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Key local figure

Joseph Caldwell

Joseph Caldwell came to Chapel Hill in October 1796 to teach mathematics, became presiding professor in 1797 and was elected the university's first president in 1804. He led it, with a break after 1812, until his death in Chapel Hill in 1835, and in 1830 built what the source calls the first American observatory for teaching.

Source: Documenting the American South: Joseph Caldwell, 1773-1835 (biography)

1773–1835 as the Library of Congress records it · On the Friends’ Local Authors roster → · Library of Congress authority record ↗

17 indexed works are connected with this person, and the index includes 6 works by Joseph Caldwell.

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Joseph Caldwell, 1850
Joseph Caldwell, 1850

Indexed works

Works in the index that concern this person directly, or were written by them. Each links to the institution that holds or provides it; background reading with wider context sits further down.

By Joseph Caldwell

University of N.C: account of disturbances which have lately occurred at the University of this state

Caldwell, Joseph · 2004 · University Library, UNC-Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Joseph Caldwell's account of disturbances at the University of North Carolina, written as its president after the riot of 1811 and concerning student suspension and conduct. Issued as an electronic edition in 2004 by the university library within Documenting the American South, in its collection of antebellum student lives and writings, True and Candid Compositions, with text transcribed by Apex Data Services.

NC Cardinal UNC

Letters on popular education : addressed to the people of North-Carolina

Caldwell, Joseph, 1773-1835 · 1832

Joseph Caldwell, the first president of the University of North Carolina, addressed these letters on popular education to the people of the state, making the case for public elementary schooling. Printed at Hillsborough in 1832 with a 48-page appendix of explanatory and documentary papers on education. Topics include elementary education and the relation of education and state in North Carolina, and the Hillsborough imprint is noted.

UNC

A discourse delivered at the University of North Carolina, at the commencement in July, 1802 : concluding with an address to the senior class, who were candidates for the degree of bachelor of arts

Caldwell, Joseph, 1773-1835 · 1802 · Printed by J. Gales

Joseph Caldwell's discourse at the University of North Carolina commencement of July 1802, closing with an address to the senior class who were candidates for the bachelor of arts degree. Printed at Raleigh by J. Gales, fifty pages. Caldwell, who taught at the young university in Chapel Hill, became its first president in 1804.

UNC

Autobiography and biography of Rev. Joseph Caldwell ... : first president of the University of North Carolina

Caldwell, Joseph, 1773-1835; Neathery, John B.; Anderson, Walker, 1801-1857 · 1860 · John B. Neathery

Joseph Caldwell's autobiography, printed at Chapel Hill in 1860 by John B. Neathery with a biographical sketch taken from Walker Anderson's oration of 1835, both by order of the editors of the University Magazine. Caldwell served as the first president of the University of North Carolina.

UNC

Autobiography and biography of Rev. Joseph Caldwell, D.D. LL.D., first president of the University of North Carolina

Caldwell, Joseph, 1773-1835; Anderson, Walker, 1801-1857 · 1860 · J.B. Neathery

Joseph Caldwell's own account of his life, joined to a biographical sketch drawn from Walker Anderson's oration of 1835, printed at Chapel Hill by J. B. Neathery in 1860 by order of the editors of the University Magazine. Caldwell was the first president of the University of North Carolina; the autobiography had appeared in that magazine in 1859 and the sketch in March 1860.

UNC

Governors' Papers: Nathaniel Alexander, Correspondence, March 1807

Caldwell, Joseph, 1773-1835 · 1807

Joseph Caldwell, head of the university at Chapel Hill, is among the writers in Governor Nathaniel Alexander's correspondence for March 1807. The 24 images also concern Buncombe and Orange counties.

NC Digital Collections DPLA

NC Digital Collections record courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

About Joseph Caldwell

A meeting of the citizens of Hillsborough was held on Friday the 30th instant, to adopt resolutions expressive of their feelings on occasion of the death of the late Rev. Dr. Caldwell, president of the university.

1835

Resolutions adopted by a meeting of Hillsborough citizens on Friday 30 January 1835, on the death of Joseph Caldwell, president of the University of North Carolina, who died that year. Signed at the end by W. J. Bingham as secretary and dated 31 January 1835. Printed at Hillsborough, it is a single sheet of civic mourning from Orange County.

Why this is here: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Caldwell, Joseph, 1773-1835.

UNC

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Morehead Planetarium and Science Center

North Carolina ECHO (Project) · 2002

Exhibit text on Joseph Caldwell, founder of the Caldwell Observatory at UNC and the university's first president, photographed at the Morehead Planetarium on 30 May 2002 for the North Carolina ECHO project.

Why this is here: Their name appears in the record.

NC Digital Collections DPLA

NC Digital Collections record courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

A college president of a hundred years ago

Venable, F. P. (Francis Preston), 1856-1934 · 1911

Francis Preston Venable's 1911 sketch of Joseph Caldwell, 1773 to 1835, who led the University of North Carolina a century before Venable wrote about him. Topics include college presidents at Chapel Hill and the presidents of the university.

Why this is here: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Caldwell, Joseph, 1773-1835.

