North Carolina War Industries, WWI 4

The North Carolina War Industries collection is composed of correspondence, pamphlets, posters, photographs, telegrams, notes, reports, typed lists, and association conference meeting minutes and newsletters relating to industries, businesses, factories, and commerce in North Carolina during World War I. The materials in this collection document some of the state's businesses and factories involved in wartime production of materials and supplies, used on the home front and in combat by the Allied forces during World War I. The collection is subdivided into three series and a small group of oversized materials: Series I: General Records; Series II: Municipal Files; Series III: Industry Records; and Oversized Materials.

Series I: General Records; Series II: Municipal Files; Series III: Industry Records; and Oversized Materials

The collection is arranged in three series and oversized materials.

The North Carolina Historical Commission (the precursor of the State Archives of North Carolina) recognized at the beginning of the United States' involvement in World War I the importance for North Caroling to begin an effort of collecting materials which documented the role taken by North Carolina soldiers and civilians in the war. In cooperation with the North Carolina Council of Defense, a special history committee, called the "Historical Preservation" committee, was appointed by the Council of Defense. The Historical Preservation committee consisted of the North Carolina Historical Commission Secretary Robert Digges Wimberly (or R. D. W.) Connor, as chairman; Haywood Parker of Asheville, North Carolina; Ms. Adelaide Fries of Winston-Salem, North Carolina; Paul W. Schenck of Greensboro, North Carolina; Edgecombe County-native George Gordon Battle, who was one of the leading lawyers in New York City at the outbreak of WWI; Ms. Lida T. Rodman; and J. G. deR. Hamilton of Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

The Council of Defense Historical Preservation committee's mission was to collect for permanent preservation the war records of the state of North Carolina. The term "war records" was given the widest possible interpretation, so as to include all materials that illustrate the state of mind of the citizens of North Carolina toward World War I; the effect of the war on social, educational, economic, agricultural, political and religious conditions; and the personal achievements, sacrifices, and services of North Carolina individuals in the war. Efforts were made by the North Carolina Historical Commission to secure the cooperation of such organizations as the State and County Councils of Defense; the State and County Fuel Administrations; the State and County Food Administrations; the American Red Cross; and other organizations engaged in work connected with the World War I preparedness and support efforts of the United States.

The Historical Preservation committee and the North Carolina Historical Commission urged these institutions, organizations, and members of the public to preserve carefully their records, and ultimately deposit them with the North Carolina Historical Commission. Efforts were also made to secure assistance in this work through the appointment in each county of a county historian for war purposes. However, these efforts were not particularly successful, as resources and people were stressed throughout the war at the local level in North Carolina. Individuals willing to work as volunteer war record collectors were secured in sixty counties. These individuals promised to aid in the historical preservation work of the committee, but only a few of them had been active throughout World War I.

Not much could be accomplished in terms of collecting war materials, however, due to a lack of funding and the lack of a law by the North Carolina State Legislature indicating a state-backed collection program. From 1917 to 1919, the State Legislature was not in session, and this scenario could not be remedied. However, in 1919 the State Legislature formally approved the North Carolina Historical Commission's war records collection efforts with the passage of Chapter 144 of the North Carolina Public Laws and Resolutions (specifically Sections 3 and 4) in 1919. The new law empowered the Historical Commission to appoint a collector of World War records, and provided money for the project's support.

Acting under authority of this law, the Historical Commission chose Mr. Robert B. House Collector of World War Records, and House entered upon his work June 19, 1919. On taking up his duties, House found that the Historical Preservation committee of the State Council of Defense (through a system of volunteer collecting in various counties of the state), and Col. Fred A. Olds (North Carolina Historical Commission Hall of History Collector) had already collected a large amount of war materials. House tried to systemize the collection process and network of volunteer collectors around North Carolina. House and a part-time stenographer worked to copy information from original materials; label, classify, and identify original materials; and operate a continuous correspondence network with individuals throughout the state and with federal war-time government offices.

