Collection is open for research; access requires at least 24 hours advance notice.
The Earl E. Berkley Collection relates to Berkley’s work in textiles including numerous contributions to the fields of fiber chemistry, fiber structure, and the physical properties and end uses of cotton and other natural cellulose fibers.
Earl Berkley received a Ph.D. in 1933 in plant physiology from Washington University in St. Louis. Afterwards, Berkley worked in the textiles field with the Cellulose Research Corporation, U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Cotton Council of America, Anderson, Clayton & Company, and Pacolet Industries. Berkley made contributions to fiber chemistry, structure, physical properties and end uses of cotton and other natural cellulose fibers.
Earl Berkley was born in Clayton, West Virginia, on July 9, 1902. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from West Virginia in 1929, a Master of Science degree from Washington University in St. Louis in 1930, and a Ph.D. in 1933 in plant physiology, also from Washington University. Berkley worked as a chemist at the Cellulose Research Corporation in East Alton, Illinois, and as an associate cotton technologist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture before holding several positions at the National Cotton Council of America, including cotton technologist, senior fiber technologist, and chief fiber technologist. Following these appointments, Berkley accepted the position of Director of the Fiber and Spinning Lab at Anderson, Clayton & Company in 1949, an office he held until 1961. In 1961, he joined the Fiber Research and Testing section of the Cotton Department, Pacolet Industries, Inc., Deering Milliken Service Corporation. Throughout his career, Berkley made contributions to fiber chemistry, structure, physical properties and end uses of cotton and other natural cellulose fibers.
The Earl E. Berkley Collection relates to Berkley’s work in textiles including numerous contributions to the fields of fiber chemistry, fiber structure, and the physical properties and end uses of cotton and other natural cellulose fibers. The collection is divided into eight series. Together, series highlight Berkley’s scholarly work, materials related to Berkley’s areas of research specialization, travels to Europe and Asia, interactions with family and colleagues, genealogy and local history research, and books. The collection spans almost a century’s worth of gathered information and work from 1898 to 1989.
Items were only rearranged as to allow each folder to correlate to one of the identified series. Some series overlap with each other and the eight series spread throughout the collection. This collection is organized into series:
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], Earl E. Berkley Papers, MC 00287, Special Collections Research Center, North Carolina State University Libraries, Raleigh, NC
Processed by Lisa Withers, October 2016; finding aid updated because of addition by Hannah Chapman, 2020 November, updated by Phillip MacDonald 2022 March.
The collection is organized into eight principal series:
Items in this series are identified as written by Earl E. Berkley either as the sole author or co-author. Includes scholarly articles, reports, professional presentations, manuscript drafts, and general research notes (when notes were identified as such within the collection).
Series includes both personal and professional correspondence. Personal correspondence contains letters, postcards, and personal greeting cards between family members, friends, and mentors. If correspondence contained photographs, these items were kept together in this series for context purposes. The few items of correspondence from the 1970s and 1980s pertain to local history, genealogy, and information for establishing a new museum. Professional correspondence includes letters, memos, and notifications. Professional correspondence includes items written on company letterhead or written by a known professional colleague of Berkley.
Series primarily focuses Berkley’s personal life and has overlap with the series pertaining to professional work, travel, or genealogy/local history. Items include personal keepsakes, newspaper clippings, autobiographical notebooks, travel journals, documents pertaining to community events, speeches, appointment books, ledgers, diary, scrapbook, and yearbook.
Series primarily focuses on documents related to travel. Many items pertain to Berkley’s 1953-1954 World Tour. Photographs found in Carton 1 were kept with accompanying documents for context purposes. Additional travel photographs (found in later cartons) were processed into the Photograph Series as they did not have accompanying documents even if they appeared to be from the same trips. Series features countries in Europe and Asia.
Series includes images (slides, negatives, and glass plates) found within the collection without accompanying documents or descriptions as to their contents. Features personal and professional travel to Europe, Asia, and within the US. Also includes a scrapbook of Berkley’s world tour, images of textile mills in various countries, x-ray diffractions of various plant specimens, glass plates of research diagrams and charts, illustrations/diagrams of mill machinery, Berkley family and friends, and Alderson, West Virginia.
Series focuses on Berkley’s work compiling a genealogy of the Berkley and Lusher families as well as local history research on Alderson, West Virginia and Greenbrier County. Items include genealogy notebooks (with images), family tree charts, booklets A Viking Comes to Berkley’s Mountain and The Earl of Berkley Mountain, photo boards of Alderson and Greenbrier County, photocopies of reference book materials, local history research notes, essays, and information concerning how to start a local history museum in addition to documentation of items to create a future artifact collection.
Series includes books found in the collection. Many pertain to Berkley’s area of research although none were written by him. Several contain Berkley’s signature on the inside cover.
Series contains scholarly articles, diagrams, professional and trade publications, government reports, conference proceedings, and manuals related to Berkley’s areas of research but were not authored or co-authored by Berkley. Some folders contain research notes but these are not clearly identified as Berkley’s work nor do they clearly indicate the research the data represents.
Collection is open for research; access requires at least 24 hours advance 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], Earl E. Berkley Papers, MC 00287, Special Collections Research Center, North Carolina State University Libraries, Raleigh, NC
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.