Special Collections & Archives

Rives Chapel Baptist Church was constituted October 16, 1832. This collection contains minutes of church conferences from October 16, 1832 to August 10, 1861, and from February 17, 1894 to June 10, 1911, including membership rolls; miscellaneous records, 1909-1910; and bulletins.

Roaring River Baptist Church was constituted in 1779. This church has been a member of the Strawberry, Va. (1779-1789?), Yadkin (1790-1822), and Brier Creek (1822-1838) Baptist Associations. The church was declared out of fellowship when it joined the Mountain Primitive Baptist Association in 1838. This volume is a transcription of the original church records with transcribers' notes containing a history of the church, church meeting minutes, membership lists with notes of dates of baptisms, and undated membership lists including African Americans with notes of dates of death dismission, etc.

Roberdel Baptist Church was founded in 1888 in Rockingham, N.C., and holds an association with the Pee Dee Baptist Association. This collection includes church minutes and membership records.

Campbell graduated from Wake Forest College in 1937.

This collection contains Reverend Robert Burton's diary, noting the church, weather, religious duties, rites performed, and verses preached. Name on inside back cover says Robert Burton; inside front cover notes the diary was found in 1934 by W.R. Berry, Norfolk, Virginia.

These papers of a Baptist minister contain biographical/genealogical data; a carte-de-visite of Moody (1880); a postal card from J.B. Richardson (1877); a pamphlet on Sulphur Spring Academy, Alexander County, North Carolina; and a printed volume (1857) presented to Moody while he was teaching in the academy and preaching at Waynesville Baptist Church, Waynesville, North Carolina.

Robert Ira Devin (1822-1914) was a Baptist pastor primarily in Granville County, North Carolina. This collection contains works by and related to Robert Ira Devin, including biographical information, correspondence, a financial account for his ward Eller R. Devin, lecture notes and writings, and pictorial materials. Items in the collection relate to his son, William A. Devin (1871-1959), as well as Grassy Creek Baptist Church, Oxford First Baptist Church, and Oxford Female College.

This collection contains possessions of World War II veteran Robert John Sullivan, including an air navigator's handbook issued by the U.S. Navy in June 1945, and seven war rations books owned by Robert J. and Josephine Sullivan.

Dr. Isbell was a Professor of Chemistry at Wake Forest College, 1926-41 and 1957 to 1963. He founded the Wake Forest College Marching Band in 1926 and was its director until 1941. He was an officer in the U.S. Army Reserve Chemical Corps from 1930-46. He received a commission in the Chemical Corps in June 1941 and rose in rank to Colonel. He was concerned with atomic operations and nuclear weaponry.

Robert Hipps was an alumnus of Wake Forest College (Class of 1948). He later became an engineer in Minneapolis, Minn.

R.R. Savage was a Baptist pastor in Hertford County, North Carolina (1864-82); and in Halifax County, Virginia (1861-64); and was graduated from Wake Forest College (Class of 1860).

R.T. Daniel was a Baptist minister in North Carolina.

Hill was a native of Stokes County, North Carolina and was a Primitive Baptist elder. This microfilm contains images of three diaries that contain his preaching appointments, vital statistics on area residents, and information on churches served. Also included are loose papers, including a photograph of Hill, ordination certificates, several letters, and two broadsheets relating to Elder John L. Wilson and Sardis Primitive Baptist Church, Madison, North Carolina.

Rockford Baptist Church (Dobson, N.C.) is a member of the Surry Baptist Association and was constituted in 1848. This collection includes church minutes and membership rolls from 1892 to 1973.

Rocky River Baptist Church was organized in 1776. By 1790, the church was a member of the Sandy Creek Baptist Association. This volume contains church meeting minutes from June 11, 1825 to July 2, 1871 (missing 1851-52), and 1859 membership rolls of males, females, and African Americans.

Roger P. Marshall was a student at Wake Forest College and was graduated in 1920. He was later a Professor at North Carolina State College, Raleigh, North Carolina.

