Category Archives: Duke History

Duke History, Durham History, East Campus Libraries, Humanities, Lilly Library

Professor of Latin, William Francis Gill (T 1894)

Portrait of W. F. Gill
William Francis Gill

Latin Professor William “Billy” Francis Gill graduated from Trinity College in 1894, and completed his graduate work at Johns Hopkins  University in 1898. He returned to Trinity to teach Latin from 1898 until his death from pneumonia on October 18th,  1917 at Watts Hospital, now the North Carolina School of Math and Science.  He established Duke’s Classical Club in 1910, and collective with other faculty, the 9019 Honor Society.  The only endowment for collections in Classical Studies was established in honor of Professor Gill by his friends and family in 1917.

9019 Honor Society Group Photograph
9019 Honor Society- W. F. Gill standing far right

Professor Gill emerges from archival sources at Duke and Johns Hopkins as a studious scholar, an inspiring teacher, a kind friend, and a reflective, observant, and a witty writer.  The following offer glimpses of his personality and character.

Billy  Gill was born in Henderson, North Carolina, on October 5th, 1874, to Dr.  Robert Jones Gill and Anne Mary Fuller.  He was highly regarded as a student at Trinity College, and even more highly respected as a professor and scholar after he returned in 1898.

Duke President John F. Crowell wrote the following recommendation for his  application to Johns Hopkins University in 1894:

In general, it may be said that few of our students have ever had better groundwork for university study than he has.  His four years here have all been years of solid growth and detailed attention to the regular courses in which he ranks among the first.  In general culture he is advanced beyond his years. 

Crowell, John F. Letter. Office of the Registrar records.  Box 78, Special Collections, Sheridan Libraries, Johns Hopkins University.

Application to Johns Hopkins
Application to Johns Hopkins

Billy enjoyed writing home.  In the 1898 Trinity Archive, an enthusiastic article describes his studies at Johns Hopkins, analyzing the transformation of higher level education over the 19th century, and emphasizing his excitement about independent study as the “great revolution in American colleges”.  He describes the demanding study schedule, the richness of the libraries in Baltimore, but his clever wit is also evident when, as a classical scholar, he defines civilization, “if the spring is specially beautiful and his landlady’s daughter very attractive, he may consent …(to) remember earlier days before he abandoned civilization, as to take his lady friend.”

One quote from that article is gratifying to anyone who loves libraries:

Another most commendable feature in Hopkins University life, is its library.  Unlike the other university whose library system I have investigated, the Hopkins library is thrown open to students without reserve…. This room is the student’s workshop.  This is the Socratean basket in which he is lifted from the business world.

Student Life at Hopkins. Trinity Archive. Vol 12, p. 70. November 1898

Professor Gill’s fresh approach to his subject of Latin is evident in two articles he wrote for his hometown newspaper describing his summer trip to Rome and to Athens in 1902.  In them he writes of his love for the Classics with a delight in its modern context.

This first trip was undertaken with no desire to advance new theories on the location of this temple or that street, but on the contrary it had the very modest purpose of re-reading my Catullus, Horace or Virgil amid the city that knew them. … But, greater wonder still, there is no sign of the Rome of the times of Caesar and Cicero.  Everything speaks of today.  Is it for this that I have come thousands of miles, to see the same city that might be visited at any time at the cost of a few hours ride? No, Rome differs from all other cities at just this point.  She unites the old with the new, builds upon her past in a way that no other city can. 

Letter from Rome: Professor W. F. Gill Writes Interestingly from the “Eternal City”.  Greenleaf. August 7, 1902

His progressive approach to teaching the Classics is evident in his response to changes in the curriculum, which relinquished Latin as a requirement, and must have generated his own mixed feelings. Trinity’s  original entrance exams and curriculum had been traditional, as with most colleges and universities before 1900, requiring students to master both Greek and Latin.   Both Latin and Greek became optional with the new century, and a student could study either French or German instead.

