The Cyrus B. King Papers contain correspondence, political campaign materials, newsletters from a variety of local and national organizations, flyers, clippings, membership rosters, fundraising information, invitations, precinct maps, journal articles, newspaper editorials, and reports and resolutions on political issues. The majority of the material was generated through Cyrus King's work to promote civil rights and racial justice and his work on political campaigns. Correspondence includes letters to and from political figures. There are also documents that relate to his time as a librarian at North Carolina State University and a small amount of personal correspondence. Materials range in date from 1932 to 2014, with the majority dated after 1980.
Cyrus Baldwin King (1922-2014), worked in the North Carolina State University Libraries for over twenty years and was active in a wide variety of efforts to promote civil rights and social justice. He was hired by N.C. State as an acquisitions librarian in 1963 and retired in 1984 as Assistant Director for Collection Management and Development. He was very politically active, writing tirelessly in support of the causes that he has adopted, most notably racial justice, campaigns to promote peace and non-violence, and other civil rights causes.
Cyrus Baldwin King, born 31 October 1922, and died 25 June 2014, worked in the North Carolina State University Libraries for over twenty years and was active in a wide variety of efforts to promote civil rights and social justice. He grew up in North Carolina in a pacifist Quaker family and served with the United States Army in Europe during World War II. His father, Edward Scull (E.S.) King, was also very active in the N.C. State University community, serving as the secretary of the campus chapter of the Young Men's Christian Association for over thirty years.
Cyrus King earned a bachelor's degree in history from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill in 1947 and a master's degree in history from the University of Kentucky in 1949. He worked for several years at the Student Supply Stores at North Carolina State College (later University) before joining the North Carolina State Archives as the Assistant State Archivist in 1960. In 1963, he was hired by N.C. State University as an acquisitions librarian and was head of the Acquisitions Department for many years. He eventually became the Libraries' Assistant Director for Collection Management and Development before retiring in 1984.
King was very politically active, writing tirelessly in support of the causes that he adopted. He worked through his church, the Community United Church of Christ, the Democratic Party, and many local and national organizations. He spoke out in favor of of desegregation and other civil rights issues in the 1950s and 1960s and remained active in support of a wide variety of efforts to promote social justice and non-violence. He worked in support of greater voting rights, environmental issues, the abolishment of the death penalty, workers' rights, improving education in North Carolina, and many other civil rights causes.
The Cyrus B. King Papers contain correspondence, political campaign materials, newsletters from a variety of local and national organizations, flyers, clippings, membership rosters, fundraising information, invitations, precinct maps, journal articles, newspaper editorials, and reports and resolutions on political issues. The majority of the material was generated through King's work to promote civil rights and racial justice and his work on political campaigns. Also included documents that relate to his time as a librarian at North Carolina State University and a small amount of personal correspondence.
The correspondence series contains letters to and from a variety of local, state, and national political figures, including North Carolina governor Luther Hodges, North Carolina House of Representatives member Dan Blue, former mayor of Charlotte and Senatorial hopeful Harvey Gantt, U.S. Representative Fred Heineman, Congressman Brad Miller, journalist David Potorti, Senator Paul Simon, Janet Reno, David Price, Lauch Faircloth, W. W. Finlator, and more. The issues addressed in the political papers range from enviromentalism and gun control to international peace movements and campaign finance reform.
The material ranges in date from 1932 to 2014, although the majority of the material dates from after 1980.
This collection is arranged into four series:
The nature of the NC State University Libraries' Special Collections means that copyright or other information about restrictions may be difficult or even impossible to determine despite reasonable efforts. The NC State University Libraries claims only physical ownership of most Special Collections materials.
The materials from our collections are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study, pursuant to U.S. Copyright law. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Any materials used for academic research or otherwise should be fully credited with the source.
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], Cyrus B. King Papers, MC 00173, Special Collections Research Center, North Carolina State University Libraries, Raleigh, NC
Gift of Cyrus B. King, 1984 (Accn. no. 1984-0013), 1989 (Accn. no. 1989-0007), 1992 (Accn. no. 1992-0005), 1996 (Accn. no. 1996-0005), ca. 2004 (Accn. no. 2004-0014), 2008 (Accn. nos. 2008-0019 and 2008-0131), 2009 (Accn. no. 2009.0162), 2013 (Accn. nos. 2013.0039 and 2013.0224), 2014 (Accn. nos. 2014.0179 and 2014.0181)
Processed by Steven Mandeville-Gamble, 2006 February 23; Encoded by Steven Mandeville-Gamble, 2006 February 23; Finding aid updated by Todd Kosmerick, 2008 June ; Finding aid updated by Allyson Smally, 2011 September and Gwynn Thayer, 2013 October; Finding aid updated by Shima Hosseininasab, 2020 December
The collection is organized into four principal series:
The correspondence contains copies of outgoing letters, incoming letters, printed copies of emails, and telegrams. It includes clippings and other enclosures that accompanied both the incoming and outgoing correspondence. Two folders in the series contain letters addressed to Cyrus King's wife, Carolyn King. The material ranges in date from 1950 to 2014, but the majority dates from after 1985.
The vast majority of the correspondence was generated through Cyrus King's work to promote civil rights and his work on local, state, and national political campaigns for Democratic politicians. The chronologically arranged correspondence also contains some letters of a personal and professional nature, including some related to King's work at the North Carolina State University Library.
The correspondence is arranged chronologically and thereafter alphabetically by correspondent or by topic. There is a great deal of overlap between the two groupings - correspondence can be found from the same individuals in both the chronologically and the alphabetically arranged materials.
This series contains material generated from Cyrus King's involvement with political campaigns and his work on a wide variety of efforts to promote social justice and civil rights. The issues he worked for range from enviromentalism and gun control to international peace movements and campaign finance reform.
Included is a large amount of political campaign materials, newsletters from a variety of local and national organizations, flyers, clippings, membership rosters, fundraising information, invitations, precinct maps, reports and resolutions on political issues, and some correspondence. The materials range in date from 1932 to 2013, but the majority are from the 1980s and 1990s.
This series is arranged chronologically and thereafter alphabetically by subject. There is some overlap between the topics covered in the two sets of material.
1 videotape (VHS) : sd., col.
This series contains material relating to King's professional activities, mostly from his time as a librarian at North Carolina State University. The material ranges in date from 1960 to 2009.
This series contains personal photographs and correspondence as well as material related to King's involvement with NC State's Libraries after his retirement. The material ranges in date from 1957 to 2014.
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], Cyrus B. King Papers, MC 00173, Special Collections Research Center, North Carolina State University Libraries, Raleigh, NC
The nature of the NC State University Libraries' Special Collections means that copyright or other information about restrictions may be difficult or even impossible to determine despite reasonable efforts. The NC State University Libraries claims only physical ownership of most Special Collections materials.
The materials from our collections are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study, pursuant to U.S. Copyright law. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Any materials used for academic research or otherwise should be fully credited with the source.
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.