UNC

The two Caldwell monuments on the campus of the University of North Carolina

Battle, Kemp P. (Kemp Plummer), 1831-1919 · 1902

Kemp P. Battle's 1902 account of the two monuments to Joseph Caldwell, the university's first president, on the Chapel Hill campus. Battle lived from 1831 to 1919. Detached from the December 1902 University of North Carolina Magazine and signed by Battle, it was published by the Dialectic and Philanthropic Literary Societies.

Why this is here: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Caldwell, Joseph, 1773-1835.

DPLA UNC

Dr. Joseph Caldwell : a study

Spencer, Cornelia Phillips, 1825-1908 · 1892 · Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies

Cornelia Phillips Spencer's study of Joseph Caldwell, president of the University of North Carolina until his death in 1835, signed by her at the end and detached from the North Carolina University magazine of 1892. The Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies published it at Chapel Hill. Spencer was the Chapel Hill writer whose articles pressed for the university's reopening in 1875.

Why this is here: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Caldwell, Joseph, 1773-1835.

UNC

The first college observatory

Love, James Lee, 1860-1950 · 1888

James Lee Love's note on the first college observatory in the United States, detached from The Nation for August 16, 1888 and signed at Chapel Hill by an associate professor of mathematics at the University of North Carolina. It deals with Joseph Caldwell and with the observatory that stood among the college buildings at Chapel Hill.

Why this is here: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Caldwell, Joseph, 1773-1835.

UNC
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The first college observatory in the United States

Love, James Lee, 1860-1950 · 1888 · Carleton College Observatory

James Lee Love's article arguing that the University of North Carolina built the first college observatory in the United States, detached from the December 1888 number of The Sidereal Messenger and printed at the Carleton College Observatory in Northfield, Minnesota. It concerns Joseph Caldwell, the university's first president, and the observatory building at Chapel Hill.

Why this is here: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Caldwell, Joseph, 1773-1835.

UNC

Dr. Caldwell and our university

Anderson, Walker, 1801-1857 · 1860

Walker Anderson's account of Joseph Caldwell, the first president of the University of North Carolina, who led the institution until his death in 1835. Printed in 1860, credited to Anderson. An early biographical account of Caldwell and the university.

Why this is here: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Caldwell, Joseph, 1773-1835.

UNC

Oration on the life and character of the Rev. Jos. Caldwell, D.D. late president of the University of North Carolina : delivered at the request of the executive committee, before the trustees, the faculty and the students in Person Hall, on the 24th of June, 1835

Anderson, Walker, 1801-1857 · 1835

Walker Anderson's oration on Joseph Caldwell, the University of North Carolina's first president, given in Person Hall on 24 June 1835 before the trustees, faculty and students at the executive committee's request. J. Gales and Son printed it in Raleigh the same year.

Why this is here: Catalog heading in the DPLA record: Caldwell, Joseph, 1773-1835.

DPLA UNC

Caldwell, Joseph: photographs (Chapel Hill Historical Society)

1818

Painted portrait of Joseph Caldwell, first president of the University of North Carolina, dated 1818 and reproduced in a photograph.

Why this is here: Its title names this person.

CH Historical Society

Search all 17 indexed works →

Life and Orange County connections

Dated events connected with this person: sixteen of 36, the highlights and a sample of the rest spread across the years, in date order. See all 36 dated events in the chronology →

Earliest first. Scroll sideways, or use the arrows.

16 dated events

  1. Charles Wilson Harris acts as presiding professor

    Appointment, election or service · Chapel Hill

    After David Ker resigned under pressure from the trustees in the summer of 1796, Harris acted as presiding professor until his own resignation that December. He had persuaded Joseph Caldwell to join the faculty in October 1796.

    People: David Ker · Joseph Caldwell

  2. James Smiley Gillaspie is made principal of the university

    Appointment, election or service · Chapel Hill

    To keep Joseph Caldwell, who meant to leave rather than carry the executive duties, the trustees elected Gillaspie professor of natural philosophy with the title of principal. Caldwell stayed as professor of mathematics and taught French in the preparatory school.

    People: Joseph Caldwell

  3. Students rise against the faculty and beat principal Gillaspie

    Protest or organizing · Chapel Hill

    In the term before the 1799 commencement students beat Gillaspie, waylaid and stoned tutor William E. Webb and threatened Caldwell and Archibald Murphey, and for a week exercises stopped. Three leaders were dismissed and the faculty offered to resign, and by that November Caldwell was chosen again to head the university.

    People: Joseph Caldwell · Archibald D. Murphey

  4. A student duel brings expulsions and a trustee order against dueling

    Law, policy or court · Chapel Hill

    Quarrels in the spring of 1803 led to challenges and at least one meeting. Samuel G. Hopkins was expelled for fighting and John H. Hawkins for acting as second, and the trustees ordered that anyone in a duel be expelled and handed to the civil authorities.

    People: William Polk · Joseph Caldwell

  5. Joseph Caldwell is elected the first president of the university

    Appointment, election or service · Chapel Hill

    When the trustees created the office of president in 1804 they elected Caldwell to it unanimously. He resigned the presidency in 1812 to teach and returned to it a few years later, holding it until his death in 1835.