He lived through that transition in educational ideals which reduced the requirements of Latin both in the curriculum and for entrance.  …  Moreover contemporary with this change was one in his own interests.  Trained in the old school of linguistics, he gradually turned to the interpretation of Latin literature and allied phases of classical antiquity. 

William Francis Gill – A faculty Memoire. Trinity Alumni Register. Vol. 3, p. 261-263.  1918.

The death of Professor Gill happened very suddenly, from a class on Monday October 14th to Watts Hospital in three days. Newspaper articles across the State, President William P. Few’s speech at his Memorial on campus, collective remembrances by faculty in 1918, all attest to the esteem of his colleagues, students, friends and family and their deep loss. As a high officer among the Masons, the order was responsible for the burial ceremony in Henderson.  In 1925 Alumnus Linville L. Hendren (T 1900) described his fellow as “that high minded gentleman and friend to all students..”

Alumni Address of Linville L. Hendren.  Trinity Alumni Register . Vol. 11, p. 327.  1925.

Another testimonial to his character and his extensive influence on the college ethos, is also from the faculty Memoire, describing his scholarship and kindness.

In our deliberations he was uncompromising in his conceptions of right and wrong, always devoted to high standards of scholarship and conduct.  In the estimation of moral and intellectual values the loss of his counsel and influence will be seriously felt by his colleagues. 

Distinctive as were these traits of character, they were overshadowed by another quality, his capacity for friendship.  All members of the community were subjects of his thoughtfulness.  His was that rare degree of kindliness which never waited for, but sought, opportunities to do service.

Gravestone
Gravestone Fuller Family Cemetery, Vance County

An article in his hometown newspaper, written on October 19th, notified the local communities of his death.

Trinity College is bereaved, and the day’s work, hopefully planned, ended in a mission of gloom.  The flag floats at half mast, and all class activities were suspended for today and tomorrow.  The body lies in state at the East Duke building, with guards of honor from college organizations on watch.  Chapel exercises tomorrow morning will be dedicated to the review of the life of the college professor and man.

Professor of Trinity is Dead. News and Observer.  October 19th, 1917

The text on his gravestone reads:

ONLY WHEN LIFE’S TAPESTRIES ARE  ALL

FINISHED CAN THE GOLDEN THREADS OF HIS

INFLUENCE BE WOVEN INTO A MASTERPIECE TO

BE JUDGED BY THE MASTER ARTIST HIMSELF

 

Professor Gill is buried next to his mother in the Fuller Family Cemetery in Vance County.  A life size portrait hangs in the Classical Studies Conference Room in the Allen Building on West Campus.

Many thanks to Mr. Allen Dew, and Ms. Betty King, both of Granville County, North Carolina.  Mr. Dew coordinated the search to locate Professor Gill’s gravesite.   Ms. King kindly and generously shared her personal research on Professor Gill.  Archivists Ms. Ani Karagianis (Duke University Archives) and Ms. Brooke Shilling (Special Collections, Johns Hopkins University) were invaluable in their research assistance.

Collections, Duke History, East Campus Libraries, Lilly Library, Uncategorized

Lilly’s Loebs and the Legacy of Professor “Billy” Gill

This room is the student’s workshop.
This is the Socratean basket in which he is lifted from the business world.
Professor William Francis Gill (T 1894), on libraries.

Loebs on shelf

 

The Gill Endowment

The single endowment for collections in  Classical Studies for the Duke University Libraries was created in memory  of Latin Professor William “Billy” Francis Gill  in December 1917. Native to Henderson, North Carolina, Professor Gill graduated from Trinity College in 1894, and completed his graduate work at Johns Hopkins  University in 1898.  He returned to Trinity to teach until his untimely death in October of 1917.  He established Duke’s Classical Club in 1910.  Materials in the Duke University Archives, and Johns Hopkins University Archives, offer glimpses of the life, personality, and scholarship of Professor Gill, in a separate blog post: Professor of Latin, William Francis Gill (T 1894) .

