College and Research Libraries


Review Articles 

A Modern University 

The University of North Carolina ) 1900-
1930; The Mak ing of a Modern Univer-
sity. By Louis R. Wilson. Chapel Hill: 
University of North Carolina Press, 1957. 
633p. $7 .50. 

One of the most remarkable phenomena 
of Southern educational history in the twen-
tieth century is the development, in a pe-
riod of about thirty years, of a small, essen-
tially liberal arts college into · one of the 
leading American universities. This long 
leap was taken by the University of North 
Carolina in the three decades covered by 
the latest major work to come from Louis R. 
Wilson 's prolific pen. 

The oldest of American state universities 
(others were established earlier in charters 
or by constitutional provisions, but North 
Carolina was the first , in 1795, to open its 
doors for instruction) the University of 
North Carolina experienced various vicissi-
tudes in the nineteenth century, including 
times of dire poverty and a five-year period 
of closing following the Civil War. Despite 
its official designation as the state univer-
sity, it is an amazing fact that during the 
entire nineteenth century the state of North 
Carolina contributed not a cent for major 
building, nor, until near the end of the cen-
tury, any appropriation for operation of the 
university. 

Proponents of the great man theory of 
history would find much to substantiate 
their thesis in Dr. Wilson's study. Would 
the University of North Carolina have taken 
such gigantic strides forward in these years 
if Francis P. Venable, Edward K. Graham, 
and Harry W. Chase had never occupied the 
presidential chair? As one reads Dr. Wilson's 
vivid account of their brilliant careers, the 
answer appears to be in the negative. Yet, 
the times were ripe for them, with the state 
on the verge of a great educational awaken-
ing. Furthermore, they were surrounded by 
able associates in administration and by 
dedicated and inspired teachers. In the at-

SEPTEMBER 1957 

mosphere of such an educational renais-
sance, any university president might have 
been stimulated to great accomplishments. 

Among the lieutenants upon whom all 
three of these presidents leaned heavily for 
counsel and guidance was Louis R. Wilson 
himself. Coming to the University as librar-
ian in 1901, he was a pillar of strength 
for the several University administrations 
throughout the period dealt with by the 
book. 

A few years ago, a lively debate was car-
ried on in the columns of CRL concerning 
the extent to which college and university 
librarians should participate in general in-
stitutional administration and affairs. One 
commentator, Charles E. Rush, suggested, 
"If you seek a perfect example of the im-
portance and effect of campus activities on 
library progress, check carefully the record 
of Dr. Wilson at the University of North 
Carolina. from 1901-32." 

Not content to limit his broad-ranging in-
terests to the library alone, Dr. Wilson es-
tablished and became the first director of 
the Division of Extension, to extend the 
University's services to all the citizens of the 
state ; founded and became the first editor 
of the Alumni Review ) to inform the alumni 
of the University's activities, plans, and 
needs; established and became the first di-
rector of the University of North Carolina 
Press, an enterprise that rapidly achieved 
recognition as a leading regional press. 

Meanwhile, on the library front , he was 
assisting in the founding of the North Caro-
lina and Southeastern Library Associations; 
helping to secure establishment of the North 
Carolina Library Commission; obtaining the 
cooperation of the Southern Association of 
Colleges and Secondary Schools in setting 
standards for college and school libraries; 
and acting as host to the American Library 
Association for its Asheville meeting. On the 
Qniversity campus, he was planning and 
er ecting two library buildings (1907 and 
1929), developing strong research collections 
to meet the needs of the institution, initiat-
i&g a world-wide system of publication ex-
changes, and keeping the library constantly 

419 



in the forefront of the University's think-
ing. Two chapters of the history are devoted 
to the library's growth, and incidental refer-
ences are numerous throughout. A highly 
appropriate action was taken by the trus-
tees of the University in I956 in designat-
ing the institution to which he has contrib-
uted so much the Louis Round Wilson Li-
brary. 

In common with the remainder of the 
University, Dr. Wilson's efforts to create a 
great university library at Chapel Hill were 
carried on against odds--often attempting to 
make bricks without straw. One caustic crit-
ic's remark that North Carolina appeared 
to have as much need for a university as a 
pig has for hip pockets was probably un-
just, but was indicative of the sentiment of 
some officials and citizens. For example, a 
governor of the 1920's, with the fitting 
Scotch name of Angus W. McLean, protest-
ing against the proposed appropriation for 
a new library building, delivered himself of 
this classic statement: "If we grant this re-
quest, the first thing we know North Caro-
lina will have nearly a million dollars frozen 
in a library." 

The kindly wit for which Dr. Wilson is 
noted and which no doubt has carried him 
through many difficult situations, crops up 
frequently, e.g., (I) citing letters of Hinton 
James, the University's first enrolled student 
in the I 790's: " ... a student, who, in those 
far-off days, had not been contaminated by 
the phonetic method of spelling, but never-
theless could not spell"; (2) on the keen 
interest of students in a lecture series ar-
ranged for them by the University: "Avoid-
ance of all lectures not enforced by a prod-
ding dean had not yet become the divine 
right of the sophisticate of today"; (3) 
on the old University auditorium: " ... 
equipped with seats whose hardness still 
amazes all unsuspecting auditors in the new 
Memorial Hall-to which the seats were 
transferred seemingly for the duration of 
the twentieth century"; ( 4) on university 
presidential addresses: "It gives the individ-
ual an opportunity, before he becomes en-
meshed in the complexities of administra-
tion, to say what" he would like to do if 
those who have employed him and those 
with whom he is to work, would only give 

him an opportunity-usually wishful hop-
ing on his part but nonetheless understand-
able"; (5) on the University's hard-working 
business manager: "He possessed two essen-
tials to success . . . ·an alarm clock to get 
him to his job in the morning, and a lan-
tern to see how to get home after dark." 

The library and educational worlds are 
placed further in Dr. Wilson's debt by this 
notable addition to the literature pertain-
ing to the history of American higher edu-
cation.-Robert B. Downs, University of 
Illinois. 

Unpublished Material 
Guide to Unpublished Research Material. 

Ed. by Ronald Staveley. London, Library 
Association, 1957. l4Ip. 2Is. 

The papers presented in this volume are 
grouped into two broad categories. The first 
of these, in the first five chapters, deals with 
science and technology, and the second, chap-
ters six to twelve, deals with the social 
sciences. 

The introductory statement about the re-
search report by A. H. Holloway is a straight-
forward and knowledgeable presentation of 
the nature of the research report, its sources, 
the problems of supply of research reports, 
restrictions on use of reports, and the like. 
It is followed by reviews of the materials 
and sources of the United Kingdom, the 
research report in North America, United 
Kingdom participation in European techni-
cal information projects, and materials and 
sources in eastern Europe and China. 

The chapters on the social sciences start 
with an article on bibliographical control 
on unpublished material by Barbara Kyle 
and go on to treatment of materials in speci-
fied fields, including statistical materials, 
market research materials, advertising, soci-
ology, and psychology. While some of the 
papers are preliminary drafts of general 
guides to the literature of their subject 
fields, there is a great deal of valuable in-
formation in each one of these papers on un-
published sources of information, and as 
such the book should be useful to research 
libraries here and abroad.-Ralph R. Shaw, 
Rutgers University. 

420 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES