Margaret Supplee Smith Papers

MS395

Margaret (Peggy) Supplee Smith was the Harold W. Tribble Professor of Arts at WFU. This collection documents the professional life of Margaret Supplee Smith, with a small amount of personal materials. Materials cover a wide-range of activities: teaching, course preparation, service work on University committees, writing scholarly articles and books, and professional conference attendance and association service. In addition, her papers consist of materials related to her work for the N.C. Museum of History, particularly the Women's History exhibit.

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Biographical and Historical Note

Margaret (Peggy) Supplee Smith received an undergraduate degree in education at the University of Missouri (1961), a masters degree in art history from Case Western Reserve University (1971), and a doctorate in art history from Brown University (1976).

Smith then held a teaching position at Brown and she was the founding director of its Graduate Program in Historic Preservation. She came to WFU in 1979 and taught in the Art Department as the Harold W. Tribble Professor of Art, teaching art and architectural history. She has published a number of scholarly articles and several books, including N.C. Women: Making History with Emily Herring Wilson,  American Ski Resort: Architecture, Style, Experience,  Morven House to Worrell House, and  Historic Houses of New England. Smith also coordinated the North Carolina Women's History Project for the North Carolina Museum of History (1987-1994), culminating in an exhibit held from April 1994-June 1996 in the Museum's then-new building, completed 1992.

Smith's University service included two periods acting as Art department chair (1980-1988, 1997-2004), chair of the Ad-hoc Committee on Social and Academic Responsibility, and membership on committees such as the Master Planning Committee for Reynolda Campus, the Architectural Standards Design and Planning Committee, and the Honorary Degree Committee. The Ad Hoc Committee on Academic and Social Responsibility was responsible for investigating incidences of racism, sexism, and homophobia at Wake Forest University during the 1980s. Smith also contributed to establishing WFU's Women's Studies department, now the Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies department. Smith retired after 32 years from WFU in 2011 and resides in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Collection Overview

This collection documents the professional life of Margaret Supplee Smith, with a small amount of personal materials. Materials cover a wide-range of activities: teaching, course preparation, service work on University committees, writing scholarly articles and books, and professional conference attendance and association service. Much of her book research is present in the collection. In addition, her papers consist of materials related to her work for the N.C. Museum of History, particularly the Women's History exhibit.

Material types include newspaper articles, lecture notes and slides, student course evaluations, speeches and presentations, exhibition planning correspondence and notes, exhibit catalogues, correspondence, exhibition label text, and book drafts and research materials.

Collection Arrangement

The collection is arranged into nine series: Series 1. Biographical materials, Series 2. Correspondence, Series 3. Course and teaching materials, Series 4. N.C. Women's History Project and exhibit materials, Series 5. Professional materiaols, Series 6. Writing and research materials, Series 7. Women's History exhibition I materials, Series 8. Women's History exhibition II materials, and Series 9. Women's History exhibition III materials.

The series in this collection are arranged in alphabetical order with the exception of the three Women's History exhibition series, which are arranged in original order.

Administrative Information

Publication Information
Processed by: John Woodard; machine-readable finding aid created by Apex, 2004
Revision Description
Revised by Kainat Tariq, Meg Campbell, Lila Gneiting, Stephanie Bennett, Finley Turner, 2022
Access Restrictions
This collection is open for use. 
Copyright Notice
The nature of the WFU Z. Smith Reynolds Library Special Collections and Archives means that copyright or other information about restrictions may be difficult or even impossible to determine despite reasonable efforts. The Archives and Special Collections of ZSR Library claims only physical ownership of most materials. The materials from our collections are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study, pursuant to the U.S. Copyright Law. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Any materials used for academic research or otherwise should be fully credited with the source. 
Preferred Citation
Margaret Supplee Smith Papers (MS395), Z. Smith Reynolds Library Special Collections and Archives, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC, USA. 

Collection Inventory

  • Biographical materials
  • Correspondence
  • Course and teaching materials
  • N.C. Women's History Project and exhibit materials
  • Professional materials
    • WFU Ad Hoc Committee on Social and Academic Responsibility
    • WFU Architectural Standards Design and Planning Committee
  • Writing and research materials
    • American Ski Resort book materials
    • Historic Houses of New England book materials
    • North Carolina Women Making History, with Emily Herring Wilson, book and exhibit materials
    • Morven House to Worrell House materials
    • Other writings and related research materials
  • Women's History exhibition I materials
  • Women's History exhibition II materials
  • Women's History exhibition III materials