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1978 Duke University. All rights reserved.
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[Identification of item], The Papers of Robert Watts Hudgens, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.
The Papers of Robert Watts Hudgens were acquired by Duke University in 1978.
Processed by: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library Staff
Completed ca. 1978
Encoded by Stephen Douglas Miller
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Robert Watts
Hudgens left government service in 1946 and worked a year as director of field organizations for the American Red Cross (1946-1947). He then became executive director of Nelson Rockefeller's American International Association for Economic and Social Development (1948-1953), where he was able to work with rural development programs in other countries, especially in Latin America.
These same concepts were carried over to International Development Services, Inc., which Hudgens formed in 1953. He served as its president until his retirement to Chapel Hill, N.C., in 1963.
The collection primarily concerns Hudgens' activities after 1949, and consists of correspondence, printed materials, personal and organizational papers, many of Hudgens' writings, topical publications and notes, and other miscellaneous papers. Excellent coverage of the pre-l950 period is found in
Hudgens' continuing interest and involvement in the field of economic development at home and abroad is reflected in the files for the Farmers Home Administration (1938-1972), International Development Services (1956-1971), the American International Association (1948-1972), Agricultural Workers (1952-1971), the Society for International Development (1959-1972), the International Study and Research Institute (1963-1970), the National Advisory Committee on Farm Labor (1958-1968), the National Sharecroppers Fund (1962-1972), the National Council on Agricultural Life and Labor (1951-1967), and in files for individuals that shared his concerns and interest in the subject, such as Will Winton Alexander, Paul Henson Appleby, Hubert Horatio Humphrey, Luigi Gino Ligutti, Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller, Paul Schuster Taylor, and James Gray Maddox. There are files for the Delmo Housing Corporation and Gee's Bend, Alabama, which were cooperative projects that confronted Depression-era problems.
Hudgens was actively involved in religious organizations and in churches. He was president of the board of directors of Faith At Work, and the file for this organization covers the years 1951-1972. There are also files for the Riverside Church, New York (1956-1971) and the United Church of Christ in Chapel Hill, N.C. (1958-1973).
Hudgens' involvement in a number of state and local groups after his retirement to Chapel Hill is shown in such files as those for the Chapel Hill Historical Society (1967-1972), the Men's Garden Club of Chapel Hill (1963-1970), Friends of the Chapel Hill Public Library (1967-1972), and the North Carolina Council on World Affairs.
Hudgens was an active, and often welcome, speaker and writer on current events and on the lessons he learned in dealing with economic development and rural problems, and several files contain examples of his notes, speeches and writings. For example, he was Regents Lecturer at the University of California at Berkeley (1955), and was a guest lecturer at The Citadel (1963-1967), Syracuse University (Paul H. Appleby File, 1949-1954) and Columbia University (1954-1955). He was a participant in the Ray Kaighn Conversation Group in Chapel Hill. He was also proprietor of the Rooster Press of Chapel Hill whose publications were Hudgens' essays and editorials on current events and Southern culture, many of which were reprinted in several North Carolina newspapers, as well as miscellaneous cards, calendars, announcements, etc.
Other significant files include the Cosmos Club, Washington, D.C. (1946-1972); the Southeast Public Health Foundation (1965-1972), which he helped to found; and those of many acquaintances of note. There are several files dealing directly with Hudgens and his works (Biographical, Financial, Miscellaneous Writings and Rooster Press), as well as correspondence with numerous of his relatives.
When the collection was received it was arranged in separate folders for individuals, families, organizations and topics, and in an alphabetical series of folders containing materials on the same range of subjects. The collection has been reorganized into separate individual, family, organization and topical files, alphabetically arranged. A list of files follows below.
These are searchable subject entries for this collection. Performing a search on these subjects in the Duke University Libraries online catalog will bring up other related research materials.