Presidents' Papers

About the Presidents' Papers
1834-1845 | SAMUEL WAIT
1845-1848 | WILLIAM HOOPER
1849-1853 | JOHN BROWN WHITE
1854-1879 | WASHINGTON MANLY WINGATE
1879-1882 | THOMAS HENDERSON PRITCHARD
1884-1905 | CHARLES ELISHA TAYLOR
1905-1927 | WILLIAM LOUIS POTEAT
1927-1930 | FRANCIS PENDLETON GAINES
1930-1950 | THURMAN DELNA KITCHIN
1950-1967 | HAROLD WAYLAND TRIBBLE
1967-1983 | JAMES RALPH SCALES
1983-2005 | THOMAS K. HEARN, JR.
2005 - current | NATHAN O. HATCH

Presidents' Papers in the Wake Forest University Archives

These links will take you to brief descriptions of the personal papers and President's Office papers that are held in the University Archives. Detailed finding aids of each collection can be found on site in the Archives.

SAMUEL WAIT (1789-1867)

Portions of the Samuel Wait collection are now available as a digital archive.

Dr. Wait was born in Washington, New York, December 19th, 1789. He was baptized in Vermont, March 12, 1809, and ordained at Sharon Church, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, June 3rd, 1818. Feeling the need of the best possible preparation for the work to which he had committed his life, he went to Columbian College in Washington, D.C. Although he pursued his course at Columbian College, that institution was not empowered to confer degrees, so he received his degree from Watersville, Maine. For a time he was a tutor at Columbian College, and he came to North Carolina in February, 1827, on a collecting tour for the college. While in New Bern he made such a favorable impression on the Baptists of the place that they called him to be their pastor, and he assumed pastoral charge of the church in November, 1827.

Soon after settling in New Bern Wait began to labor for two things: the organizing of a convention and the founding of a Baptist newspaper. He saw both of these things accomplished and was the moving spirit in laying the foundation of their success. He was the first Corresponding Secretary of the State Convention, and while traveling over the state in the interest of missions he solicited and received subscriptions for a Baptist newspaper, which he regarded as a necessity for the success of the denomination. Thus he prepared the way for the state Baptist newspaper, the Biblical Recorder.

In 1832 the Baptists, realizing the necessity for a school where preachers might be educated, decided to establish a "Manual Labor School" at Wake Forest, and they chose Dr. Wait to be principal of the school. From 1833 to 1846 Dr. Wait was president of Wake Forest. He retired from the presidency in 1846 and was pastor of a church in Yanceyville until 1851, when he became president of a female school in Oxford. In 1856 he retired from this position and spent the rest of his life in the home of his only child, Mrs. J. B.(Ann Eliza Wait) Brewer, at Wake Forest College. (cf. A History of the Tar River Baptist Association 1830-1921 by Thomas J. Taylor, pp. 323-325)

Manuscript Collection

PAPERS

1813-1975 [Broken Series] 1,382 items 26 vols. call # PCMS 117

His papers contain biographical and genealogical materials; correspondence with family members and prominent Baptists in North Carolina and other states; personal diaries and notebooks, including a diary (1815-17) of his wife Sarah (Merriam) Wait; financial documents and other materials relating to Wake Forest College; legal materials; pictorial materials; marriage "intentions" and licenses from Mass. and Craven Co., N.C.; and books from his library.

CORRESPONDENCE

(Chronological) 3 reels. 35 mm. microfilm. call # PCMF 22

Correspondents have been indexed.

WILLIAM HOOPER (1792-1876)

An Episcopalian turned Baptist, Hooper was a Theological professor at Furman Institute, S.C., 1838-40; professor at South Carolina College, 1840-46; President of Wake Forest College, 1845-49 (elected in 1945, but did not start until 1847); teacher in a classical school near Littleton, N.C., 1849-51; pastor of New Bern Baptist Church, 1852-54; President of Chowan Female Collegiate Institute, Murfreesboro, N.C., 1855-61; teacher in the Female Seminary, Fayetteville, N.C., l861-65; and associate principal with his son-in-law, John D. Hooper, of Wilson Collegiate Seminary for Young Ladies, 1866-76. He moved to Chapel Hill, N.C. where he died Aug. 19, l876.

Manuscript Collection

PAPERS

1823-1980 [Broken Series] 36 items. call # PCMS 56

His personal papers contain biographical and family files, correspondence to his wife Frances Pollock Jones Hooper, 1834-35; his daughter Mary Elizabeth, 1834; his son-in-law John DeBernier Hooper, 1838, 1875; Marie J. Battle, 1867; and Elton Romeo, 1839. There are two diaries - the 1823 diary records his trip to Virginia and visit with Thomas Jefferson. The 1859-60, and 1862 diary entries are brief and refer to his teaching with his son in Murfreesboro, and Fayetteville. Pictorial materials include photographs of Hooper, and his grandfather William Hooper, the signer of the Declaration of Independence.