  6. President Joseph Caldwell marries Helen Hooper and moves to her Franklin Street house

    Life event · Caldwell house, Lot #19, East Franklin Street, Chapel Hill

    Caldwell married Helen Hogg Hooper and left the President's House on campus for her home on Lot #19, which he appears to have owned already. The house stayed in the family until 1849, when the university bought it as President Swain's residence.

  7. Students move into the finished South Building

    Construction or physical change · South Building

    Subscriptions Caldwell gathered on tours of the state in 1809 and 1811, about $8,220, let contractor John Close finish the Main Building begun in 1798. Students moved in during 1814.

    People: Joseph Caldwell · John Haywood · William Gaston

    Subject: South Building

  8. Joseph Caldwell is elected president a second time

    Appointment, election or service · Chapel Hill

    After William Neill and Lewis von Schweinitz declined the office, the trustees returned the presidency to Caldwell by a commission taking effect January 1, 1817.

    People: John Haywood · William Polk

  9. The university closes its grammar school and makes Hillsborough Academy its preparatory school

    Closing or ending · Orange County

    When Abner W. Clopton gave up the grammar school the university dropped it. Caldwell arranged for Hillsborough Academy, under John Witherspoon with John Rogers teaching, to prepare boys for the university, whose faculty could attend its examinations and admit its top pupils on certificate.

    People: Abner Wentworth Clopton · John Knox Witherspoon · Joseph Caldwell

    Subject: Hillsborough Academy · University grammar school (Preparatory School)

  10. Students illuminate the college to welcome Caldwell home from Europe

    Publication, speech or performance · South Building

    When President Caldwell came back from nearly a year in Europe buying books and apparatus, the students lit up the college buildings and escorted him to a stand by the well in front of South Building, where he spoke to them and the villagers. In December 1825 the trustees formally thanked him for his work.

    People: Paul C. Cameron · George E. Badger

    Subject: South Building · The Old Well

  11. Caldwell builds the first college observatory in the United States

    Construction or physical change · UNC campus, Chapel Hill

    Caldwell began an astronomical observatory on the campus in 1830 and finished it in 1831, paying more than 400 dollars himself, to house instruments he had bought in Europe in 1824. The DocSouth biography calls it the first American observatory built for teaching.

  12. Trustees make the senior professor Caldwell's deputy and add an adjunct professor

    Appointment, election or service · Chapel Hill

    When Caldwell's illness first forced him to ask for help, the trustees gave the professor of longest standing, Elisha Mitchell, power to act in the president's place and created an adjunct professorship of natural philosophy and astronomy, filled by Walker Anderson. Mitchell served as acting president until Swain arrived.

    People: Elisha Mitchell

  13. David L. Swain moves to Chapel Hill as university president

    Appointment, election or service · Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina

    Chosen to succeed the late Joseph Caldwell, former governor David L. Swain moved to Chapel Hill in January 1836 to become president and professor of national and constitutional law. He stayed at the university for the rest of his life, the longest term of any of its presidents.

    People: Joseph Caldwell

  14. Helen Caldwell dies and is buried with her husband at his monument

    Life event · Chapel Hill

    Helen Hogg Caldwell, widow of President Caldwell and a leader of village society, died at Chapel Hill on October 30, 1846 while visiting John DeBerniere Hooper. Caldwell's remains were taken up on October 31 and laid beside hers at the base of his monument, with the president and faculty as pallbearers.

    People: John DeBerniere Hooper · Elisha Mitchell

  15. Caldwell Lodge No. 180 is chartered at Chapel Hill

    Founding or opening · Chapel Hill

    Members of the defunct University Lodge took out a new charter as Caldwell Lodge No. 180, honoring the late university president Joseph Caldwell.

    People: Joseph Caldwell · Solomon Pool · Adolphus Williamson Mangum

    Subject: University Lodge

  16. Fire destroys the old president's house on Christmas morning

    Disaster or outbreak · Chapel Hill

    The house Helen Hooper built, later home to Presidents Caldwell and Swain, burned the day after Professor Thomas Hume's family moved in. Fire spread from boxes and straw in an outbuilding, and Chapel Hill had no fire engine or ladder company to stop it.

    People: Joseph Caldwell · David L. Swain · Thomas Hume

Places in this person’s story

Buildings, schools, churches and other sites named in the dated events on this page, the most often named first. The map shows the 12 with a known location.

Map tiles © OpenStreetMap contributors. Site locations from the N.C. State Historic Preservation Office survey, Open Orange and OpenStreetMap; town and community pins mark the middle of their mapped buildings.

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Named with them in the chronology

People named in the same dated entries as Joseph Caldwell, those sharing the most entries first. Each line links one of the shared entries in the chronology, where its source is cited. A shared entry shows these people in the same event, not how well they knew each other.

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Search further

The index lists works with an Orange County connection. To find everything else about Joseph Caldwell, search these catalogs.

Books about Joseph Caldwell

Books by Joseph Caldwell

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Photographs, papers, and newspapers

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Picture: Joseph Caldwell, 1850. