The Charles Horace Hamilton Papers document Hamiilton's career as professor and chair of the Department of Rural Sociology at North Carolina State College. The collection describes Hamilton's research, writings, university career, and participation in professional organizations. His main interests were higher education, population and migration, rural families, rural health care and standards of living, and statistics. This collection also contains a manuscript by the Federal Writers Project titled "Gamblers All," detailing the history of tobacco and tobacco workers in North Carolina. It is believed that this manuscript is unpublished.
C. Horace (Charles Horace) Hamilton (1901-1977) taught rural sociology at North Carolina State College from 1931 to 1936 and from 1940 to 1967.
C. Horace (Charles Horace) Hamilton (1901-1977) taught rural sociology at North Carolina State College from 1931 to 1936 and from 1940 to 1967.
Charles Horace Hamilton was born on June 10, 1901 on a farm near Waco, Texas. He received his A.B. degree from Southern Methodist University in 1923, and received a masters degree from Texas A & M in 1925. Hamilton spent a year teaching at Lon Morris College in Jacksonville, Texas, followed by a year completing a teaching fellowship at the University of North Carolina. He then researched the rural church at Virginia Polytechnic Institute, and completed a Social Science Research Council Fellowship at Harvard University from 1930 to 1931. Hamilton received a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of North Carolina in 1932.
His career with North Carolina State College began in 1931, when he started conducting research and teaching courses in rural sociology. From 1934 to 1936, he also served as State Supervisor for Rural Research for the Federal Emergency Relief Administration and the Works Progress Administration. Hamilton returned to Texas A & M in 1936 to teach and research rural sociology, 1936-1939, and worked as Senior Social Scientist for the United States Department of Agriculture, 1939-1940. In 1940, he was chosen to head the new Department of Rural Sociology at North Carolina State College, and he served as Professor and Head until 1960. In 1961, he was named a William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor. Hamilton continued to teach at State until 1967. After leaving North Carolina State, Hamilton served as Associate Director of the Carolina Population Center at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, until his retirement in 1971.
Hamilton twice took leaves of absence of North Carolina State. He spent 15 months during the years of 1945 and 1946 in Chicago conducting studies on the social and economic aspects of hospitals in the United States. He spent the school year of 1959-1960 as a visiting professor of Rural Sociology at the University of Wisconsin--Madison.
Hamilton was an extremely active researcher and professor. He conducted research and taught extensively on issues relating to rural people, ranging from population growth and migration to education and health care. He published a number of books, monographs, articles, and reports. He was an active member of a number of professional organizations, including the Population Association of America, the National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics, and the American Sociological Association's Committee on Marriage and Divorce Statistics. He served as president of the Rural Sociology Society, the Southern Sociology Society, the Population Association of America, and the North Carolina Conference for Social Service; as Managing Editor of Rural Sociology from 1940 to 1949; and was named a Fellow of the Americal Sociological Society and the American Statistical Association.
In 1958, Hamilton received the O. Max Gardner Award from the Consolidated University of North Carolina. In 1977, Hamilton was awarded the Watauga Medal, North Carolina State University's highest honor. Hamilton died on August 1, 1977.
The Charles Horace Hamilton Papers document Hamilton's career as professor and chair of the Department of Rural Sociology at North Carolina State College. The collection describes Hamilton's research, writings, university career, and participation in professional organizations. His main interests were higher education, population and migration, rural families, rural health care and standards of living, and statistics. This collection also contains a manuscript by the Federal Writers Project titled "Gamblers All," detailing the history of tobacco and tobacco workers in North Carolina. It is believed that this manuscript is unpublished.
Materials in this collection date from 1930 to 1966. Research materials include correspondence, reports, notes, and clippings related to Hamilton's research interests in rural sociology. Writings includes Hamilton's published reports, articles, and brochures. University Career includes outlines, syllabi, tests, and lecture notes about courses taught during the time Hamilton was head of the Department of Rural Sociology. It also includes information about his year as a visiting professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Hamilton's vita and awards and honors received. Professional Organizations includes correspondence, reports, and other organizational information about the groups to which Hamilton belonged. The Correspondence and Additional Information on Professional Organizations was initially transferred from North Carolina State University Archives, Department of Sociology and Anthropology Records, and mostly contains Charles Horace Hamilton's professional correspondence from 1948-1952. There are also several files relating to local and national organizations concerned with public health and medicine.
The collection is organized into six series:
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.
The NC State University Libraries generally claims only physical ownership of most Special Collections materials. These materials are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study, pursuant to U.S. Copyright law. Libraries staff are unable to advise on copyright and other legal matters; the user assumes full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Helpful resources for assessing copyright include Cornell Libraries' "Copyright Services: Copyright Term and the Public Domain" and copyright.gov. This collection may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information about identifiable living individuals, which may be protected under federal or state laws and regulations. Researchers are advised that there may be legal ramifications for disclosing this information.