Lilly’s Loeb Classics Collection

Greek Loeb Classics
Greek Loeb Classics on the Move

The Loeb Classics are facing editions in Latin and Greek, with 560 volumes in a complete set.  Over the last 100 years, Duke University Libraries have collected duplicate, triplicate and in some cases five or six copies of each author, with several thousand copies currently in the University’s Libraries. Lilly’s Loebs duplicate two complete collections in Perkins Library,  many editions in the Divinity School Library, as well as the online Loeb Classical Library.   There is another collection at Duke’s Kunshan Library.

As the original library of Trinity College, Lilly’s collection includes some of the oldest acquisitions, many of them bought for the Woman’s College Library in the 1930s. Many are in good condition, others are visibly tattered, worn, loved, and annotated by generations of students who studied Latin and Greek on East Campus.

In the spirit of Professor Billy Gill’s commitment to classical scholarship and teaching, in preparation of  Lilly’s renovation, and in honor of those studious alumni, we are giving away the Lilly Loebs as gifts to Duke’s current students, faculty and staff.  Each book includes a plate commemorating the Lilly Renovation Project, designed by Ms. Carol Terry, of Lilly Library.

Duke  faculty, staff and students are invited to select gift copies from the Lilly Library Loeb Classics collection.  Details:

Bookplate Lilly LibraryLilly Gives its Loebs to Duke Students, Faculty, and Staff

When: Friday April 12: 1 to 5pm*
Where: Lilly Library Room 103

Note: for this event, a Duke ID is required.
*On Friday, April 12th, there is a limit of 10 titles per person.

Due to an enthusiastic response, all titles were claimed on Friday April 12th. Thank you to  our Duke community for your interest.

Announcement, Duke History, Events, Humanities, Life in the library

Two Events to Launch a New Book Series: Studies in the Grateful Dead

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Join us for two author talks this semester and the launch of a new book series from Duke University Press, Studies in the Grateful Dead, exploring the iconic rock band’s lasting impact on American culture and the “long strange trip” their music is still taking today. 

Edited by Nicholas G. Merriweather, Executive Director of the Grateful Dead Studies Association and former Grateful Dead Archivist at the University of California–Santa Cruz, the new book series explores the musical and cultural significance, impact, and achievement of the Grateful Dead while reinventing the academic and popular discourse devoted to the band.  

According to the Duke University Press website, Studies in the Grateful Dead “establishes the Dead as an anchor for the 1960s counterculture, which proved to be the source of key historical moments that have shaped music, art, film, literature, politics, and philosophy in America ever since. In this way, books in the series will deepen understandings of postwar American culture while providing a full examination of the ‘afterlife’ of the Grateful Dead, with all the seriousness and joy their work deserves.” 

Each event will feature a Q&A with the author, light refreshments, and enough obscure band trivia (and deep analysis) to satisfy Deadheads of all ages. Copies of the books will be available for purchase.

Date: Friday, February 2 
Time: 6:00 p.m.
Location: Holsti-Anderson Family Assembly Room (Rubenstein Library 153) 

Get Shown the Light: Improvisation and Transcendence in the Music of the Grateful Dead, by Michael Kaler, Associate Professor at the Institute for the Study of University Pedagogy, University of Toronto Mississauga.

 

Date: Friday, April 5 
Time: 6:00 p.m. 
Location: Holsti-Anderson Family Assembly Room (Rubenstein Library 153) 

Live Dead: The Grateful Dead, Live Recordings, and the Ideology of Liveness, by John Brackett, an independent scholar and author of John Zorn: Tradition and Transgression, and coeditor of The Routledge Companion to Popular Music Analysis: Expanding Approaches. 

 

Duke has several notable connections with the Grateful Dead. Last April marked the 45th anniversary of the jam band’s 1978 concert at Duke’s Cameron Indoor Stadium, widely regarded as one of their best shows of the decade and one of five times they performed at this university. The Duke community celebrated the event with an engaging panel discussion and performance at the Rubenstein Arts Center. You can also watch a recording of the historic concert online. 

