The Edgar Eugene Randolph Papers document the Randolph's career as a professor of chemical engineering at North Carolina State College of Agriculture and Engineering (later North Carolina State University) as well as his personal life, and activities of his wife, Ora Huffman Randolph. Materials contained in these files include letters, 1937-1948, from Randolph's former students, many of which concern their careers in the field and their involvement in World War II; annual reports, statistics, budget materials, lists of graduates and other information, 1927-1945, concerning the development and growth of the Department of Chemical Engineering; newspaper clippings and scrapbooks, 1924-1947, about the department, graduates, and chemical engineering issues in Raleigh; other materials about chemical engineering, including Randolph's writing and technical research; personal materials, including correspondence, 1916-1961; information on the North Carolina Federation of Women's Clubs and the North Carolina Federation of Music Clubs, belonging to Randolph's wife, Ora Huffman Randolph; and photographs of Dr. and Mrs. Randolph, and their families.
An alumnus of the University of North Carolina, Edgar Eugene Randolph (1878-1954) began his teaching career as a professor of English. He taught at Lenoir-Rhyne College and at Texas A&M University before teaching at the North Carolina State College of Agriculture and Engineering (later North Carolina State University). He became head of the Chemical Engineering Department in 1924 and served in that capacity until his retirement in 1946.
Edgar Eugene Randolph was born on July 22, 1878, in Mecklenburg County, N. C. He was educated at Sardis Academy, then at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, where he earned his Bachelors, Masters, and Ph.D. in English. He continued his graduate study as a Carnegie Research Assistant at the College of the City of New York and as a graduate level chemical engineer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, from which he took practical school work in the Revere Sugar Refinery, Merrimac Chemical Company, and the Bethlehem Steel Company's Buffalo plant. Randolph instructed at Lenoir-Rhyne College, Elon College, and Texas A&M, where he taught English. He also spent summer terms on staff at Tulane University, Appalachian Normal College, and North Carolina State College, before joining North Carolina State permanently in 1920.
In 1924, Randolph helped to develop the chemical engineering curriculum at North Carolina State College. As department head, Randolph's skill and dedication to his work enabled the Chemical Engineering Department to grow into one of the College's largest, over the next 15 years. By his retirement in 1946, the Department had trained hundreds of graduates, many of whom won competitive positions in the nation's top chemical companies or other related fields. A significant number of these positions were attained with the direct intervention of Randolph.
Randolph's professional work was extensive, and he produced several books and numerous articles in technical and scientific journals. In addition to his career at North Carolina State, he took consulting chemical engineering work for the Carolina Power & Light Co.; the Southern Cities Public Utilities Co.; the Central Public Service Co.; the State Highway Commission; and the State Department of Conservation and Development concerning the potential industrial uses of North Carolina's surface waters. Randolph also acted as the State Inspector of City Gas Plants for the North Carolina Corporation Commission and as the Fuel Inspector for the North Carolina Budget Bureau on Coal Purchase Specifications for State Institutions. He was even invited to attend the 1936 World Congress of Chemical Engineers of the World Power Conference in London.
In addition to being licensed by the North Carolina State Board of Registration for Engineers, Randolph belonged to the American Chemical Society, the National Education Association, the Society for the Promotion of Engineering Education, the North Carolina Society of Engineers, and other professional organizations. He was a member of both the Tau Beta Pi National Scholarship Engineering Society and the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, and was involved in their student chapters.
Edgar Eugene Randolph died in Raleigh, N.C., on November 10, 1954, leaving behind a wife, Ora Huffman Randolph, and a daughter, Edith. Ora Randolph is notable in her own right for having put the state song of North Carolina to music. She was also extensively involved in the North Carolina Federation of Women's Clubs and the North Carolina Federation of Music Clubs. Her work included setting up musical performances and helping to run the Music and Memory Contest. On May 6, 1961, the Chemical Engineering Department dedicated the E. E. Randolph Memorial Student Reading Room, on the first floor of the Riddick Engineering Laboratories Building, in his honor.
The Edgar Eugene Randolph Papers are organized into five series which document Randolph's personal and professional life. The Personal series includes materials assembled by Randolph and those by his wife Ora. Materials include his Ph.D. dissertation, and material relating to the Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Raleigh, N.C., where the Randolphs were members and where Ora Randolph was organist for many years. Ora Randolph's materials are focused around her involvement with Raleigh-based affiliates of the North Carolina Federation of Women's Clubs and the North Carolina Federation of Music Clubs, in which she held administrative positions. These items relate either specifically to these organizations or to other Raleigh musical events.
The Chemical Engineering series contains material relating to Randolph's professional career, both in his capacity as founder and head of the North Carolina State University Chemical Engineering Department, as well as his independent chemical engineering work. Material includes annual reports, budgets, graduate lists, research, technical writing, and scrapbooks kept during Randolph's tenure at the University.
The Photographs series contains portraits of both Randolph and his wife, as well as family photographs. Most of these photographs are unlabeled. The oversized series contains one award and two membership certificates.
This collection is divided into five series: Personal, Chemical Engineering, Photographs, Artifacts, and Oversized Materials. Wherever possible, the materials are arranged according to subseries and then chronologically.