One of House's first tasks was to survey all possible sources of information concerning North Carolina in the World War to be found in the National Archives; in departments of the North Carolina government; and among the various county organizations and individuals of North Carolina. Having found other states in America were performing the same records collection work during the war, in September, 1919, representatives from several states met in Washington, D.C., to organize what became the National Association of State War History Organizations. This was a cooperative enterprise financed by a membership fee of $200, paid by each member state organization. The North Carolina Historical Commission became a member of this association. This organization assisted North Carolina and House in standardizing war records collection policies and procedures.

In North Carolina's government departments, House found that the correspondence and published documents from the years 1917 to 1920 would be essential for documenting the state's role in World War I; but, those documents still held an administrative value in their respective government offices during the war and could not be released to the North Carolina Historical Commission for preservation. House strongly advocated with the heads of each office the necessity of preserving their records for the war years, until such time as they could be released to the Historical Commission. The records produced by county organizations and individuals in North Carolina were found to be in a chaotic state. In many cases, officials of various war-work organizations in the state had destroyed their records immediately upon the signing of the armistice ending World War I, under the impression that these records were of no further value. In many cases, they had kept no complete records during the course of the war.

Sometime between March and June 1918, W. S. Wilson, Secretary of the North Carolina Council of Defense, and Fred A. Olds, Collector for the North Carolina Historical Commission's Hall of History (and a contributor of materials to the state's war records collection project), received communications from Lt. Col. C. W. Weeks (Chief of the U.S. War Department's War Plans Division Historical Branch) and Major Kendal Banning (of the U.S. Army Signal Reserve Corps Pictorial Section). The War Department sought to document which industries in North Carolina and other states were involved in war production-or "war work," as was the parlance of the time. This effort was part of the War Plans Division's larger project, as tasked by the U.S. Army, to "secure for the official files a comprehensive series of photographs [and records] that will adequately record the war activities" of North Carolina, according to a letter from April 2, 1918 (see Box 1, Folder 1). The War Plans Division "also desired to secure pictures [from the North Carolina Council of Defense] showing products that are being manufactured" in North Carolina.

The North Carolina Council of Defense and the North Carolina Historical Commission, therefore, tasked Fred A. Olds with writing to industrial leaders and businesses in every county throughout North Carolina, seeking photographs of the businesses' war production or facilities used to manufacture materials for the war effort. Olds also sought names of businesses and companies in towns and cities around the state, which were involved in manufacturing materials for the war effort-whether items used by Allied military forces or items produced specifically for the war effort through U.S. government contracts. All of the materials within Series II: Municipal Files in this collection are a result of Fred A. Olds' correspondence seeking information and photographs of the state's war production. In 1918, Olds used this information to compile a "War Industries in North Carolina" list, which notes the names of companies producing materials for the war effort, type of materials the companies produced for the war effort, and the number of employees the companies employed at the time of Olds' correspondence.

1. Series I: General Records

2. Series II: Municipal Files

3. Series III: Industry Records

4. Oversized Materials

This collection was acquired in multiple parts by Fred A. Olds, collector for the North Carolina Historical Commission's Hall of History, from 1917 to 1920. Olds turned over his materials on North Carolina's war industries to Robert B. House, who was named by the North Carolina Historical Commission as the Collector of World War Records on June 19, 1919. In his December 1, 1920, report to the North Carolina Historical Commission (published in the 1918-1920 North Carolina Historical Commission Biennial Report), Olds noted that he had turned over to the war records collection project "reports on war industries in the State"-which included Olds' compiled listing of war industries in North Carolina.A number of items in this collection were personally collected by Robert B. House, William S. Wilson (North Carolina Council of Defense Secretary), and Fred A. Olds. Each of these men donated the items to the North Carolina Historical Commission's war records collection project when they were finished with the materials. Some of the items in the collection were received from federal government agencies-such as the U.S. Department of Labor industrial plant and business bulletin board posters.All of the materials in this collection were acquired or collected as part of the North Carolina Historical Commission's on-going World War historic materials collection project, which was authorized by Sections 3 and 4 of Chapter 144 of the North Carolina Public Laws and Resolutions in 1919.