Josephine Hege: Expressing the Spirit of Woman's College

In 1972, Josephine "Jo" Hege retired as an associate professor of history at UNC Greensboro. On the occasion of her retirement, history department head Richard Bardolph wrote of her as "a highly popular teacher, as well known for her sparkling wit, her ebullience, and her razor-sharp intelligence as for the rigorous standards she required of her students." He noted that she "waged relentless assault upon sham and shoddy worksmanship," but added that "four decades of unswerving dedication to classroom excellence only deepened and strengthened her inner kindliness, her unfailing sense of the comic and absurd, her allegiance to the highest intellectual virtues."

Young Josephine Hege

Elma Josephine Hege was born October 18, 1904, in Salem, NC, to Frederick Christian and Augusta Sitterson Hege. The Hege family's roots could be traced back to the earliest years of the Moravian settlement in Salem. When Josephine was six years old, her family moved to Roanoke Rapids, where her father worked at Rosemary Mills.

After graduating from high school in Roanoke Rapids in 1923, Hege enrolled in the North Carolina College for Women (now UNC Greensboro) to study to become a teacher. She was a very active student, serving as the Literary Editor of the Pine Needles in her junior year and as President of the Student Government Association in her senior year. In the 1927 yearbook, Hege was described as "exact and correct about what she does, but she expects others to have the same standards. This means that she makes an inspiring teacher, although she is a difficult person to please."

Hege's high standards led her to graduate with honors as a history student at NCCW. She was also awarded the Weil Fellowship, which provided a year of graduate study at Yale University. After teaching in public schools for a few years, Hege returned to her alma mater to serve as a counselor in Shaw Residence Hall and part-time instructor from 1934 to 1938. She spent one year away from Greensboro to complete her master of arts degree in history at the University of Virginia. Then, in 1939, she was named an assistant professor in the history department.

Hege, 1927 Pine Needles yearbook

Throughout her time at the school now known as UNCG, Hege wrote poems, litanies, and scripts for numerous services held on campus. Perhaps her proudest achievement, however, was writing the Litany of Commemoration for Founders Day, which was first performed at the university's 50th anniversary celebration on October 5, 1942.

Hege's contributions to the development and growth her alma mater, however, continued in other avenues. When the institution became a university in 1963, Hege took on an unofficial role of mentor to the new faculty members hired. She drew on her background to provide them with instruction in the art of teaching, helping them adjust to the role of professor. Converse D. Clowse, a history department professor, wrote that "she supported young, green faculty members as well as her students. I know that she gave me sound advice on numerous occasions and saved me from a number of errors. She guided others in the same way ... I think that she saw this as a part of her functions as an experienced teacher, to make the next generation of teachers better."

Hege in her office, 1956

In 1972, Hege retired from UNCG. Six years later, a group of faculty and alumni nominated Hege for an honorary doctorate degree for her commitment to UNCG and to excellence in teaching. The degree was awarded in 1979. In a note informing Hege of this decision, Chancellor James Ferguson wrote "you have made fine contributions to this institution, to the consolidated University, and to higher education throughout the state. For many years your litany has expressed the spirit of the Woman's College and the University, and of course your teaching has had a special meaning for those students whose good fortune it was to be in your classes."

Hege saw the institution transform from the North Carolina College for Women to the Woman's College to the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Her high standards for excellence and her personal emphasis on passing along knowledge to the next generation of students and faculty members ensured that the spirit of the university's founders carries on today.

Happy Birthday to Us!: Celebrating 60 Years of University Archives

Annual Report of the College Archives Committee

Prior to 1958, there was no organized, formal method for acquiring, managing, and preserving the official records created by the Woman’s College (now UNCG). The need and importance of establishing such a process was brought to the administration’s attention in August 1956 in a letter from A.F. Kuhlman, Chairman of the Association of Southeastern Research Libraries, and E.C. Roberts, Director of the Southeastern Interlibrary Research Facility. In their letter, they noted that as colleges became more decentralized, “it becomes increasingly important that there be a central depository and an archival program for the official records of an institution.” They went on to explain that “only by a systematic program of collection and preservation of the publications and records of an institution can the full and true story of that institution’s development and endeavors be recorded.” The letter closes with a recommendation for the college to assume this responsibility and to start saving their history. However, it would be two more years before the school took any official action.