North Carolina State University does not own copyright to this collection. Individuals obtaining materials from the NC State University Libraries' Special Collections Research Center are responsible for using the works in conformance with United States copyright law as well as any donor restrictions accompanying the materials.
This collection may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations. Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which North Carolina State University assumes no responsibility.
[Identification of item], Edgar Eugene Randolph Papers, MC 00040, Special Collections Research Center, North Carolina State University Libraries, Raleigh, NC
Gift of Mrs. Carl Eycke, 1970.
Processed by: Maurice Toler; Jaime Margalottie; machine-readable finding aid created by: Katherine M. Wisser, 2002.
The collection is organized into five principal series:
This series consists of materials belonging to E. E. Randolph and to his wife, Ora Randolph. Most extensive in this series is Randolph's correspondence with friends, associates, and family members. It is arranged chronologically in two folders. Also included in this series are his insurance policies, jokes he pulled from magazines, poetry, and his Ph.D. dissertation from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, The -Ing Word in English. The dissertation is missing pages. Materials pertaining to Randolph's affiliation with the Monarch Club are also included.
Ora Randolph's materials center around her role in the North Carolina Federation of Women's Clubs and the North Carolina Federation of Music Clubs. They contain music programs, speeches, and other club related business. Each has an associated file of correspondence. Much of the music material dates from the early 1920s, particularly the 1920 - 1921 season of music in Raleigh. Mrs. Randolph also has a file of material chronicling the genealogy of her family, the Huffmans and the Fryes. Additionally, her papers contain the hand-written marriage certificate of her parents.
2 archival Boxes
Processor's note: Pages missing
The largest group of material in this series contains the letters that E. E. Randolph received from his former students. Whether they updated Randolph on their lives or solicited employment advice, the student correspondence is a rich source of information on the careers of the Chemical Engineering program alumni. The correspondence from graduates spans 1937-1948, with much attention given to the activities of the young engineers in World War II. There are also letters from students' parents and general correspondence. Letters are arranged in subseries and then chronologically.
The Chemical Engineering Department's annual reports contain a significant amount of data on the scope and activities of the Department. They give enrollment statistics, descriptions of the Department's facilities, its staff, its research projects, the progress of its alumni, the status of the chemical engineering field, the work of the student chapter of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, the further funding needs of the Department, and accolades it had received. Along with the statistics, budget materials, and graduate lists, they make up the grouping which Randolph produced for the Department in his official capacity as department head. The graduate lists give the year a student graduated from the program and state what job he is currently holding or what school he is currently attending. There is also a separate folder for information pertaining to the affiliated Waterworks School. All of this information is arranged into subseries and then chronologically.
The newspaper clippings and scrapbooks compiled by Randolph contain information on the Chemical Engineering Department from 1924 to 1945. The clippings come from several different sources, primarily the Raleigh Times, the North Carolina State Technician, and the Raleigh News and Observer. There are also several full issues of publications, such as North Carolina Agriculture and Industry and the Student Chapter Bulletin of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. The articles cover a wide variety of topics related to chemical engineering, including student achievements, work being done on the chemical engineering facilities, the North Carolina chemical industry, various lectures, the successes of the Department, and the activities of the faculty, particularly E. E> Randolph.
The rest of Randolph's Chemical Engineering materials are made up of items related to his activities, professional associations, curriculum vitae, and retirement. There is research which he produced, including his work on the water analyses at Valdese, N.C.. His writing falls into two different categories: technical writing on chemical engineering matters and writing on the role and processes of education in chemical engineering. Some of these writings are typed copies, while others have been directly removed from the printed journals in which they appeared. The retirement materials consist of congratulatory letters which have been bound into a book.
2.5 archival boxes
Processor's note: Loose pages
Processor's note: Incomplete
This series contains several pictures of E. E> Randolph, Ora Randolph, and their daughter Edith. There are a significant number of photographs of family members, particularly from Ora Randolph's side of the family. Very few of these photographs are labeled or dated.
2 archival boxes
This series is comprised of E. E. Randolph's chemical glassware and related accessories, found in the former Randolph residence in Raleigh, N.C.. Likely dating from the 1920s or 1930s, it is unknown whether Randolph used this material in his labs on campus or in his private work. The 25 items include beakers, flasks, jars (with cork or glass stoppers), bottles, funnels, graduated cylinders, a bottle brush, a ceramic measuring board, and a ceramic mortar with spoon. Those items which are labeled most frequently give their origins as Pyrex, but Nonsol W.T. Co, Baker's Analyzed Chemicals, Stasi, and the American Medical Museum are also represented. One jar also lists its contents as Ammonium Carbonate (NH4)2CO3.
2 paige boxes
This series contains three items from E. E. Randolph's career and lifetime.
3 items
This collection is open for research; access requires at least 48 hours advance notice. Because of the nature of certain archival formats, including digital and audio-visual materials, access to digital files may require additional advanced notice.
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[Identification of item], Edgar Eugene Randolph Papers, MC 00040, Special Collections Research Center, North Carolina State University Libraries, Raleigh, NC
North Carolina State University does not own copyright to this collection. Individuals obtaining materials from the NC State University Libraries' Special Collections Research Center are responsible for using the works in conformance with United States copyright law as well as any donor restrictions accompanying the materials.
This collection may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations. Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which North Carolina State University assumes no responsibility.
