The Selz C. Mayo Papers primarily contains documents from the 1940s and 1950s, when Mayo was a professor in the small but growing Department of Rural Sociology at North Carolina State College. Much of the collection consists of correspondence with fellow professors and researchers, organizations related to his research interests, and students and others whom Mayo assisted. Along with a limited amount of Mayo's writings and research, the collection contains records of his membership in professional organizations, including the North Carolina Rural Chuch Institute.
Selz Cabot Mayo was born in Pamlico County, North Carolina on September 20, 1915. After attending high school, he received a B.S. in Sociology from Atlantic Christian College (now Barton College) in 1935. Mayo went on to earn an M.S. degree in Rural Sociology from North Carolina State College in 1938 and a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of North Carolina in 1942.
Mayo joined the faculty of North Carolina State in 1939 as an instructor, and remained with the University for 42 years, until 1981. During that time, Mayo was a professor in the Department of Rural Sociology, and became the head of the department in 1960. In 1963, he was named head of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology as well, and in 1965 the Department of Rural Sociology was absorbed into the Department of Sociology and Anthropology. Mayo remained the head of this department until his retirement in 1981. During his career at North Carolina State, Mayo also taught courses at the Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and Shaw University.
Always active as a professor as well as a community member, Mayo had broad interests, including farm labor, demography and population, health services, education, and social change. All of his interests revolved around his main professional focus, rural communities and their development. Mayo edited the journal Rural Sociology from 1941 to 1951, and was a member of the American Sociological Association, the Population Association of America, the North Carolina Rural Church Institute, and the Rural Sociology Society, in which he served as Vice President in 1963 - 1964. He also served as President of the Southern Sociological Society from 1963 - 1964, after being the Secretary-Treasurer of that organization. In 1974, Mayo was elected President of the North Carolina Sociological Association. In addition to his membership in many organizations, he also published over 150 articles and essays.
Upon Mayo's retirement in 1981, Frederick L. Bates remarked, "His career-long goal has been to bring the message of sociology and its research methods to other fields, particularly to fields such as education, engineering, and to the technical fields of agriculture, and to social work." Mayo continued to work after his retirement on a history of sociology at North Carolina State University. Mayo died at the age of 68 on November 16, 1983.
This collection contains materials relating to both the personal and professional life of Selz C. Mayo. It documents his correspondence, research, writings, and membership in organizations primarily while he was professor of Rural Sociology at North Carolina State College in the 1940s and 1950s. The correspondence includes letters to and from researchers, professors, professional organizations, students, and community members. This correspondence documents Mayo's communication with others who shared his research interests, and those for whom he recommended materials pertaining to rural sociology. The research materials include both notes and collected secondary resources on rural sociology and extension activities. The documents relating to Mayo's research reflect his interest in rural people and education. There is a sampling of Mayo's own in the Writing series that demonstrate his professional and academic interests. These include both articles and booklets. Finally, the organizational documents describe Mayo's active involvement in the Association of Southern Agricultural Workers and the North Carolina Rural Church Institute, among others, through correspondence, memorandums, minutes, and organizational information.
This collection is organized into five series: Correspondence; Research; Writings; Organizations; and Coursework. Mayo, with some assistance from his secretary, had organized his papers into roughly the first four groups. Correspondence was organized alphabetically, chiefly by surname. The Research series has been maintained in the order in which Mayo left them. A collection of Mayo's writings were received and filed together. Organizations were divided by group, and have been filed this way. The Coursework series was transferred from the North Carolina State University, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Department of Sociology and Anthropology Records (UA 120.021).
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], Selz C. Mayo Papers, MC 00160, Special Collections Research Center, North Carolina State University Libraries, Raleigh, NC
Gift of Selz C. Mayo, 1982.
Processed by: Valerie Gillispie; machine-readable finding aid created by: Valerie Gillispie; addition processed and finding aid updated by Shima Hosseininasab, 2022 April.
The collection is organized into five principal series:
This series contains correspondence between Mayo and other researchers, professors, organizations, students, and others. The three main categories of the correspondence series are People Related to Research Interests, Organizations Related to Research Interests, and General. Letters are arranged alphabetically according to personal name or organization name.
1.5 archival boxes
This series includes notes, speeches, lists, statistics, and a booklet about two research topics in which Mayo was interested: extension activities and the study of rural sociology in the south. The contents of each folder were filed together originally, and this arrangement is preserved.
0.1 archival boxes
The Writings series contains a small sampling of Mayo's writings on rural communities, distribution of healthcare specialists in North Carolina, and other rural sociology topics. Several articles are reprints from sociology journals, and one article is a progress report written for the North Carolina Agricultural Experiment Station. Also included is a booklet about changing population trends in North Carolina. These writings, which cover a broad span of time, were originally grouped together in the collection, and this organization is preserved.
0.1 archival boxes
The Organizations series contains correspondence, memoranda, minutes, and other organizational information about several groups to which Mayo belonged. The Association of Southern Agricultural Workers, the North Carolina Rural Church Institute, and Committee for North Carolina were all organizations in which Mayo contributed his expertise on rural sociology. Mayo's participation in the School of Agriculture Open House Planning Committee and the State of the University Conference Committee reflects his long-standing relationship with the University. Each organization's materials were originally filed all together, and have since been broken down into smaller categories, such as correspondence, conference materials, and so on.
1.3 archival boxes
These are notes from courses that Mayo taught at State College.
Includes lecture notes, exams, bibliographies, outlines, and publications.
Includes lecture notes, exams, bibliographies, outlines, and publications.
These are materials from classes Mayo took at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for his PhD.
These appear to be notes Mayo made for one of his classes.
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], Selz C. Mayo Papers, MC 00160, 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.
