When the university opened its doors in January 1795, its faculty consisted of a single professor, David Ker.
Within a few months he was joined by Tutor Charles W. Harris, and the two of them led the institution through
its first year. Slowly new professorships were added, but at no time in its first hundred years did the university's
faculty number more than fifteen men. Most of the antebellum faculty members did not remain long in Chapel Hill.
A few of them, however, stayed for decades; several are fairly well known—Joseph Caldwell, Elisha Mitchell, James
Phillips, David L. Swain. Others with equally long tenures, such as Manuel Fetter and Fordyce Hubbard, are relatively
unknown.
The majority of the early faculty received their educations outside the South—Ker at Trinity College, Dublin;
Harris and Caldwell at the College of New Jersey (later Princeton); James Phillips in his native England; Mitchell
at Yale; Fetter at Columbia; Hubbard at Williams College. They were joined, in time, by several sons of the
university—Archibald D. Murphey, who taught only briefly; William Hooper, the grandson of one of North Carolina's
signers of the Declaration of Independence; John DeBerniere Hooper; and Charles Phillips, the son of James Phillips.
David L. Swain, who had practiced law and served as governor, was the first native North Carolinian to head the
university.
These men did not possess subject specialties as present-day professors do. Their educations were in the standard
classical curriculum of their day. Many of them were also ordained ministers—a useful credential since the duties of
the professors prescribed by the trustees in February 1795 included performing morning and evening prayers and examining
the students on the "principles of morality and religion." The faculty was also responsible for maintaining discipline
among the students and for punishing those who violated the regulations of the institution.
The professors were assisted by the tutors, who tended to be recent graduates of the university and, in the early years,
taught the students of the Preparatory School (also called the Grammar School). After the Preparatory School closed in 1819,
tutors continued to be employed to teach the lower classes. The professors treated them in a collegial manner and always
included them in faculty meetings.
Materials in this section pertain to the faculty as a whole and to individual faculty members. Included are early
university catalogs, links to biographical sketches, letters from and about members of the faculty, minutes of the
trustees containing the duties of the faculty, and lecture notes for classes taught by Denison Olmsted and James Phillips.
There are also a few items illustrating the recruitment of faculty as well as the relations of the faculty with the
students.
The documents in this section are arranged chronologically within the subtopics.
- University of North Carolina (1793-1962). Board of Trustees
Board of Trustees Minutes, February 6, 1795
12 pages, 12 page images
- University of North Carolina (1793-1962)
Catalogus Universitatis Carolinæ Septentrionalis
Raleigh: , 1812. p. [1]-11
- University of North Carolina (1793-1962)
Catalogus Universitatis Carolinæ Septentrionalis
Raleigh: , 1817. p. 16
- University of North Carolina (1793-1962)
Acts of the General Assembly and Ordinances of the Trustees, for the Organization and Government of the University of North-Carolina
Raleigh: , 1838. p. 21
- Duyckinck, Evert A. (Evert Augustus), 1816-1878, and Duyckinck, George L. (George Long), 1823-1863
