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[Identification of item], Robert Lee Durham Papers, University Archives, Duke University.
The Robert Lee Durham Papers were received by the University Archives as a gift in 1982.
Processed by Jessica Wood, October 2006
Encoded by Sherrie Bowser, November 2006
Accessions 74-154, 83-56 were merged into one collection, described in this finding aid.
Descriptive sources and standards used to create this inventory:
This finding aid is NCEAD compliant.
Born in Shelby, NC in 1870, Robert Lee Durham was a member of the Trinity College championship football team of 1891, the same year of his graduation. He received a law degree in 1892 and subsequently practiced law until 1909, taking time out to fight in the Spanish-American War. During 1909-1919, he served as dean and mathematics instructor at various institutions including Davenport College, Centenary College, and Martha Washington College. In 1919, he became president of Southern Seminary, a school for girls in Buena Vista, VA. He was the brother of Stonewall and Plato Durham, and the father of Dr. Margaret Robey, all Trinity graduates. He died in 1948 after a brief illness.
Contains correspondence, manuscripts of orations and songs composed for Trinity events, photographs, clippings, materials relating to plans for Duke University, a proposal submitted to the Duke family for a school of agriculture and for the choice of "Yale blue" as the school color. Some of Durham's correspondents include B. N. Duke, W. W. "Cap" Card, W. P. Few, R. L. Flowers, J. C. Kilgo as well as members of the Trinity football team. Also contains an inscribed copy of
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