The International Program in Sanitary Engineering Design

We recently received a group of photographs documenting the International Program in Sanitary Engineering Design (IPSED), a program established by the School of Public Health in 1962. The program attracted participants from all around the world to attend classes and complete internships in … Continue reading

IPSED 2nd Session, October 1963. Photograph by Pete Julian.

IPSED 2nd Session, October 1963. Photograph by Pete Julian.

We recently received a group of photographs documenting the International Program in Sanitary Engineering Design (IPSED), a program established by the School of Public Health in 1962. The program attracted participants from all around the world to attend classes and complete internships in North Carolina, before returning to their home countries. Application materials show that some of these engineers were responsible for delivering potable water to entire regions and cities in their home countries, which included Bangladesh, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Jordan, Kenya, Korea, Libya, Mauritius, Nigeria, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, the Philippines, Poland, Sudan, Taiwan, and Venezuela.

IPSED participants and faculty, 4th Session.

IPSED participants and faculty, 4th Session.

According to a report found on the website of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), IPSED was developed to fill a gap in sanitary engineering education for engineers from “developing countries.” Prior to the creation of IPSED, promising sanitary engineers from these countries would attend schools in Europe or the United States. The design concepts taught at these schools had little practical application in the engineers’ home countries, where they would face radically different socioeconomic and technological conditions. The classes and internships offered by the IPSED program were oriented toward the unique sanitary engineering challenges that these engineers would face when they returned home.

The photographs shown here give a glimpse into the lives of a diverse group of sanitary engineers, learning and collaborating in Chapel Hill in the 1960s and 1970s.

IPSED participant visiting the Ohio State Department of Health, 11th Session, 1969.

IPSED participant visiting the Ohio State Department of Health, 11th Session, 1969.

IPSED participant at the Durham Water Filtration Plant, 11th Session, 1969.

IPSED participant at the Durham Water Filtration Plant, 11th Session, 1969.

See the finding aid for the Records of the School of Public Health for more information about this recent acquisition.

Observance of Nazi Book Burning, 1943

The steps of Wilson Library are a prime spot for UNC students to socialize, eat lunch, and catch up on reading. But on May 10, 1943, a small crowd gathered there with a far different purpose.  At ten-thirty in the … Continue reading

Students listen to the speaker at the observance of the 1933 Nazi Book Burning on the steps of Wilson Library, 1943

Students listen to the speaker at the observance of the 1933 Nazi Book Burning on the steps of Wilson Library, 1943. (UNC Image Collection, P0004)

The steps of Wilson Library are a prime spot for UNC students to socialize, eat lunch, and catch up on reading. But on May 10, 1943, a small crowd gathered there with a far different purpose.  At ten-thirty in the morning, a bugler opened a “special ceremony to mark [the] German ‘War on Culture’”—as described by the Daily Tar Heel.  This event observed the tenth anniversary of the Nazi book burnings.  On that date in 1933, the German Student Union had burned over 25,000 books they deemed “un-German” in demonstrations across Germany.  Books considered “un-German” included works by Americans such as Mark Twain and Walt Whitman.  Other burned books were written by Jews or contained material deemed contrary to the German spirit.  Americans were horrified by this censorship, and remained so a decade later.

Daily Tar Heel, 9 May 1943.

Daily Tar Heel, 9 May 1943.

By 1943, the UNC community was deeply involved in the war effort. Male students participated in military drills as part of the Carolina Volunteer Training Corps.  In the lobby of Wilson Library, the “War Information Center” collected and disseminated information about the war.  The College for War Training taught courses designed to prepare students “for maximum fulfillment of their war job potentialities.” Students even wore wearing red, white, and blue clothing, as noted in a fashion column from the Daily Tar Heel

Like students’ sartorial choices, the dramatization of the 1933 book burning was a symbolic gesture of patriotism. It was just one of many such ceremonies inspired by the Council of Books in Wartime, an organization that championed the use of books as “weapons in the war of ideas.”  The Library of Congress and the New York Public Library also held events to recall the Nazi book burning.

