Here’s a photograph that’s got a lot of us stumped, so we are turning it over to your collective knowledge. The photograph is labeled on the back “Presidents of UNC” and that it was once part of the UNC News Bureau, but there is no other identifying information. A bit of investigation, however, leads me to conclude that not all of these gentleman are UNC presidents.
What we know and what we suspect:
- On the far left is Harry Woodburn Chase, president of UNC from 1919 through 1930.
- Third from the right is Frank Porter Graham, successor to Chase, appointed by the Board of Trustees on 9 June 1930 and serving until 1949.
- Chase was on hand for 1930 graduation ceremonies, held from 7-10 June.
- Chase returned to UNC for University Day on 12 October 1939; the account in The Daily Tar Heel, however, don’t favor this occasion as the date of the photograph.
- Second from the right is William Preston Few, long time president of Trinity College/Duke University. He died 16 October 1940.
- Dr. Francis P. Venable, UNC president (1900-1913), received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree during the 1930 commencement, but he is not in the photograph. That doesn’t mean the photograph is from that event, but a photograph intended to portray UNC presidents.
- Third from left looks like UNC president Edwin Anderson Alderman (1896-1900), but then again it doesn’t. If it is, he died 29 April 1931.
OK . . . your turn! Recognize anyone else . . . or better yet, the occasion?
