The records of the North Carolina State University Department of Chemistry include memoranda on the role of the department, a long-range proposal, notes for advisors and lab assistants, workstation operations guide, essays, lecture outlines, newsletters, a book of exercises, promational materials advertising the department, and Faculty Activity Reports. Materials range in date from 1931 to 2015.
The North Carolina State University Department of Chemistry charts its history back to the founding of North Carolina College of Agricultural and Mechanic Arts in 1889. Its initial focus was on applied chemistry in the the field of agriculture, and later in biology. After several reorganizations over nearly 75 years, in 1959, the department took up residence in the School of Physical Science and Applied Mathematics (now the College of Sciences).
The Department of Chemistry at North Carolina State University goes back to the founding of the North Carolina College of Agricultural and Mechanic Arts in 1889. W. A. Withers was Professor of Pure and Agricultural Chemistry, one of only five original faculty members at the college. The chemistry curriculum was initially listed as engineering courses, although not considered chemical engineering. In 1911 the department moved from Holladay Hall to Winston Hall, where it had use of two classrooms, three teaching labs, and a research lab as well as a prep room, a dark room, and a chemical library. In 1923, chemistry was moved into the School of Science and Business. In 1931 the Consolidated University of North Carolina was established, and the college could no longer grant degrees in pure chemistry. The department was transferred to the School of Agriculture in 1937 and, named the Department of Agricultural and Biological Chemistry, moved to Withers Hall in 1940.
In their 5 November 1957 proposal for the formation of a reconstituted Department of Chemistry, separate from the applied chemistry divisions, Lodwick C. Hartley (Dept. of English), Preston W. Edsall (Dept. of History and Political Science), Clark Lee Allen (Dept. of Economics), and R. R. Hentz (Department of Chemistry) emphasized the importance of instruction in pure chemistry, for which there was, at that time, no dedicated degree program. Their objective was to develop and implement a program of undergraduate instruction in inorganic, analytical, organic, physical, and biological chemistry leading to a bachelors of science degree in chemistry, as well as graduate and research programs leading to masters of science and Ph.D. degrees in all areas from agricultural and biological chemistry to nuclear chemistry. They focused particularly on faculty recruitment and on equipment and facilities.
The "new" Department of Chemistry was moved into the newly organized School of Physical Science and Applied Mathematics in 1959-60. At that time, only 2% of students enrolled in chemistry courses were chemistry majors, leading acting department head W. A. Reid to dub the undergraduate program a "service program to all the curricula on the campus with the exception of the School of Design." In 1965, construction commenced on a new chemistry building, Dabney Hall, doubling research capacity. The building was complete in June 1969. By 2004, the department was large enough to require a new undergraduate lab facility, located in the Fox Science Teaching Laboratory.
In 2013 the Department of Chemistry became part of NC State's new, comprehensive College of Sciences.
The records of the North Carolina State University Department of Chemistry include memoranda on the role of the department, a long-range proposal, notes for advisors and lab assistants, workstation operations guide, essays, lecture outlines, newsletters, a book of exercises, promational materials advertising the department, and Faculty Activity Reports. Materials range in date from 1931 to 2015.
Materials are arranged alphabetically by title or topic.
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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], North Carolina State University, College of Sciences, Department of Chemistry Records, UA 135.011, Special Collections Research Center, North Carolina State University Libraries, Raleigh, NC
Transferred by North Carolina State University, Department of Chemistry
Web content harvested using the Internet Archive's Archive-It services.
Processed by: Kelly Clark, 2007 August; Cate Putirskis, 2009 October; machine-readable finding aid created by: Kelly Clark; finding aid updated by Cate Putirskis, 2009 October; Todd Kosmerick, 2013 June; Gevorg Vardanyan, 2023 July.
This was formerly the official news blog of North Carolina State University’s College of Sciences. The NC State Universityt Libraries scheduled this website to be captured quarterly beginning in July 2016 until 2025. Also included here are prior captures by the Internet Archive dating back to December 2013, which may be less complete and performed at undetermined intervals. Since July 2017, this URL has redirected to https://chemistry.sciences.ncsu.edu/, which is also represented in this collection guide.
Online access is provided through the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine.
This is the website of the Department of Chemistry at NC State University. The NC State University Libraries has captured this site quarterly since November 2025, using the Internet Archive's Archive-It web archiving service. It has been captured by the Internet Archive since July 2017, redirecting from https://www.ncsu.edu/chemistry/.
Online access is provided through the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine.
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[Identification of item], North Carolina State University, College of Sciences, Department of Chemistry Records, UA 135.011, 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.