Exhibit of burned books in Wilson Library, 1943

Exhibit of burned books in Wilson Library, 1943. (UNC Image Collection, P0004)

At the UNC ceremony, Professor of English W.A. Olsen read selections from Stephen Vincent Benet’s radio play, “They Burned the Books.” Written in 1942, Benet’s play condemned Nazi censorship and celebrated American freedom.  Wilson Library also presented an exhibit featuring books burned by the Nazis.  John Steinbeck’s In Dubious Battle and Storm Over the Land by Carl Sandburg were among the books on display.  Underneath a highly stylized depiction of Hitler, the exhibit tagline explains that “THESE ARE THE BOOKS THAT HITLER HATES BECAUSE THEY ARE OUR WEAPONS.”

“As Close to Magic as I’ve Ever Been”: Thomas Wolfe at Chapel Hill

One hundred years ago today the tall, rather awkward, not quite yet sixteen-year-old Thomas Clayton Wolfe boarded an early morning train in Asheville bound for Durham. There he was met by his brother-in-law who drove him the twelve miles over to Chapel Hill to enroll at the University of North Carolina. Wolfe had longed to […]

Image of Thomas Wolfe smoking a pipe. The photo reportedly shows him during his senior year at UNC.

Thomas Wolfe during his senior year.

One hundred years ago today the tall, rather awkward, not quite yet sixteen-year-old Thomas Clayton Wolfe boarded an early morning train in Asheville bound for Durham. There he was met by his brother-in-law who drove him the twelve miles over to Chapel Hill to enroll at the University of North Carolina. Wolfe had longed to attend the University of Virginia. But his father had insisted he go to Chapel Hill, foreseeing a possible legal career and future in politics for his youngest child. Once at Chapel Hill, however, Tom quickly dove into both coursework and campus activities with a passion and focus that quickly made him among the most prominent and popular students on campus.

Upon arrival in Chapel Hill, Tom signed up for room and board at the three-story rooming house of Mrs. Mattie Eva Hardee, a widow originally from Asheville–$15 a month for board and $7.50 for a student’s half of a room. Writing to his brother-in-law a few days later, he declared the food “splendid” but the room rent “exorbitant.” His professors were “all fine fellows” for whom he hoped to “do well in all my studies and my guess is that I’ll have to ‘bone’ up on math.”

During the next four years, Wolfe would do well in his studies—as a junior winning the prize in philosophy for best student thesis and earning multiple A’s that same year from favorite professors Edwin Greenlaw in English, Frederick Koch in dramatic literature, and Horace Williams in philosophy. His achievements in student publications and as a leader of campus organizations were equally outstanding—assistant editor, then managing editor, and finally editor-in-chief of the Tar Heel student newspaper; assistant editor, then assistant editor-in-chief of the University Magazine; associate editor of the Yackety Yack yearbook; member of student council; author of and sometimes actor in plays performed by the campus Carolina Playmakers campus theater company; and class poet.

After graduating from UNC in 1920, Wolfe studied playwriting at Harvard, then moved to New York where he initially did some teaching at New York University. But soon he turned his legendary intellectual energy and passion to fiction writing. In 1929 his first novel, Look Homeward, Angel, was published, winning wide praise among literary critics and creating a sensation because of the thinly-veiled autobiographical nature of the book. The life and experiences of the book’s protagonist, Eugene Gant, are often unmistakably similar to those of Thomas Wolfe. In Look Homeward, Angel, however, young Gant attends the state university at Pulpit Hill, not Chapel Hill. But the sense of adventure, excitement, and intellectual stimulation he experienced there as described in Look Homeward, Angel, echo loudly the fond memories of Thomas Wolfe for a place and time he would later describe as being “as close to magic as I’ve ever been.”

“As Close to Magic as I’ve Ever Been”: Thomas Wolfe at Chapel Hill

One hundred years ago today the tall, rather awkward, not quite yet sixteen-year-old Thomas Clayton Wolfe boarded an early morning train in Asheville bound for Durham. There he was met by his brother-in-law who drove him the twelve miles over to Chapel Hill to enroll at the University of North Carolina. Wolfe had longed to […]

Image of Thomas Wolfe smoking a pipe. The photo reportedly shows him during his senior year at UNC.

