Of the sixteen campuses of The University of North Carolina, UNC Charlotte is one of the few to preserve a nearly complete record of its past. The University Archives, housed in the Special Collections unit of the Atkins Library, contains correspondence, minutes (trustee, faculty, and student government), reports, photographs, publications, and other sources that document the origin, development, growth, and expansion of the fourth campus of The University of North Carolina.

CHARLOTTE CENTER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA 1946 - 1949

UNC Charlotte traces its beginnings to the Charlotte Center of the University of North Carolina. The Charlotte Center was one of twelve extension centers established in 1946 to meet the educational needs of World War II veterans. Set up throughout North Carolina, the centers were sponsored by the North Carolina College Conference and administered by the Directorate of Extension of the University of North Carolina. Charles Bernard was named the first director of the Charlotte Center; Bonnie E. Cone, whose service as director of the Center and later president of Charlotte College earned her the title of Founder, succeeded him after one year. Evening classes were held at Central High School [the current site of Central Piedmont Community College]. Instruction, initially limited to the freshman year, was offered at the freshman and sophomore levels beginning in 1947. Operating funds came entirely from student tuition.

CHARLOTTE COLLEGE 1949 - 1965

Even before the University of North Carolina withdrew administrative support of the college center program in 1949, concerned Charlotteans had already recognized the need for a permanent junior college in the area. The General Assembly was persuaded to authorize the creation of the Charlotte Community College System. Under the supervision of the Charlotte Board of School Commissioners, two colleges made up the system: Charlotte College, which served whites, and Carver College, which served blacks. [Carver College, later named Mecklenburg College, evolved into Central Piedmont Community College.]

Soon after its designation as a community college, Bonnie Cone and Charlotte College supporters began working to make the college a four-year state-supported institution. Among the plans advanced to achieve senior college status was one proposed by Woodford A. "Woody" Kennedy, one of Charlotte College staunchest supporters, to establish a Belk University to be financed by a combination of state appropriations, local contributions, and support from the William Henry Belk family. Davidson and Queens Colleges would become the liberal arts division of the university; and a new agricultural and technical college would be created.

Though these, and other plans, were not successful, Charlotte College joined with junior colleges in Asheville and Wilmington to lobby for the creation of a state-supported community college system. Their efforts resulted in the Community College Act of 1957, under which Charlotte and Carver Colleges became members of the North Carolina Community College System. The Charlotte Board of School Commissioners severed its ties with Charlotte College, and a new board of trustees was appointed in 1958. That same year a bond election enabled Charlotte College to acquire property on which to expand its program. In 1959, the college purchased 270 acres northeast of the city, on NC Highway 49. Planning began for the first two buildings on the site: administration/liberal arts (Macy Building) and science/engineering (Kennedy Building). The College opened on its present site in 1961.

Charlotte College offered a complete junior college curriculum preparing students for transfer to senior colleges. Several other programs were established to reach specific groups. These special programs included: a two-year preparatory engineering program in cooperation with North Carolina State University; graduate courses through the North Carolina State College Division of College Extension; a technical institute division training employees of local industries; and a variety of non-degree courses available to adult students.

In 1963 Charlotte College achieved its dream and became one of the state's senior colleges. J. Murrey Atkins, chairman of the new board of trustees, confidently predicted to doubtful reporters that Charlotte College would someday boast an enrollment of 10,000. Charlotte College awarded its first and only baccalaureate degrees in May 1965.

THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHARLOTTE 1965 - PRESENT

On March 3, 1965, the North Carolina General Assembly ratified legislation making The University of North Carolina at Charlotte, the successor to Charlotte College, the fourth campus of The University of North Carolina. The UNC Board of Governors elected Dr. Dean Wallace Colvard, president of Mississippi State University, as the first chancellor on January 28, 1966. Dr. Bonnie E. Cone, who brought the institution to university status and served as acting chancellor, became vice chancellor for student affairs and community relations. In 1967, the General Assembly authorized funds for capital projects that were basic to the operation of the University; these projects included 7 buildings and numerous support projects. In the fall of 1967, the University received accreditation, retroactive to 1965, by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. In 1969, the first graduate programs, in education, were approved.

The year 1972 marked the beginning of a new structure for higher education in North Carolina when all 16 public senior institutions merged into The University of North Carolina System. On July 7, 1972, the historic first meeting of the Board of Governors of the new University system took place at UNC Charlotte, on the tenth floor of the Dalton Library Tower.

By the mid-1970s, tight budgets forced the State of North Carolina to slow the delivery of monies to the University. In spite of inadequate funding, several dormitories and other campus buildings were erected. The men's basketball team brought the University to national attention when it reached the finals of the National Invitational Tournament (NIT) in 1976 and the final four of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Tournament in 1977.

In 1978, Chancellor Colvard, the institution builder, retired. When he arrived on campus in 1966, he had found a school seeking accreditation. When he left, UNC Charlotte was accredited by the Southern Association of College and Schools, as well as by professional organizations in several fields. Enrollment had increased from 1,715 to 8,504. Academic offerings had grown from 18 undergraduate degree options to 34 and from no master's programs to 10 graduate offerings.

On January 1, 1979, Dr. E. K. Fretwell Jr., president of State University of New York College at Buffalo, became chancellor of the University. He called on students, faculty, and community to join in a search for excellence. During his administration, the University matured. The Colleges of Humanities, Social & Behavioral Sciences, and Sciences & Mathematics merged into the College of Arts and Sciences. At the same time, the Division of Research and Public Service was created to bring together the campus agencies that served the greater urban community. Reviving interest in liberal arts programs led to a major revision of the curriculum in the mid-1980s. The Faculty Council recommended that the graduate studies program be expanded into a Graduate School; its first dean was appointed in 1984. The Physical Sciences Building, completed in 1986, was the first major academic building constructed since 1980.