Typescript of transcripts and tapes of interviews conducted by Dr. Roger R. Pearman with Dr. James Ralph Scales, President of Wake Forest University, 1967-1983. Materials compiled by Pearman for his dissertation on Dr. Scales.

Roland L. Gay was an alumnus of Wake Forest College (Class of 1928). He received his MA degree from North Carolina State in 1931, and did further graduate work at Duke University. He was principal of an elementary school in Northampton County, North Carolina In 1933 he joined the Wake Forest College faculty as an instructor in math. He retired from the faculty and Math Department in 1972. His papers consist of biographical clippings, 1972 and 1979; and his grade books, 1933-1971.

Ronald Watkins (1904-2001) was a Shakespeare scholar and stage director. He taught for many years at Harrow School, where he produced Shakespeare plays with student actors on a stage modeled after Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. Watkins also authored books on Shakespeare, including (1946)and (1950). The Watkins collection includes personal correspondence, extensively annotated prompt books and other production notes, lecture notes, drafts of books and articles, art work (by Maurice Percival, C. Walter Hodges, and others), reviews and other clippings, photographs, sound recordings, and personal memorabilia.

According to Morgan Edwards, Great Cohara was named for a creek emptying into the Cape Fear River, near the meeting house in what was then Duplin County, N.C., 60 miles west of New Bern. The church was known by several names but by 1828 it became known as Rowan. In 1846 forty-four members were dismissed and formed Boykin's Chapel. This collection contains minutes of quarterly and yearly meetings of the "church in Sampson County" or "Roan", now Rowan Baptist Church, including the organization of the church; rules of decorum; male, female, and enslaved peoples' membership rolls, undated lists of members of Culbirth's (now Pleasant Union) and Fork meeting houses; an 1846 list of members of Boykin's Chapel; a copy of a 1771 church letter from Morristown, N.J.; and a history of the church.

Roy J. Smith was a graduate of Wake Forest College, Baptist pastor, and longtime Baptist State Convention of North Carolina leader. This collection contains materials from Roy J. Smith's time with the Baptist State Conevention, institutional materials, and controversies faced by the Baptist State Convention and the Southeastern Theological Baptist Seminary.

Roy Lee Hood (born August 16, 1937) was a Reverend active in North Carolina and Tennessee communities in both religious and secular capacities. Materials document the lives of Roy and his wife, Barbara, including autobiographical notes, biographical files, certificates, church financial and program records, newspaper clippings, personal correspondence, personal sermons and other writings, photographs, and poetry.

Roy Smith is an alumnus of Wake Forest College, Class of 1930. His papers consist of 20 scrapbook pages from his Wake Forest album containing photographs of the students and their activities, circa 1926-1932; a grade report, 1932; a varsity football certificate, 1929; a letter with enclosure from Prof. Joseph Hendron Gorrell about payments owed the Denmark Loan Fund, 1931; a letter of sympathy to Smith from A.C. Reid, 1931; and photographs of Wake Forest College Freshman "Buttoning" and the campus water tower.

Ruduco Baptist Church was a member of the Chowan Baptist Association. This collection contains minutes of church conferences, a register book, poetry, address, and correspondence.

Rufus Walter Dalton, Jr. was a native of Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He served in the U.S. Navy from August 19, 1943, to March 10, 1946, and attended Wake Forest College, 1947-1948. This collection contains personal memorabilia related to his youth in Winston-Salem and service in the U.S. Navy during World War Two.

Dr. Ryland Knight was a Baptist pastor. He was pastor of the Second-Ponce de Leon Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia, from 1931 to 1945. The collection contains notes and sermons from Knight's time as a Baptist pastor. Materials include sermon notes, newspaper and magazine clippings, illustrations, poetry, and program pamphlets. Some sermons are arranged alphabetically by title; others are arranged according to an included index by Dr. Knight.