The First State University: A Pictorial History of the University of North Carolina by William S. Powell

ATLANTIC SOUTH. 
A Pictorial History, UNC Chapel Hill. 

Here is a work of immense skill and reverent love for UNC Chapel Hill, William S. Powell having been the right person for the job. A noted North Carolina historian and author, Powell would pen hundreds of articles and books on the state’s history, lead the state’s roadside historical marker program in the late 1940s, receive a Guggenheim fellowship to research and write about the lost Roanoke Colony, as well as serving for decades as a professor of history @ UNC, his alma mater (having graduated in 1947). In 1972, he put out this immense volume on the history of the University, but with a twist. A devoted caretaker and proponent of library collections of tactile primary documents and visual records, Powell’s volume traces the deep deep history of UNC with traditional narrative—but—one supported to the hilt by official and personal documents, newspaper clippings, paintings, prints, and hundreds of photographs. This edition is from the first run, Powell’s pictorial history having been updated and printed well into the 1980s. We have found many volumes, all at estate sales, and all from the 1970s, the book having become a go-to gift for alums and almost certainly having been a common graduation gift in the ‘70s. Covering the story in nine thick chapters, Powell’s keen visual storytelling is evident immediately. “I. The Establishment of the University,” includes the first surveyed map of the land that would be home to the university and student John Pettigrew’s 1799 illustration of the school’s first building: the East Building. “II. 1800-1870” is likewise filled of scans of important early school documents, beginning with a professor’s eulogy to George Washington that proved so popular prints were demanded by students. This section is mostly populated by rather severe looking men, all important to the formative years of UNC. But perhaps our favorite image was a simple picture of an 1850s bell used to signal the changing of classes. It ends with the Civil War and its aftermath, many students having gone off to fight in that war. Chapter III spans all the way to 1920, the 1885 baseball team in their beanie-like hats, the first issue of student paper “The Tar Heel” in 1893, and the rather grisly image of a “dissecting lab” having caught our eye. 1895 would also see the first women admitted to the university. The 1920s through to the 1970s each get their own chapter, an era that saw UNC Chapel Hill and most other southern universities evolve from places strictly, often violently, segregated to a more inclusive student body that represented all of America’s colors. Powell gives much attention to continued growth (with expansive aerial views showing up by the 1920s), the university’s key role as a flight cadet center during World War II, and of course Tar Heel pride found in UNC’s long rich sports traditions (having begun as a baseball and football powerhouse, it would, of course, become one of the signal college basketball programs). The image of an anti-war protest march prior to the final brief chapter on the 1970s pins the radical change then sweeping America, and is a nod to Powell’s objective storytelling. But it is most fitting that this superb volume ends with an image of “Old East”, the original East Building, UNC’s first, renovated but still standing guard. [Condition: Used Very Good. A warm greeting is written on the inside cover. Volume comes in a protective jacket.] 

Condition: Used Very Good. 
Nonfiction / History. 
William S. Powell. 
The University of North Carolina Press (Chapel Hill, NC), 1972. 
Hardcover, 309 pgs, 8 x 11" / 3.75 lb