank Porter Graham, president of the University of North Carolina. Robinson was also a custodian, 1950-1966, at the University of North Carolina, a civic and political leader, and the first black alderman of Chapel Hill, N.C. Pocket diaries, 1929-1969, and scrapbooks, 1912-1964, containing clippings, correspondence, and memorabilia of Hubert S. Robinson, Sr. The diaries contain very brief, almost daily entries, chiefly concerning Robinson’s work, his church, civic, social, and political activities, events in Chapel Hill, University sports events and other University occasions, family matters, and national news.

Repository: Southern Historical Collection

Collection Highlights: The diaries contain information about Robinson’s involvement in numerous community affairs. Scrapbooks contain clippings about various topics such integration of UNC CH and various other schools , sports,  as well as letters from Frank Porter Graham, Terry Sanford, and John F. Kennedy.

Of particular interest is Volume 40, which includes a photograph of Hubert Robinson. The scrapbooks often contain clippings related to Robinson’s interests, including politics, civil rights, school desegregation, articles on African American entertainers in EBONY, as well as the achievements of his own children.

Abstract: Accounts kept by Burke of Rowan County, N.C., as guardian of Joseph D. Cowan, and, presumably, as a general merchant,

including records of hiring slaves and selling tobacco.

Repository: Southern Historical Collection