Ransacking the South: J.G. de Roulhac Hamilton and the Founding of the Southern Historical Collection

The Southern Historical Collection at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is one of the premier archival repositories for primary documents about the American South. Its founder, J. G. de Roulhac Hamilton, a professor of history at the university, is remembered for his rambles across the South from the 1920s through 1940s, in search of historical documents. Too often, Hamilton's work is thought of as a solitary effort. In reality, the creation of the collection could not have been accomplished without support. This paper considers Hamilton and the Southern Historical Collection from the perspectives of his own family history and education; the supportive environment found at UNC; and the interactions Hamilton had with donors, the press, historians, and archivists. All of these elements fostered the growth of the Southern Historical Collection and, when seen together, they provide a more complex view of the both the founder and the collection