Co-sponsored by Duke University Press, Duke University Libraries, and Duke Arts 

Collection Spotlight, Duke History, International and Area Studies Department

Stories of American Methodist Missionaries from Duke’s Korean Studies Collection, Part 1

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This blog post by Miree Ku, Korean Studies Librarian, is the first in a series devoted to stories about American missionaries in Korea from Duke’s Korean collection and archives.

My interest in American Methodist missionaries in Korea was sparked by simple curiosity.  In 2007, when I first started working as a Korean Studies librarian at Duke University Libraries, I discovered that there was a library endowment called the Judy Fund, which was designated for the acquisition of and/or access to Korean materials in both paper and electronic formats. I was surprised to learn of the existence of this fund because it was established back in 1994, at a time when there was no Korean Studies program or faculty at Duke.  I wondered why some donor would set up a fund specifically for Korea, but at that point in time, I didn’t know Judy’s full name and was unable to find any archival records about him (or her?) in the library.

This curiosity returned to me a few years later when I received some boxes containing Korean materials gifted to Duke University Libraries. The boxes contained old Bibles, notes, diaries, calendars, and books published from the colonial period through the 1970s, in both Korean and English. According to the gift records, they were donated in 1999 but remained unprocessed for a long time because there was no one to manage Korean language materials. While sorting through the books one by one, I came across a very small red book titled Fifty Helps for the Beginner in the Use of the Korean Language (1911).  The first page of this book contained an inscription that reads: “Carl W. Judy.”  I was thrilled to see a familiar name and felt certain that these gift materials had been donated by the person who established the Judy Fund.

Baird A. L. A. (1911). Fifty helps for the beginner in the use of the korean language. Fukuin Print.

I was also surprised to see the names of missionaries associated with Duke’s Korean collection and archives appearing one after another. In the process of trying to identify these individuals I started researching the history and activities of foreign missionaries in Korea. The result of this research is my online library guide to the Carl Wesley Judy Collection, which is still on ongoing work as I continue to add his donated books. This guide describes the collection of materials that Carl W. Judy donated at the same time that he established the Judy Endowment at the Duke University Libraries. In addition to Judy’s own books, this guide also describes some of the books donated by other American missionaries to Korea, all of whom were either related to and/or worked alongside Carl W. Judy, including his father-in-law, Lyman Coy Brannon (Korean name 부라만, or 브라만), his wife, Margaret Brannon Judy (Korean name 주진주), Jack Aebersold (Korean name 이요한), and Roberta Rice (Korean name 나옥자).

Ku, Miree. “Carl Wesley Judy Collection.” Duke University Libraries.

In 2021, when I moved into the office previously occupied by Kristina Troost, the longtime head of the International and Area Studies Department, I discovered additional documents related to Judy. These included memoranda, letters from Judy to Duke University libraries, and acknowledgements from the Libraries. When I came across these documents, I was deeply moved by the story of Judy, his family, and other missionaries who ventured to a distant and unfamiliar country and dedicated their lives to serving the people of Korea. Even upon returning home to America, they held Korea close to their hearts.

Top: Memoranda (November 8, 1993 & January 28, 1994) Bottom (left): Carl W. Judy Korean Library Fund (Dec, 1993) Bottom (right): Carl W. Judy’s letter (and check) to Duke Libraries (Nov, 2001)

Carl Wesley Judy

Carl Wesley Judy (Korean name 주덕, also known as 주디 or 쥬디), the American Methodist pastor and Duke alumnus who established the Judy Endowment for the Korean collection at Duke University Libraries, spent nearly 35 years as a medical missionary in Korea (1948-1983).  During the course of his career, he worked with Korean villagers from the Kyungchonwon Leper Colony (경천원) in Wonju, provided scholarships to Korean high school and graduate students, and helped Korean pastors build or establish over 200 churches.

Left: a photo from the groundbreaking ceremony of Christian Hospital (the person holding a shovel in front is Rev. Judy), November 1957. Middle: Carl Wesley Judy. Right: Carl Wesley Judy & Margaret Brannon Judy. Source: http://www.wonjutoday.co.kr/

Judy was born in Charleston, West Virginia, on April 10, 1918, and graduated from the Divinity School of Duke University in 1943 with a B.D. degree. I found his bachelor’s thesis, titled Morris Harvey College as a Factor in the History of the Western Virginia Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South in the Duke University Archives. Morris Harvey College later awarded him the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity (1966).