Thomas Wolfe during his senior year.

One hundred years ago today the tall, rather awkward, not quite yet sixteen-year-old Thomas Clayton Wolfe boarded an early morning train in Asheville bound for Durham. There he was met by his brother-in-law who drove him the twelve miles over to Chapel Hill to enroll at the University of North Carolina. Wolfe had longed to attend the University of Virginia. But his father had insisted he go to Chapel Hill, foreseeing a possible legal career and future in politics for his youngest child. Once at Chapel Hill, however, Tom quickly dove into both coursework and campus activities with a passion and focus that quickly made him among the most prominent and popular students on campus.

Upon arrival in Chapel Hill, Tom signed up for room and board at the three-story rooming house of Mrs. Mattie Eva Hardee, a widow originally from Asheville–$15 a month for board and $7.50 for a student’s half of a room. Writing to his brother-in-law a few days later, he declared the food “splendid” but the room rent “exorbitant.” His professors were “all fine fellows” for whom he hoped to “do well in all my studies and my guess is that I’ll have to ‘bone’ up on math.”

During the next four years, Wolfe would do well in his studies—as a junior winning the prize in philosophy for best student thesis and earning multiple A’s that same year from favorite professors Edwin Greenlaw in English, Frederick Koch in dramatic literature, and Horace Williams in philosophy. His achievements in student publications and as a leader of campus organizations were equally outstanding—assistant editor, then managing editor, and finally editor-in-chief of the Tar Heel student newspaper; assistant editor, then assistant editor-in-chief of the University Magazine; associate editor of the Yackety Yack yearbook; member of student council; author of and sometimes actor in plays performed by the campus Carolina Playmakers campus theater company; and class poet.

After graduating from UNC in 1920, Wolfe studied playwriting at Harvard, then moved to New York where he initially did some teaching at New York University. But soon he turned his legendary intellectual energy and passion to fiction writing. In 1929 his first novel, Look Homeward, Angel, was published, winning wide praise among literary critics and creating a sensation because of the thinly-veiled autobiographical nature of the book. The life and experiences of the book’s protagonist, Eugene Gant, are often unmistakably similar to those of Thomas Wolfe. In Look Homeward, Angel, however, young Gant attends the state university at Pulpit Hill, not Chapel Hill. But the sense of adventure, excitement, and intellectual stimulation he experienced there as described in Look Homeward, Angel, echo loudly the fond memories of Thomas Wolfe for a place and time he would later describe as being “as close to magic as I’ve ever been.”

The Strange History of the Old East Plaque

The Old Well and Old East residence hall (background) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Photo courtesy of the University of North Carolina.
The Old Well and Old East residence hall (background) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Photo courtesy of the University of North Carolina.

Old East, with a cornerstone laid in 1793, was the first state university building in the United States and is one of the oldest continually used academic buildings in the country. Today it serves as a dormitory, but in years past it has also housed classrooms. Its long history and central location on campus makes it one of best-known and most beloved buildings at UNC.

One of the more interesting stories related to Old East involves the original cornerstone and plaque laid ceremonially in 1793. That original cornerstone is missing. It is speculated that during a planned 1840s renovation of the building (which featured several new additions to the architecture of the building), the cornerstone may have been accidentally covered or perhaps even stolen.  What is known for sure is that by the time the University reopened after closing for several years in the 1870s, the bronze commemorative plaque created for the cornerstone had disappeared completely.

This plaque was 13.3 cm x 19.2 cm and was created by Roswell Huntington, a silversmith from Hillsborough. In 1792, at age 29, he was commissioned to engrave a bronze plate for the cornerstone of Old East. The Latin inscription was on one side, with the English translation on the reverse.