The University Archives operates in accordance with the State Public Records Act, with unrestricted access to records not covered by state and federal statutes and regulations.
[Identification of item], Charles Horace Hamilton Papers, MC 00159, Special Collections Research Center, North Carolina State University Libraries, Raleigh, NC
Gift of Dr. Charles Horace Hamilton, 1972, 1974; gift of Mrs. C. Horace Hamilton, 1980; gift of S. C. Mayo and M. M. Sawhney, 1982; gift of Douglas Hunt, 1990; transfer from University Archives, College of Agriculture and Life Science, Sociology and Anthropology Record Group, 2004.
Processed by Valerie Gillispie; Machine-readable finding aid created by Valerie Gillispie; Updated by Aaron Cusick, 2009 November; Updated by Bennett Chapman, 2016 September; Addition Processed and finding aid updated by Shima Hosseininasab, 2022 April.
The collection is organized into six principal series:
This series includes correspondence, recommendations, reports, surveys, memorandums, minutes, notes, articles, brochures, and clippings about Hamilton's research interests. Topics revolve around rural sociology and the living and health conditions of rural people. The series is organized alphabetically by topic.
This series includes reports, articles, and brochures written by Hamilton. Topics revolve around rural sociology and the living and health conditions of rural people. The series is organized alphabetically by topic, then chronologically within each topic.
This series includes materials relating to courses taught in the Department of Rural Sociology during the years Hamilton was head of the department (1940-1960). The series includes information about Hamilton's year as a visiting professor at the University of Wisconsin--Madison in 1960-1961. Also included is information about the administrative structure of the Department of Rural Sociology at North Carolina State, lists of publications written by members of the faculty, Hamilton's vita, and Hamilton's awards and honors.
The following course descriptions are taken from North Carolina State College catalogs. Some courses have more than one course number, in which case all course numbers are listed (i.e. RS411/511). Each description is followed by a year in parentheses, indicating from which catalog the course description was taken.
It is possible some of the materials in this folder are from Carl Taylor's courses.
It is possible some of the materials in this folder are from Carl Taylor's courses.
This series includes correspondence, minutes, agendas, memorandums, reports, proposals, statistics, membership rosters, and other information about the organizations to which Hamilton belonged. The series is organized alphabetically by the name of the organizations. Dr. Hamilton was a member of each organization, and served as Chairman of American Sociological Association's Committee on Marriage and Divorce from 1962 - 1965, as President of the North Carolina Committee on Social Service from 1961 - 1962, and as President of the Population Association of America from 1960 - 1961.
This series consists of a single manuscript, produced by the Federal Writers Project of North Carolina in the late 1930s or the early 1940s. Hamilton's connection to the manuscript is unclear, although he may be responsible for several editing marks on the document. "Gamblers All" tells the history of tobacco in North Carolina, and includes numerous oral histories of tobacco workers, both on farms and in factories. The manuscript is believed to be unpublished.
Edwin Bjorkman was the state supervisor of the project, and Wendell Brooks Phillips served as editor. Leonard Rapport wrote chapters two, four, six, and eight. Other writers noted on the manuscript are: Phillips, Almon Barbour, Dudley W. Crawford, Beth Cannady, Virginia Christine Anthony, Esther Searle Pinnix, Mary A. Hicks, David P. Allison, T. Pat Matthews, Claude V. Dunnagan, Edwin Massengill, Samuel E. Kluttz, N. C. Browder, Ann Marley, and Albert North.
These three boxes, initially transferred from North Carolina State University Archives, Department of Sociology and Anthropology Records, mostly contain Charles Horace Hamilton's professional correspondence from 1948-1952. There are also several files relating to local and national organizations concerned with public health and medicine. An outlier is the last folder in the final box which contains information about a TVA study conducted in 1951.
This series is arranged alphabetically.
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.
For more information contact us via mail, phone, or our web form.
Mailing address:
Special Collections Research Center
Box 7111
Raleigh, NC, 27695-7111
Phone: (919) 515-2273
[Identification of item], Charles Horace Hamilton Papers, MC 00159, 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.
The NC State University Libraries generally claims only physical ownership of most Special Collections materials. These materials are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study, pursuant to U.S. Copyright law. Libraries staff are unable to advise on copyright and other legal matters; the user assumes full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Helpful resources for assessing copyright include Cornell Libraries' "Copyright Services: Copyright Term and the Public Domain" and copyright.gov. This collection may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information about identifiable living individuals, which may be protected under federal or state laws and regulations. Researchers are advised that there may be legal ramifications for disclosing this information.
The University Archives operates in accordance with the State Public Records Act, with unrestricted access to records not covered by state and federal statutes and regulations.