Judy, C. W. (1943). Morris Harvey college as a factor in the history of the Western Virginia conference of the Methodist Episcopal church, South.

While Judy was working for the Western North Carolina Annual Conference in 1944, he met Margaret Taylor Brannon (Korean name 주진주). She was born in Wonsan, Korea, the daughter of Methodist missionaries Myrtle and Lyman Brannon. In 1944, Carl and Judy were married at the Central Methodist Church in Asheboro, North Carolina. In 1946, the Judys were approved as missionaries by the Methodist Board of Mission and assigned to serve the areas of Cheonan, Daejeon, and Jeolla Provinces. Two years later, Carl, Margaret, and their two children departed for Korea.

The outbreak of the Korean War, on June 25, 1950, forced the family to return to their home in New Haven, Connecticut. But the Judys were not done with their mission. Despite the ongoing military hostilities, the Missionary Board asked Carl to return to Korea and to help the Korean Methodist Church and its followers cope with the chaos of those traumatic days. This time, however, Carl was accompanied by his father-in-law, Rev. Lyman Coy Brannon, rather than his wife.  After the war, Margaret and Carl’s children returned to Korea and the Judys reopened a mission station in Wonju in April 1954.

Carl W. Judy and Margaret B. Judy assigned to Wonju Jeil Methodist Church in November, 1954.

In 1959, Rev. Judy, along with Dr. Florence Jessie Murray, a United Church missionary doctor from Canada, established the Wonju United Christian Hospital, currently known as Yonsei University Wonju Severance Hospital.  Following in the footsteps of Margaret’s parents, the Judys spent the rest of their time in Korea as missionaries. Carl and Margaret retired to Asheboro, North Carolina, in 1984.

Lyman Coy Brannon

Carl Wesley Judy’s father-in-law, Lyman Coy Brannon (1880-1971), was a well-known Methodist Church pastor.  Reverend Brannon (better known by his Korean name 부라만 or 브라만) began his mission to Korea in 1910.  In 1914, Brannon married Mattie Myrtle Barker in Korea.  Their daughter, Margaret Brannon, was born in 1916.  From 1937 to 1940, he served as the school chaplain of Songdo High School, which was originally established in Songdo by Yun Chi-ho in 1906.

Brannon worked in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province of Korea (which is now South Korea), and primarily in Wonsan and Songdo (which is now Kaesong in North Korea). One of the sites where he focused his missionary efforts was a very small church known as Munam Church (문암감리교회 in Korean), which he established in a secluded mountain valley in Gangwon Province.  According to local folklore, it was situated at this remote location because soon after he arrived to sow the seeds of the gospel, the young American pastor became trapped in deep snow in Munam Village.  Whatever the case may be, Brannon’s establishment served as a Methodist home church, a group of Christians who regularly gather for worship in private homes.  During the colonial period, it is said that some Korean patriots, who were fighting for independence from Japanese colonial rule, sought refuge in this church to evade the Japanese police and potential imprisonment. Despite the intense pursuit by the Japanese authorities, this remote village remained untouched.

Another one of the sites where Brannon focused his missionary efforts was the Donam-ri Methodist Church in Deokwon, South Hamkyong Province (which is now Wonsan, North Korea).  Donam-ri was the hometown of Yongsin Choi (1909-1935), a Korean Methodist preacher who became a pioneer in promoting the enlightenment movement for rural communities and whose life-story served as the inspiration for the famous Korean novel called Evergreen Tree (상록수) written by Sim Hun in 1936. Yongsin Choi was born and raised in this area and received education there. She attended Doonam Church, a Methodist church near her home, which provided medical and educational services, and it is possible that Rev. Brannon was one of the American Methodist missionaries who taught her.  This hypothesis is supported by the fact that in the early missionary era, there were no Korean language teaching methods or textbooks available for foreigners. However, Brannon achieved fluency in the Korean language through his tireless efforts and dedication to learning. In fact, among the early Methodist missionaries, only two were capable of leading revival meetings in Korean: Lyman Brannon and Harrison Stokes (another missionary connected to Duke University, who will be introduced in the next blog post in this series).