Front Side of the Old East Commemorative Plaque; note the crack across the middle. Courtesy of The North Carolina Collection, Wilson Library
Front Side (English inscription) of the Old East Commemorative Plaque; note the crack across the middle. Courtesy of The North Carolina Collection, Wilson Library
Back Side of the Commemorative Plaque. Courtesy of the North Carolina Collection at Wilson Library.
Back Side (Latin inscription) of the Commemorative Plaque. Courtesy of the North Carolina Collection at Wilson Library.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In English, the plate reads:

‘The Right Worshipful William Richardson Davie, Grand Master of the most Ancient and Honorable Fraternity of Freemasons in the State of North Carolina, one of the trustees of the University of the said state, and a Commissioner of the same, assisted by the other commissioners and the Brethren of the Eagle and Independence Lodges, on the 12th day of October in the Year of Masonry 5793 and in the 18th year of the American Independence, laid the cornerstone of this edifice.’

Note that the date is listed as 5793 from the Masonic calendar.

In a strange twist of fate, the plate was eventually found over 40 years after its disappearance in Tennessee at the Clarksville Foundry and Machine Works. The owner of this business was a man named Thomas Foust. One of the metal workers was about to melt the plaque down, but showed it to Foust before doing so. Foust happened to be UNC Class of 1903 and as soon as he saw the plate, he recognized William Davie’s name and knew it had to be significant to the university.

The plate was returned just in time for the 1916 University Day celebrations. It was presented to University President Edward Kidder Graham during the festivities. The 2016 University Day celebrations mark the 100th anniversary of its return.

The Carolina Alumni Review featured an article entitled “The Presentation of the Plate” in the November 1916 issue, with a detailed look into how Foust came to find the plaque and how the university thanked him. The article makes note of the fact that President Graham was presented the plate by A.B. Andrews Jr., a graduate of the class of 1893 and the Grand Master of Masons of North Carolina at the time. The article also quotes a letter written by Thomas Foust concerning the discovery of the plate.

Foust wrote, in part, “Some days ago, the foreman in my foundry stopped me as I was passing through and said, ‘Here is a plate that looks like it might be valuable and I think I will keep it.’ . . . As he handed it to me the name of William R. Davie caught my eye and after a little further examination, for it was so dirty and tarnished that it was almost illegible, I saw that it must be linked with the history of the dear old University and at once carried it to the laboratory of the Red River Furnace Co., where we cleaned it sufficiently to make it entirely legible.”

He further noted that the plate had come to his foundry along with a lot of other scrap brass. It was purchased from a local junk dealer to be melted down into brass castings. He could not determine where the junk dealer had found the plate. After the plate had been cleaned, he showed it to professors at Southwestern Presbyterian University and especially enlisted the help of a Dr. Shaw, who was also a UNC alum, to try to contact the Charlotte Observer and get confirmation that the plaque did have a connection with UNC.

In recognition of his part in returning the plate to the university, President Graham sent Thomas Foust a copy of Kemp Battle’s History of the University with the inscription: “To T.B. Foust, ’03: In grateful acknowledgement of his fine and thoughtful loyalty, that restored to his Alma Mater the plate commemorating the laying of the cornerstone on October twelfth, 1793. This October twelfth, 1916.”

 The plaque is today housed at Wilson Library.

The “Heels” and the “Dawgs:” a storied rivalry

UNC will kick off the 2016 football season in Atlanta’s Georgia Dome on September 3rd at 5:30 PM (Eastern) on ESPN.  It’s the “Chick-Fil-A Kickoff Game” between Carolina’s Tar Heels and Georgia’s Bulldogs. The game will mark the thirty-first meeting … Continue reading

UNC will kick off the 2016 football season in Atlanta’s Georgia Dome on September 3rd at 5:30 PM (Eastern) on ESPN.  It’s the “Chick-Fil-A Kickoff Game” between Carolina’s Tar Heels and Georgia’s Bulldogs. The game will mark the thirty-first meeting between the two old rivals in a series that dates back to 1895. Morton collection volunteer Jack Hilliard takes a look back at this historic series.