University of North Carolina. From Cyclopædia of American Literature; Embracing Personal and Critical Notices of Authors, and Selections from Their Writings. From the Earliest Period to the Present Day with Portraits, Autographs, and Other Illustrations. By Evert A. Duyckinck and George L. Duyckinck. In Two Volumes. Vol. II
New York: , 1856. p. 2
- University of North Carolina (1793-1962)
Acts of the General Assembly and Ordinances of the Trustees, for the Organization and Government of the University of North Carolina
Chapel Hill, N.C.: , 1859. p. 35
- Smith, Charles Lee, 1865-1951
The History of Education in North Carolina
Washington: , 1888. p. 180
- University of North Carolina (1793-1962). Library. North Carolina Collection, Compiled by
Register of the Officers and Faculty of the University of North Carolina 1795-1945
[Chapel Hill, NC]: , 1954. p. ii, 127
- Caldwell, Joseph, 1773-1835
Autobiography and Biography of Rev. Joseph Caldwell, D.D., L.L.D., First President of the University of North Carolina
Chapel Hill, [N.C.]: , 1860. p. 68
- Pettigrew, John, 1779-1799, and Pettigrew, Ebenezer, 1783-1848
Letter from John and Ebenezer Pettigrew to Charles Pettigrew, April 5, 1795
3 pages, 4 page images
- Harris, Charles Wilson, 1771-1804
Letter from Charles Harris to Dr. Charles Harris, April 10, 1795
7 pages, 8 page images
- Harris, Charles Wilson, 1771-1804
Letter from Charles Harris to Dr. Charles Harris, June 1, 1795
3 pages, 4 page images
- Harris, Charles Wilson, 1771-1804
Letter from Charles Harris to Dr. Charles Harris, July 21, 1795
5 pages, 6 page images
- Harris, Charles Wilson, 1771-1804
Letter from Charles Harris to Dr. Charles Harris, August 13, 1795
3 pages, 4 page images
- Harris, Charles Wilson, 1771-1804
Letter from Charles W. Harris to Dr. Charles Harris, November 12, 1795
2 pages, 2 page images
- Caldwell, Joseph, 1773-1835
Letter from Joseph Caldwell [to John H. Hobart, November 8, 1796]
3 pages, 3 page images
- How, Thomas Y.
Letter from Thomas Y. How to Joseph Caldwell, December 27, 1796 :
5 pages, 6 page images
- Phillips, James, 1792-1867
James Phillips's Lecture Notes, [18--]
1 page, 1 page image
- Caldwell, Joseph, 1773-1835
Letter from Joseph Caldwell to "My dear Friend," June 3, 1807
3 pages, 3 page images
- Campbell, Green H.
Letter from Six Students to Joseph Caldwell, June 5, 1807
2 pages, 3 page images
- Hooper, William, 1792-1876
Letter from William Hooper to the Honorable Committee of Appointment, [1818?]
1 page, 1 page image
- Moore, Augustus
Augustus Moore's Notes on a Course of Lectures Delivered at the University of North Carolina by Denison Olmsted, Volume 4, 1820
16 pages, 16 page images
- Mitchell, Elisha, 1793-1857
Excerpt from the Letter from Elisha Mitchell to John Ravenscroft, February 8, 1825
4 pages, 4 page images
- No Author
Resolution on the Death of Dr. Caldwell, January 31, 1835
1 page, 1 page image
- Hairston, Peter Wilson, 1819-1886
Letter from Peter W. Hairston to Ruth S. Hairston, February 3, 1835
2 pages, 3 page images
- Horton, George Moses, 1798?-ca. 1880.
Poem by George M. Horton, September 1837: "Farewell Address to Prof. Hooper"
1 page, 1 page image
- Jones, Alpheus
Letter from Alpheus Jones to Peter W. Hairston, October 23, 1837
3 pages, 4 page images
- Mullins, William Sidney, 1824-1878
Excerpts from the Diary of William S. Mullins, November 23 through 25, 1840
6 pages, 6 page images
- Mitchell, Elisha, 1793-1857
Petition of Elisha Mitchell Requesting a Leave of Absence, July 31, 1853
1 page, 1 page image
- Phillips, Charles, 1822-1889
Letter from Charles Phillips to David L. Swain, August 28, 1853
2 pages, 4 page images
- Hedrick, Benjamin Sherwood, 1827-1886
Letter from Benjamin Sherwood Hedrick to David L. Swain, September 15, 1853
3 pages, 3 page images