Reverend Brannon dedicated his life to serving his congregants and did not officially retire until after the outbreak of the Korean War.  In fact, according to a New York Times article from June 25, 1950, Brannon and his wife were among the eight American Methodist missionaries who found themselves in Kaesong on the very day that this city fell to the troops of Communist North Korea.

“War is Declared by North Koreans…” The New York Times (June 25, 1950)

The Judy Collection and the Study of Korean Christianity

When I first discovered a very small Bible with Rev. Brannon’s name among the materials donated by Carl W. Judy, I wondered who he was. While conducting research on Judy, I was deeply moved to learn that Rev. Brannon was Judy’s father-in-law and that his old Bibles and books had been kept by his daughter and son-in-law.  Besides such sentimental reasons, this item is also an example of the way the materials from the from the Carl Wesley Judy Collection can be used to understand the history of Christian, and particularly Methodist, missionary work in Korea.

Rev. Brannon’s hymn (From Judy’s collection)

Catholic missionaries were the first to bring Christianity to Korea in the late 18th century. In 1784, a Korean scholar named Yi Seung-hun made contact with Catholic priests in Beijing, China, and was baptized into the Christian faith. He then introduced Catholicism to a small group of friends and family, and the religion began to spread slowly. However, the spread of Catholicism faced resistance from the Confucian establishment in Korea, which viewed it as a threat to the traditional social order. In 1801, for the first time in the country’s history, more than 300 Korean Catholic converts were executed, and persecution of Catholics continued throughout the 19th century.

In the late 19th century, Protestant missionaries began to arrive in Korea, and their message of individual salvation and social reform resonated with many disillusioned Koreans who were dissatisfied with the traditional social order. Protestantism began to spread rapidly, and by the early 20th century—the time period when Brannon started his missionary work—it had become a significant force in Korean society.  As the materials from the Judy Collection demonstrate, American Methodists were crucial for the spread of Christianity in 20th-century Korea, and are one of the reasons why Protestantism is one of the largest religions in the country. The Catholic Church and various Protestant denominations together have a membership of over 10 million people, which accounts for about 20% of the population.

For more on the history of Christian missionaries in Korea, and the way the Korean collection at Duke University can be used to study this topic, check out the following list of recommended readings:

 

Announcement, Duke History, Durham History, Events, Exhibits, Humanities, Just for Fun, Student Exhibits

Celebrate the 45th Anniversary of the Grateful Dead at Duke

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On April 12, the Duke community will celebrate the 45th anniversary of the Grateful Dead concert at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Widely regarded as a top show that year, the band delivered smoking renditions of “Jack Straw,” “Bertha,” “Good Lovin’,” and “Eyes of the World,” as you can hear for yourself in the video above.

To commemorate this historic show, join us for a special panel discussion, selections from the remastered video recording, live music, and refreshments on Wednesday, April 12, at 6:00 p.m. in the Ruby Lounge of the Rubenstein Arts Center.

The event is free and open to the public, but please register to help us estimate attendance.

A panel of Dead experts will share their interpretations of the show, including Professor Eric Mlyn; show volunteer and former Duke University Union coordinator Peter Coyle; and John Brackett, author of the forthcoming book Live Dead: The Grateful Dead, Live Recordings and the Ideology of Liveness, coming out next fall from Duke University Press. The book will be the first in a new Duke University Press series, Studies in the Grateful Dead, in the fall of 2023.

Bridget Booher, Director of Duke WIN, will moderate the panel. Footage featuring selected songs from the concert will be screened. After the program, local Dead cover band The Loose Lucies will perform for an hour. Refreshments will be served.