Cover of the official program for the 1956 UNC Homecoming football game against the University of Georgia. Handlebar mustaches would have been more popular in the late 1890s, so perhaps the cover design was a throwback to the early days of the UNC–Georgia series. The 1956 contest marked the silver anniversary between the football squads of what the cover story declared to be the "two oldest state institutions" in the South. Those in the know know which school was the first to open its door and admit students!

Cover of the official program for the 1956 UNC Homecoming football game against the University of Georgia. Handlebar mustaches would have been more popular in the late 1890s, so perhaps the cover design was a throwback to the early days of the UNC–Georgia series. The 1956 contest marked the silver anniversary between the football squads of what the cover story declared to be the “two oldest state institutions” in the South. Those in the know know which school was the first to open its door and admit students!

When Carolina and Georgia square off in the “Chick-Fil-A Kickoff Game” on September 3rd, it will mark the 7th time the two teams have played in Atlanta.  Of the first three games in the series played there, Carolina won two games in 1895 and Georgia won the third game, 24 to 16, on October 31, 1896.  In 1898 the two teams played in Macon, Georgia before returning to Atlanta in 1899.  In 1900 these foes met in Raleigh, where Carolina won in a rout 55 to 0. Then in 1901 it was back to Atlanta where Carolina shut out the Dogs for a second straight year, this time 27 to 0.

Twelve seasons passed before the two teams met again. The 1913 game was a 19 to 6 Georgia victory at Sanford Field in Athens, Georgia. The sixth and most recent game (until 2016) in Atlanta was played on October 17, 1914—a game the Tar Heels won 41 to 6. There were no games between the two between the years 1915 and 1928.

The teams renewed their series on October 19, 1929 when Georgia visited Chapel Hill for the first time.  The game played in Kenan Memorial Stadium turned out to be a tough 19-to-12 loss for the Heels.  During the next five seasons, the two teams rotated home and away with Georgia winning in 1930, 1931, and 1933, while Carolina could win only in 1934. The game in 1932 ended in a 6–6 tie.

Once again, twelve seasons played out before the two teams met next, and this was a big one: the 1947 Sugar Bowl in New Orleans.  Photographer Hugh Morton planned to attend, but had a last-minute-in-flight change of plans.  “I missed the 1947 Sugar Bowl against Georgia,” Morton explained in a 1992 game-day program, because bad flying weather diverted some other Tar Heel rooters and me to St. Petersburg instead of New Orleans.”

Most long-time Tar Heels know the 1947 Sugar Bowl story: Carolina’s first bowl game . . . battle of the “Charlies,” Justice and Trippi . . . controversial call . . . a Georgia victory, 20 to 10.  (You can read a longer version of the story via the link.)

On opening day, September 27, 1947, Georgia head coach Wally Butts brought his Bulldogs into Chapel Hill before 43,000 fans for the “rematch” of the Sugar Bowl.  I don’t believe the national attention this game brought to Chapel Hill as ever been equaled. Fifty-five reporters filled the press box; photographers, including Hugh Morton, lined the sidelines.  Present were all five movie newsreel services (MGM, Warner Bros–Pathe, Fox Movietone, Universal, and Paramount) and five radio networks (ABC, CBS, Atlantic, Tobacco Sports, and the Georgia Sports Network). The networks transmitted the play-by-play via 600 stations. Nationally known sportscasters Harry Wismer from ABC and Red Barber from CBS were on hand. Two Walt Pupa touchdown passes, one to Bob Cox and one to Art Weiner, sealed the 14 to 7 Carolina victory.  Hugh Morton’s picture of Weiner from the ’47 Georgia game is a classic and has been reproduced many times over the years. It was Georgia’s first loss in eighteen games over three seasons.

Art Weiner catching pass versus Georgia.

UNC left end Art Weiner catches pass during game against Georgia at Kenan Stadium, September 27, 1947. UNC tailback Charlie Justice (left) looks on from a distance while Georgia’s Dan Edwards (#55) watches from a few yards away.