JOHN BROWN WHITE (1810-1882)

Educator and college president, White was born in Bow, New Hampshire in 1810. His father had been a colonel in the War of 1812. Mr. White attended Pembroke Academy and Brown University where he graduated with the B.A. and M.A. degrees in 1832. He then taught for several years in the New Hampton Institute in New Hampshire. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in Greenville, Illinois in 1836. He was elected Judge of Probate in 1837 and appeared to be settled in the profession of law.

In 1838 his future wife, niece of the president of Wake Forest College, persuaded him to accept Dr. Samuel Wait's invitation to become a Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy at Wake Forest College. White served as secretary of the Board of Trustees and later as Treasurer of the Board. After the resignation of William Hooper as president of the college, White was chosen first as acting president and then as president. He served in this capacity from 1849 to 1853.

White tendered his resignation at Wake Forest and accepted the presidency of a girls seminary in Brownsville, TN. He served there from 1853-1855, and then became president of Almira College in Greenville, IL in 1855. White served as president of Almira until 1864.

Manuscript Collection

PAPERS

1835-1869 [Broken Series] 26 items. call # PCMS 164

Papers consist of correspondence and other records. Additions include photocopies of two letters from Stephen Morse to the president of Brown University regarding the awarding of an honorary degree to White in 1869; an 1838 letter from Samuel Wait, N.A. Wilcox and Joseph B. Outlaw; genealogy of the White family; and Notes on John B. White, Class of 1832 by Robert H. George.

WASHINGTON MANLY WINGATE (1828-1879)

Baptist minister and college president, Wingate was born in Darlington, SC in 1879. He graduated from Wake Forest College in 1849. He continued his education at Furman Theological Institution from 1849-1851. He was ordained as a Baptist minister while pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church and assistant pastor at Darlington Baptist Church.

In 1852, at the age of twenty-four he was elected agent of Wake Forest College to raise a $50,000 endowment. He completed this task in 1857 after he became president. He was elected as Professor of Moral and Intellectual Philosophy and Rhetoric, and as president, pro tempore, of Wake Forest College in June 1853. He served as acting president from 1854 to 1856, and as president from 1856 to 1879.

The college grew steadily under his guidance until the Civil War when it was forced to close. The college buildings were used as a hospital and financial security of the college was invested in Confederate States bonds. During the war, Wingate preached as an evangelist to the soldiers, served as associate editor of the Biblical Recorder, and from 1862 to 1866 served as pastor of Baptist churches in Franklinton, Oxford and Wake Forest.

After the war, the college reopened and Wingate began his second term as president in 1866. He was faced with the problems of finance and sent James S. Purefoy to secure endowments from Northern Baptists. The James W. Denmark loan fund was established and a new building was completed. Wingate selected an excellent faculty for the college. While a strict disciplinarian, he was aware of the needs of the students. He was an able preacher and speaker, and presented the cause of Wake Forest College in many association and convention meetings.

Manuscript Collection

PAPERS

1865-1879 48 items 1 vol. call # PCMS 123

His papers consist of biographical information, notebooks, photographs, 1865 diploma from Columbia College, correspondence 1852-1878, commencement program from 1877, pamphlet by F. H. Ivey printed in 1879, and other miscellaneous items.

THOMAS HENDERSON PRITCHARD (1832-1896)

Born in Charlotte, NC, Henderson received his pre-college education there and in Mocksville, NC and was graduated from Wake Forest College in 1854. His pastorates included Hertford, Raleigh, Wilmington and Charlotte in North Carolina and, outside the state, Petersburg, Baltimore and Louisville. While in North Carolina, he was very active in the Baptist State Convention and served for many years as the president of the Board of Missions. For three years, 1879-1882, he was president of Wake Forest College and for a much longer period he was a member of the Board of Trustees. He was also a member of the trustees of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. For a time he was associate editor of the Biblical Recorder, the official journal of the North Carolina Baptist State Convention.

During his entire life, Pritchard was an ardent spokesman for education and while in Raleigh lent his talents and interest to assist in the establishment of a college for agriculture and mechanics (now North Carolina State University). The University of North Carolina presented him with the D.D. degree in 1868.

Pritchard was married to Fannie Gulielma Brinson of New Bern, NC, and they had five children. He died in 1896 at the home of his son in New York city, but was brought back to Charlotte, NC for his burial.