- Hooper, William, 1792-1876
Fifty Years Since: An Address Before the Alumni Association of the University of North Carolina. From The North Carolina University Magazine 9 (June 1860): pp. 577-611
Raleigh, N.C.: , 1860. p. 35
- Stancell, Millard Fillmore, 1848-1907
Letter from Millard F. Stancell to Benjamin D. Stancell, March 16, 1867
4 pages, 4 page images
- University of North Carolina (1793-1962). Board of Trustees
Report of the Death of David L. Swain, Board of Trustees Minutes, August 28, 1868
1 page, 1 page image
- Hamilton, Joseph Gregoire de Roulhac, 1878-1961, Edited by
Benjamin Sherwood Hedrick
Chapel Hill, N.C.: , 1910. p. 42
- Harris, Charles Wilson, 1771-1804, and Wagstaff, Henry McGilbert, Edited by
The Harris Letters
[Chapel Hill, N.C.]: , [1916]. p. 91
- Dictionary of North Carolina Biography
Joseph Caldwell, 1773-1835
- Dictionary of North Carolina Biography
Robert Hett Chapman, 5 Mar. 1771-18 June 1833
- Dictionary of North Carolina Biography
Charles Wilson Harris, 1771-15 or 26 Jan. 1804
- Dictionary of North Carolina Biography
Benjamin Sherwood Hedrick, 13 Feb. 1827-2 Sept. 1886
- Dictionary of North Carolina Biography
William Hooper, 31 Aug. 1792-19 Aug. 1876
- Dictionary of North Carolina Biography
David Ker, February 1758-21 Jan. 1805
- Dictionary of North Carolina Biography
Elisha Mitchell, 19 Aug. 1793-27 June 1857
- Dictionary of North Carolina Biography
Denison Olmsted, 18 June 1791-13 May 1859
- Dictionary of North Carolina Biography
Charles Phillips, 20 July 1822-10 May 1889
- Dictionary of North Carolina Biography
James Phillips, 22 Apr. 1792-11 Mar. 1867
- Dictionary of North Carolina Biography
Samuel Field Phillips, 25 Feb. 1824-18 Nov. 1903
- Dictionary of North Carolina Biography
Solomon Pool, 21 Apr. 1832-8 Apr. 1901
- Dictionary of North Carolina Biography
David Lowry Swain, 4 Jan. 1801-29 Aug. 1868
- Harris, Charles Wilson, 1771-1804
Letter from Charles Wilson Harris to John C. Otto, June 1, 1796
4 pages, 4 page images
- Caldwell, Joseph, 1773-1835
Letter from Joseph Caldwell to Charles Harris, [June 1796]
3 pages, 4 page images
- Harris, Charles Wilson, 1771-1804
Letter from Charles Wilson Harris to Joseph Caldwell, July 24, 1796
9 pages, 10 page images
- Caldwell, Joseph, 1773-1835
Letter from Joseph Caldwell to William R. Davie, August 25, [1796]
4 pages, 4 page images
- Harris, Charles Wilson, 1771-1804
Letter from Charles Harris to James Hogg, September 1, 1796
5 pages, 6 page images
- Harris, Charles Wilson, 1771-1804
Letter from Charles Wilson Harris to Joseph Caldwell, September 5, 1796
3 pages, 4 page images
- Smith, Franklin Lafayette, d. 1835
Letter from F. L. Smith to Daniel M. Barringer, June 2, 1826
4 pages, 4 page images
- Thomson, William H.
Letter from William H. Thomson to Thomas Ruffin, April 10, 1824
3 pages, 4 page images
- Perry, Joshua
Letter from Joshua Perry to Jeremiah Perry, May 18, 1839
2 pages, 3 page images
- University of North Carolina (1793-1962). General Faculty
Faculty Minutes, June 1839
6 pages, 6 page images
- University of North Carolina (1793-1962). Students
Letter from University Students to Charles Manly, January 19, 1840
2 pages, 3 page images
- Swain, David L. (David Lowry), 1801-1868
Letter from David L. Swain to Charles Manly, February 6, 1840
1 page, 2 page images
- Mitchell, Elisha, 1793-1857
Letter from Elisha Mitchell to Charles Manly, September 11, 1840
4 pages, 4 page images
- Thompson, George Nicholas, 1832-1891
Excerpts from the Diary of George N. Thompson, January 26, February 14, and February 15, 1851
9 pages, 9 page images
- Thomson, Ruffin H., 1841-1888
Letter from Ruffin Thomson to William H. Thomson, August 6, 1860
4 pages, 4 page images