In the fall of 1957, North Carolina State Archivist, H.G. Jones, was invited to the campus to survey the archives. He was not happy with the current conditions of the archives as he “looked with considerable scorn” upon the cases that housed the archival materials in the Forney Building and Library Building. Following his visit, Jones wrote a letter to Chancellor Gordon W. Blackwell, giving detailed advice on some immediate and long term problems facing the college archives.

Charles Adams, 1951

In response to these recommendations, Chancellor Blackwell appointed current Librarian, Charles M. Adams, as the new Archivist, and Marjorie Hood as the Assistant Archivist.  In addition, he established the College Archives Committee in January 1958, whose charge was “to advise the College Archivist concerning selection of materials for the archives, proper housing of the archives, and other pertinent matters.” Other members of the committee, along with Adams and Hood, included history professors Richard Current and Blackwell Robinson. In May 1958, the committee traveled to Raleigh to study the state archives and ask for further advice on proper storage and care of archival materials.  One of the first priorities of the committee was transferring records located in the basement storage vault of the Forney Building to the Library Building as excessive temperature and humidity threatened to damage the materials.

The work of the College Archives Committee was the first step in developing a formal archival program with dedicated staff and storage space. Today, UNCG's University Archives continues to collect and maintain the campus's historically-valuable documents and records. These include paper records, as well as those produced in a digital format (including websites). The University Archives faculty and staff also present guest lectures on campus history in numerous undergraduate and graduate courses throughout the year. Additionally, through social media, online publications and exhibits, and digitization work done in the University Libraries, researchers can now dig into UNCG's long history from anywhere in the world. The University Archives ensures that the history of UNCG is remembered - now and in years to come.

William C. Smith: Friend of the Library

As you enter the workspace for acquisitions and cataloging staff on the second floor of the main building of Jackson Library, you will find a portrait as well as a plaque noting the dedication of the room "to the memory of William Cunningham Smith" ... "in the service of this college from 1900 to 1943." He's described as a "scholar, inspiring teacher, lover of books, and friend of the library." But Smith's contributions to the development of the school we now know as UNCG were even greater than the plaque describes.

Smith with his daughter Margaret, 1905

Born in Greensboro on April 19, 1871, Smith was the son of Samuel Cunningham Smith and Margaret Ella Cunningham Smith. His father actually served as the City of Greensboro's first superintendent of schools. Smith graduated with Bachelor and Master of Arts degrees from UNC Chapel Hill in 1896, where he also was inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa honor society. After graduation, he worked for four years at UNC as an instructor of history as well as English and pedagogy.

In 1907, he took on additional administrative duties as dean of the faculty, a role in which he served as the school's second in command, filling in for President Julius Foust during Foust's absences. With the college's administrative reorganization in 1922, Smith transitioned to the role of Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. In this role, he advocated for broadening the school's curriculum beyond the existing "normal" (teaching) coursework and lead the push towards college accreditation. After resigning as dean in 1934, Smith continued serving as head of the English Department until 1938. He continued teaching English courses until two weeks prior to his death in 1943.

In addition to his teaching and administrative responsibilities, Smith served as chairman of the campus chapel and conducted services at a time when chapel attendance was a daily requirement for students. He also became well known in Greensboro as the teacher of a large men's Bible study class at the First Presbyterian Church, where his uncle had served for many years as pastor. He also traveled across the state as a lecturer on Biblical literature.

Smith was a frequent visitor to the college library, where he was known for his desire to read books from across all disciplines. His personal book collection was described as "one of the largest and finest libraries in the state." E.J. Forney, head of the college's commercial department and Smith's neighbor, noted that when Smith procured a new book, the lights "more often than not, were shining out of that study window at 2 o'clock in the morning." Smith was known for voraciously reading in preparation for each and every lecture he gave. The campus library and his own personal library served as the resources for his intense studies.

In spite of his service as a teacher and lecturer, most who worked with Smith described him as quite shy. Upon his death in 1943, a former colleague described Smith in a letter to the Greensboro Daily News: "Quietly, unostentatiously and modestly, Dr. Smith went about his business of living and of training, through lecture and through example, and influencing others in how to live. The lives of those who came in contact with him, including not only the friends and neighbors privileged to know him here and in his profession, but the endless line of students who knew and loved him as a teacher, constitute a more enduring memorial than pens and marble shafts can ever provide."

The portrait of Smith was presented to the University Libraries in May 1971 by Smith's family. At the time, the space in which the portrait resides served as a reading room, open for student use. Now, however, Smith -- a man known for frequent use of the library's resources as well as the development of his own personal library collection -- keeps watch over all of the materials moving in and out of UNCG's library.