When Carolina returned to Athens for the 1948 game, Charlie Justice had his best day ever, gaining 304 total yards in a 21 to 14 Tar Heel win.

It was another Art Weiner day in Chapel Hill on October 1, 1949, as the All America end caught two touchdown passes to lead Carolina to a third straight seven-point victory over Georgia—again 21 to 14 to the delight of 44,000 fans in Kenan.  In a 1992 interview, Art Weiner described his 33-yard 4th quarter touchdown as one of his proudest moments during his time in Chapel Hill.

On October 7, 1950, it was back to Athens for the 20th meeting between Carolina and Georgia. I have some special memories from this game as I sat at home in Asheboro, North Carolina listening to the play-by-play on the Tobacco Sports Network. Normally the play-by-play announcer would be Ray Reeve, but on this day he was not able to be behind the microphone and my future dear friend and sports anchor at WFMY-TV in Greensboro, Charlie Harville did the broadcast. In the end it was a 0 to 0 tie…the second time for a tie game in the long history of the series.

Festivities for the 1951 Carolina – Georgia game got off to an unusual start. On Friday night, September 28th, a torchlight parade through downtown Chapel Hill and across campus was followed by a pep rally in Memorial Hall that featured both head coaches, Carl Snavely from Carolina and Wally Butts from Georgia. The 1951 Tar Heel football team, led by Captain Joe Dudeck, made a dramatic entrance down the center aisle and onto the stage. In addition to the speeches from the head coaches, Kay Kyser, UNC’s All-Time Cheerleader, led the packed-house in a rousing cheer.

But on Saturday, in Kenan Stadium, it was all Bulldogs, 28 to 16.

The 1952 meeting between Carolina and Georgia was scheduled for October 4th, but two days before, UNC was forced to cancel the game because of a polio outbreak on campus. Georgia Head Coach Wally Butts said, “We are very disappointed that our traditional game with North Carolina can’t be played. We feel they were right to cancel the game under the circumstances.”

Starting with the 1953 game in Athens, the Dogs went on a 4 game winning streak ending with a 26 to 12 win to spoil homecoming in Chapel Hill on October 13, 1956 in front of only 19,000 fans. That ’56 game was the silver anniversary game in the series.

Hugh Morton's action photograph of the 1956 UNC versus Georgia game, as published in the October 15, 1956 issue of The Charlotte News. The caption identifies the ball carrier as George Whitton, but the game day program does not include his name and lists #32 as Ed Burkhalter.

Hugh Morton’s action photograph of the 1956 UNC versus Georgia game, as published in the October 15, 1956 issue of The Charlotte News. The caption identifies the ball carrier as George Whitton, but the game day program does not include his name and lists #32 as Ed Burkhalter.

Hugh Morton's negative of the above scene, without cropping.

Hugh Morton’s negative of the above scene, without cropping.

The teams would not meet again until the 1963 season. Going into that season’s game in Chapel Hill on November 2nd, the series stood at twelve wins for Georgia, eleven wins for Carolina, and two ties.  After Carolina’s 28 to 7 win the series was tied at twelve.  As it turned out, that UNC victory would be its last win over Georgia.  The Tar Heels subsequently lost in 1964, ’65, and ’66 as well as the last time these two teams met in the 1971 Gator Bowl—a game that was billed as the “Battle of the Brothers” between Vince Dooley of Georgia and Bill Dooley of Carolina.

That 1971 New Year’s Eve battle in Jacksonville, Florida was UNC’s sixth bowl game appearance going back to the 1947 Sugar Bowl game against Georgia.  After a scoreless first half, Carolina took a 3 to 0 lead in the 3rd quarter on a 35-yard field goal by Ken Craven, but Georgia came back later in the third with a 25-yard Jimmy Poulos TD run. Following the point-after, that was all the scoring that day. Georgia won the defensive battle 7 to 3.  (Hugh Morton was otherwise preoccupied and did not travel to photograph the bowl game.)  Carolina has not played Georgia since that day.  Tomorrow’s 2016 season opener will renew the storied rivalry.