Biography File

22 items. call # BF Pritchard, Thomas Henderson

Contains biographical sketches, photographs, newspaper clippings, bibliography of writings.

CHARLES ELISHA TAYLOR (1842-1915)

Born in Richmond, VA in 1842, Taylor entered Richmond College at the age of fifteen, but left to join the Confederate Army in 1861. He served with the 10th Virginia Cavalry and the Signal and Secret Service Bureau in Richmond. After the war he entered the University of Virginia at Charlottesville and was graduated in 1870. In 873 he married Mary Hinton Prichard and the couple had six daughters and one son.

From 1870 to 1883 he was professor of Latin and Greek at Wake Forest College. He taught law and moral philosophy from 1883 to 1884. He was elected president of the college in 1884, and continued to hold this position until 1905. In 1875 he began work on the endowment of the college. This work occupied most of his time for the following twenty years. It included and extensive trip north to appeal to Baptists for donations. In 1885 he persuaded Jabez A. Bostwick of Standard Oil to give three very large donations, the largest ever given to the college. Taylor's efforts at endowment were successful. Endowment for the college increased from $20,000 in 1875 to $100,000 in 1883.

As president of the college, he erected three modern, fully equipped buildings; introduced the elective system; added a number of deprtments; and helped to organize the School of Law and the School of Medicine.

He died at Wake Forest in 1915.

Manuscript Collection

PAPERS

1863-1913 [Broken Series] 464 items 30 vols. call # PCMS 111

Papers consist of biographical and genealogical information; correspondence with prominent Baptists and family members; a Civil War diary (copy); sermons; articles; notebooks; and pictorial materials. A large portion of the papers are concerned with Dr. Taylor's efforts at raising an endowment for Wake Forest College.

PAPERS

1861-1894? 49 items. 1 reel positive microfilm. call # PCMF 28

During the Civil War Taylor served with Company F, 10th Virginia Cavalry and with the Secret Service. These papers contain letters written during the Civil War to family members, and letters written between 1866-1873 while a student at University of Virginia, and afterwards. His letter book contains letterpress copies of correspondence with students, parents, families, college attorney, and trustees of Wake Forest College during the period 1885-1890. Many of these relate to fund raising for the college, the dismissal of students for infractions, and other college business.

Much of this microfilm is difficult to read. Originals of these materials are located in the University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, VA.

WILLIAM LOUIS POTEAT (1856-1938)

Poteat was born in Caswell County, NC in 1856. He graduated from Wake Forest College with the A.B. degree in 1877, and received the A.M. degree in 1889. He received LL.D. degrees from Baylor, North Carolina, Brown, and Duke; and the Litt.D. degree from Mercer. He engaged in postgraduate studies at Marine Bilogy Laboratory and University of Berlin. He married Emma J. Purefoy of Wake Forest in 1881 and had three children.

Poteat played a prominent role in the development of Wake Forest College, serving on the faculty from 1878 until 1905, and as president from 1905 until 1927 - longer than any other president in Wake Forest's history. He was active in the affairs of North Carolina Baptists and Southern Baptists. He was popular as a lecturer on religion, science, temperance, and education. He was a member of North Carolina Conference for Social Service (president), North Carolina Anti-Saloon League (president), Southern Baptist Education Association (president), Council of Church Schools of the South (president), North Carolina Reconstruction Commission, North Carolina Academy of Sciences (president), and many other movements of his day.

Manuscript Collection

PAPERS

1837-1938 Broken Series] ca 15,000 items. call # PCMS 91

Contains biographical information; correspondence 1878-1938; writings, addresses, and speeches, 1876-1937; family papers 1837-1936; and several volumes from his library.

FRANCIS PENDLETON GAINES (1892-1963)

Served as president of Wake Forest College for three years (1927-1930) and president of Washington and Lee University for nearly 30 years (1930-1959). Gaines became Wake Forest's president at the age of 35 and during his brief tenure, he insisted on a strong faculty, and helped establish the policy that members of the faculty should receive adequate salaries. He was intensely interested in the welfare of students and appointed an office hour especially for them, a new thing at Wake Forest. He put the quality of students ahead of mere numbers. And it was on this point that he ran into his greatest difficulties.

His idea for Wake Forest was that it should be Christian, cultural and small. He urged a "limitation of enrollment, not as a gesture of snobbishness but as prerequisite to a serious purpose to accept only as many boys as could be given the very finest training." But in seeking the views of faculty and others he soon learned, according to Paschal's history "that every Baptist in the State felt that his son had the right to admission to Wake Forest College and to the enjoyment of its training, without being subjected to possible rejection on a scheme of limitation and selection of students..."