On July 1, 1989, Dr. James H. Woodward, senior vice president of University College of The University of Alabama in Birmingham, became UNC Charlotte's third chancellor. Under his guidance the University strengthened its ties with the Charlotte-area business community. The groundbreaking for the Ben Craig Center, an incubator for start-up businesses in University Research Park, was held in February 1990. UNC Charlotte continued to focus its outreach to businesses and governmental agencies of the Charlotte region through the C. C. Cameron Applied Research Center (1991). When campus enrollment reached 15,058 in 1991, students had access to more than 50 undergraduate and 45 master's degree and sixth-year advanced study options. Efforts to expand the University with off-campus programs saw fruition when The Uptown Charlotte Center opened in early 1995 and brought educational programs to the central city. In 1995, the UNC Board of Governors approved UNC Charlotte's first doctoral programs in electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, and applied mathematics; the first Ph.D. was awarded in May 1997.

Passage, in November 1993, of statewide University Improvement Bonds brought capital funds to the campus. Construction began on a classroom building for arts and sciences departments [the E. K. and Dorrie Fretwell Building] and on a third floor addition to the Ida and William Friday Building for the Belk College of Business Administration. Private gifts and student fees supported the construction of the James H. Barnhardt Student Activity Center to provide space for non-academic activities. By early 1995 the preliminary findings of a campus task force on planning indicated that further construction was necessary to address deficits in campus academic space in order to respond to the expected growth of the University to 25,000 students after the year 2000. Renovations to and expansion of the J. Murrey Atkins Library are slated for completion in late 1999. Financial assistance from Irwin Belk provided for the expansion of the University's track and field facilities. Other academic and non-academic buildings are in the planning stages.

RECORDS OF CHARLOTTE CENTER AND CHARLOTTE COLLEGE

The records of both Charlotte Center of the University of North Carolina and Charlotte College, along with the minutes of their Boards of Trustees, provide a detailed and comprehensive documentation of the establishment and development Charlotte College and its programs. The Center and College files are primarily those of Bonnie E. Cone, director of the Center and later president of the College. These files also provide documentation on the growth and development of Carver College, later Mecklenburg College. Carver/Mecklenburg College provided post-secondary educational services to Charlotte's African-American community prior to the mid-1960s.

In addition to administrative files, the University Archives holds a nearly complete file of publications. Catalogs exist from 1946 and detail the curriculum as well as the organization of the Center and College. Campus newspapers, which covered student activities as well as local and state political efforts to expand the college, include the C.C.U.N.C. News (1947-1948), Collegiate Life (1949-1950), and Charlotte Collegian (1950-1965). From 1950 to 1965, Charlotte College students published a yearbook, SiSi. Creative magazines included Owl Tracts, the college literary magazine published by the Creative Writing Club (1957-1958). [Charlotte College students, who attended evening classes, chose the owl as their mascot.] The Parnassian, published by the students from 1958 to 1965, superseded Owl Tracts.

The photograph collection preserves a visual history of Charlotte College. Primarily from the files of SiSi, the college yearbook, these prints document student activities at Central High School and the new campus on Highway 49. In addition to students and student activities, photographs of administrators, faculty, and board members are found in this collection.

A number of manuscript collections include material on Charlotte College. These collections include Charlotte City Board of Education--Minute Books as well as the personal papers of D. W. Colvard, Bonnie Cone, Elmer Garinger, W. A. Kennedy, Oliver Rowe, Hoyt Galvin, Addison Reese, and Robert Rieke; and the Carver College collection. These manuscript collections are also housed in Special Collections.

RECORDS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHARLOTTE

The University of North Carolina at Charlotte is fortunate to have in its Archives an extensive body of records that document its achievements since 1965. The administrative records of the chancellors and vice-chancellors, along with the minutes of the board of trustees, provide material for a comprehensive account of the university's academic and corporate development.

Records of faculty committees and student organizations, along with photographs and publications help to extend and provide substance to the official account. An overview of campus organization continues to be found in the catalogs. The Office of Publications chronicles activities of University administrators, faculty, and staff in the Campus News (1971-present), a weekly newsletter.

Student newspapers--Carolina Journal (1965-1982), 49er Times (1982-1989), and University Times (1989-present)--continue to focus on student activities. The student yearbook changed names to reflect changes in the campus--The Nugget (1966), Rogues 'n Rascals (1967-1982), The Prospector (1983-1985). The yearbook ceased publication in 1985; its replacement, a video highlighting major events during the year, began production in 1988-1989. Literary and creative efforts, such as Sanskrit (1970-present), continue to be published by the students. Many exist for only short periods of time; the University Archives makes every effort to collect these publications.

ACCESS TO COLLECTIONS

Material in the University Archives is not included in the Library's online catalogs; however, an index of folder titles has been entered into the Special Collections database. Inventories, a combination of historical descriptions and folder indices, are being created to facilitate access to the more than 1,250,000 documents in the University Archives. These finding aids and the records themselves may be consulted in the Mary & Harry L. Dalton Rare Book & Manuscript Room, 10th floor of the J. Murrey Atkins Library on the UNC Charlotte campus. Hours are 9 to 5, Monday through Friday. Call (704) 547-2449 for additional information.

Other Web pages of historical interest concerning UNC Charlotte can be found at the University History page.