Aleph Number:
Records of the University's Board of Trustees which have been in existence for at least fifty years are available for scholarly research with the permission of the University Archivist. Access to records which have been in existence for less than fifty years shall be granted only by special permission, in writing, from the Board of Trustees.
Patrons must sign the Acknowledgement of Legal Responsibility and Privacy Rights form before using this collection.
Copyright for Official University records is held by Duke University; all other copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
[Identification of item], Bunyan S. Womble papers, University Archives, Duke University.
The Bunyan S. Womble papers were received by the University Archives as a gift in 1976, 1983.
Processed by Alyssa Reinhardt, November 2007
Encoded by Sherrie Bowser, November 2007
Accessions A77-60, A86-40 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.
Womble, graduate of Trinity College in 1904 and Trinity Law School in 1906, served actively on the Board of Trustees from 1915-1963, and then as an emeritus trustee until his death in 1976. He was on the Executive Committee from 1950-1963, and was Chairman of the Board from 1960-1963.
Womble's tenure covered a critical period of growth and upheaval. He witnessed the initial admittance of African American students to Duke, President Eden's resignation, the removal of Dr. Gross from the Vice-Presidential office, the interim Hart administration, and the search for a new president that led to Douglas M. Knight. He was also on hand for the dedication of the new Law School building, and was involved in the planning of a new section of the Duke Hospital.
The materials within the first and second box include correspondence, reports, several newspaper clippings, memoranda, charts, and other materials. The bulk of these materials date from 1959-1963 and concern the governance and administration of the University. Among the subjects found in the papers are the building of the Law School, the Board of Trustees, the place of religion in the curriculum, the Research Triangle Institute, and the integration of the University.
The third box consists entirely of photographs. The photographs include: 8 Trinity College scenes, 31 portraits of classmates (primarily from the Trinity class of 1904), 1 portrait of John Carlisle Kilgo, 1 portrait of a baseball player (in uniform but unidentified), 1 dormitory room (circa 1904), and 30 miscellaneous and unidentified photographs. The unidentified photos appear to be mostly of family and friends, circa 1900-1910.
Minutes of the Board of Trustees and the Executive Committee have been removed and placed in the Board's records. A newspaper clipping file on the Edens-Gross controversy has also been removed and placed in Small Collections.
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.
Minutes of the Board of Trustees and the Executive Committee have been removed and placed in the Board's records. A newspaper clipping file on the Edens-Gross controversy has also been removed and placed in Small Collections.