Dr. Gaines's reputation as an excellent educator continued and was firmly established at Washington and Lee, where he brought to fruition his emphasis on quality in both faculty and students. One news article reported that though he made many contributions to the university in terms of financial and physical growth, "his primary interest as a college president, however, was not in raising assets, but in raising men."

Manuscript Collection

PAPERS

1927-1974 [Broken Series] 9 items. call # PCMS 308

Papers consist of biographical information, obituaries and correspondence.

Presidential Papers

President's Office, 31 inches. call # WFRG 1.8

THURMAN DELNA KITCHIN (1885-1955)

Born in Scotland Neck, NC in 1885, Kitchin received his B.A. degree from Wake Forest College in 1905. He then studied at the University of North Carolina for one year, received the M.D. degree from Jefferson Medical College in 1908. He practiced medicine at Lumberton, 1908-10, and Scotland Neck, 1910-17. His brother, W. W., served as governor of North Carolina, with his father and another brother serving in the United States Congress.

Kitchin joined the faculty of the Wake Forest School of Medicine in 1917 as professor of physiology and pharmacology. He became dean of the medical school in 1919, and president of the college in 1930. He served as dean until 1936, and as president until his retirement in 1950. His administration brought tremendous changes to the college.

Kitchin was president of the North Carolina Medical Association, 1928-29, and was active in numerous medical and educational organizations. He was the author on several books in the medical field.

Manuscript Collection

PAPERS

not dated, 300 folders. call # PCMS 454

Biographical materials, photographs, speeches and articles.

Presidential Papers

President's Office, 217 inches. call # WFRG 1.9

HAROLD WAYLAND TRIBBLE (1899-1986)

Tribble served as president of Wake Forest University from 1950 until 1967, the period when the school was moved to Winston-Salem and became established on its new campus. His 17-year administration has been described as the stormiest and the most progressive in Wake Forest's history.

While he was president the school's total assets increased from about $10.5 million to over $91 million and the annual budget from $1.5 million to over $13 million. The student body grew from 1,750 to over 3,000 and there was a proportional increase in the faculty. The number of volumes in the library tripled. The college tightened admission standards, admitted its first African-American students, resumed a graduate program, and began Asian and honors programs. Tribble's dream of seeing the college become a university was realized in 1967, just before he retired.

Manuscript Collection

PAPERS

1925-1978, 93 inches. call # PCMS 291

Papers include his correspondence with denominational and educational leaders; papers relating to his education at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary; his presidency of Andover-Newton Theological School and Wake Forest College; and his retirement. Materials include addresses, sermons, reviews, and others' literary writings.

Presidential Papers

President's Office, 279 inches. call # WFRG 1.10

JAMES RALPH SCALES (1919-1996)

A one-sixteenth Cherokee, Scales was born in Jay, Oklahoma in May 1919. Educated in the public schools of Oklahoma, Scales attended Oklahoma Baptist University (B.A. magna cum laude, 1939), the University of Oklahoma (M.A. 1941. Ph.D. 1949), the University of Chicago, and the University of London. He returned to Oklahoma Baptist University after Naval duty and served as professor, vice president, and president. He moved to Oklahoma State University in 1965, where he was dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and professor of political science. He became president of Wake Forest University in July 1967.

During his ten years at Wake Forest, the University grew in enrollment, physical plant and budget, and academic stature. New departments were established in art, business, and accountancy. The Babcock Graduate School of Management began under his leadership. During his tenure the University intensified its interest in international education, offering many courses abroad and establishing two houses for international study. Casa Artom, on the Grand Canal in Venice was established in 1971, and in 1977 the Worrell House in London was dedicated. Both of these study centers currently continue to house students pursuing accredited foreign study.

Manuscript Collection

PAPERS

1921-1992 490 inches. call # PCMS 311

Papers consist of biographical information, genealogical files, education files, and general subject files. Writing files include speeches, addresses, and articles. Also included in these papers are Scales's professional files relating to his activities as professor, dean, president, and president-emeritus. Other files include education, family, travel and denominational relations information. Numerous photographs are also a part of the collection.

Presidential Papers

President's Office, 465 inches. call # WFRG 1.11

THOMAS K. HEARN, JR. (1937- )

Appointed in 1983, Thomas K. Hearn Jr. is the 12th president of Wake Forest University since its founding in 1834. A Ph.D. in Philosophy, he most recently taught a first-year seminar in leadership and ethics.

Presidential Papers

President's Office. call # WFRG 1.12

NATHAN O. HATCH

Coming soon.

Wake Forest University Z. SMITH REYNOLDS LIBRARY

Presidents' Papers