Professor Mlyn teaches a first-year seminar about the Grateful Dead. His students researched the band’s performances at Duke from 1971 to 1982 and curated an exhibit in Perkins Library. According to Mlyn, “4/12/78 was a raucous and animated performance and has been widely recognized by Deadheads as one of the best shows that year. The band was preparing for a trip to Egypt and it was the last full year of shows for keyboardist Keith Godchaux and his wife Donna whose unforgettable vocals punctuated shows during that era.”

See the Rubenstein Arts Center website for information about parking.

Co-sponsored by the Duke University Libraries, Duke Arts, and Duke University Press.

diversity, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Duke History, East Campus Libraries, Exhibits, Lilly Library, Uncategorized

Native Americans in North Carolina: the Path from the Past to the Present

Native Americans in North Carolina:
the Path from the Past to the Present

The research and suggested resources presented in the article Imagining Duke’s Campus in 1000 AD inspire the Lilly Library exhibit: Native Americans in North Carolina: the Path from the Past to the Present. Tangible artifacts and reference material highlighting the history of Native Americans in North Carolina  carry us together on a journey over time to the campus experience of today. The exhibit presents historical evidence predating European contact, records and accounts of the university’s Native American student experience, and a look at the extent of Native American tribal reach in present day North Carolina.

North Carolina: The Arrival of Europeans

Book cover
A New Voyage to Carolina, John Lawson (1709)

When the first Europeans arrived in what they called Carolina, the 16th century surveyor John White depicted in detail the established villages and individuals living on the land near Roanoke. A century later John Lawson catalogued the peoples and bounty of the land he traveled. His account A New Voyage to Carolina (produced in 1709) revealed the diversity of nature especially flora and of the nations of Native Americans. An original edition of Lawson’s book is found in the Rubenstein Library collection but does not circulate.
For Duke community members with NetIDs who wish  to examine Lawson’s work, reprints and online versions are readily available.

Duke: The Arrival of Joseph S. Maytubby

Maytubby
Joseph S. Maytubby (Image from Duke University Archives)

The relationship between Duke and its Native American constituents goes back further in history than one might expect. In 1892, Trinity College (the predecessor to Duke University) saw the arrival of Joseph S. Maytubby on its campus in Durham. Maytubby, a member of the Chickasaw tribe became the first Native American to receive a degree from Trinity College. An excellent student, he served as president of the Hesperian Literary Society, was involved with the Trinity Archive literary magazine, played football, and, as a capstone to his stellar academic career, his oratory skills won the Wiley Gray Medal competition for the 1896 commencement.

Duke Magazine Retro: Native Americans at Trinity in the Nineteenth Century provides more insight into university history and Mr. Maytubby’s experience.

Today: the Path Continues

In present day, the Duke Native American Student Alliance serves as a resource and advocates on behalf of Native American Students on campus. Read its mission statement to learn more. One element of NASA’s stated mission is to advance the awareness of Native American culture throughout campus and the state.

Map of NC Tribal Communities – source: North Carolina Dept. of Administration

It is not generally known that North Carolina has the largest Native American population east of the Mississippi River. North Carolina is home to eight tribes recognized tribes by the state, including the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Nation – the only federally recognized Native American community in North Carolina.   This exhibit offers a glimpse into the complicated and often uncomfortable history of the Native American tale.

The Lilly Library exhibit Native Americans in North Carolina: the Path from the Past to the Present is on display until March 1, 2022.
Curated by Librarians Greta Boers and Carson Holloway. Artifacts on display are from the collections of Carson Holloway and Greta Boers.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Duke History, Durham History, Lilly Library

Imagining Duke’s Campus in 1000 AD

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John “Blackfeather” Jeffries blesses 25-acres of new land acquired by the Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation. Photograph used with permission by Ted Richardson, TEDRICHARDSONMEDIA.COM

This post is part of a series intended to introduce first-year students to the diverse history of Duke and Durham. These posts are brief introductions, but include more detailed resources for further reading and exploration.

Many formal gatherings in the Americas begin with acknowledgement and prayer for the indigenous people of the past, and to honor those among us now.   Other examples of respect are the Duke Forest Land Acknowledgement Statement  and the Eno River Association’s Land Acknowledgement which bow  to the  Yésah, “the people”,  the collection of tribes who have lived on the North Carolina and Virginia Piedmonts.   As you find your way to class, you may wonder who was walking over Duke’s campus 1200 years ago.  Where are their descendants?

North Carolina has the highest number of Native Americans east of the Mississippi. A map reconstructing ancient languages of the Southeast identifies three clusters:  Iroquois, Siouan, and Muskhogean.  Two range across the state. To the west are the Iroquois linguistic family, the present-day Eastern Band of Cherokee.    In the Piedmont, southern, and the eastern parts of the State are the remaining tribes of the Siouan (Tutelo) linguistic family: Coharie, Haliwa-Saponi, Sappony, Waccamaw, Meherrin, Lumbee, and Occaneechi.

How far back can we go in order to imagine the people who lived here? Much of what we know draws on archaeological evidence from the Haw River Drainage area, Yadkin River, and Roanoke Rapids. The Research Laboratories of Archaeology at the University of North Carolina includes a list of contextual excavations going back to 10,000 BC in the Piedmont—where you are now–  with descriptions of culture and life for every age, starting with the Clovis culture of the Pleistocene.  The Ancient North Carolinians website includes a pre-Colonial section for the Central Piedmont.

More recent accounts, summarized in NCPedia, describe the Occaneechi and Sappony nations as documented by Europeans starting in the 17th century.  There are also accounts of the more ancient Shakori and Eno tribes of the Piedmont, and the Tuscarora  towards the east.  Two centuries later, Andrew Jackson’s Indian Removal Act of 1830 began the forced removal of the Cherokee from Georgia in the Trail of Tears.  A band of 300-400 escaped to the mountains in western North Carolina, and eventually bought what is now the Qualla reservation.  It  is from there that Duke’s first Native American students arrived in 1881 to attend Trinity College and the Cherokee Industrial School.

Contemporary native communities closest to Duke include the Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation, in Orange and Alamance Counties to the west of Durham, and the Sappony to the north in Person County.   The website for UNC’s Native American Center provides contact information for each nation, pointing to newspapers, councils and leaders,  as well as a map of the 8 tribal nations recognized by the State of North Carolina.  There are four urban Indian organizations, including the Triangle Native American Association.  Closer to home is the Duke University Native American Student Alliance chartered in 1992.

This isn’t enough to understand what’s beneath your feet, or to recognize who might be walking beside you. In the mixture of oral traditions, documentation, and historical interpretations, what are the real stories?  You can visit the excavations closest to Duke in Hillsborough, with evidence from the late Woodland Period from 1000 to 1600 AD.   They include a reconstruction of an Occaneechi Village from 300 years ago. Watch the calendar for Pow Wows in North Carolina,  find out what to expect and become familiar with the appropriate etiquette if it’s your first one.  There are many ways to honor and celebrate Native Americans at Duke.

Tribal Seals of the 8 North Carolina Tribes
Seals of the 8 North Carolina Tribes

To get a start on learning more:

 Adams, David W. 2020.  Education for extinction: American Indians and the boarding school experience, 1875-1928. Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas

Chaffin, Nora Campbell. 1950. Trinity College, 1839-1892: the beginnings of Duke University. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press.

Coe, Joffre Lanning. 2006. The formative cultures of the Carolina Piedmont. Raleigh, N.C.: Office of Archives and History, North Carolina Dept. of Cultural Resources.

Gillispie, Valerie. 2018. “Retro: Native Americans at Trinity in the Nineteenth Century,” Duke Magazine (February  7).

Ingram, Jill Elizabeth. 2008.  Man in the middle : the boarding school education of Will West Long. MA Thesis, Western Carolina University.

Lawson, John. 1709. A new voyage to Carolina London: [s.n.].   You can also request to see the first edition  in the David M. Rubenstein Library.

Ward, H. Trawick, and R. P. Stephen Davis. 1999. Time before history: the archaeology of North Carolina. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press.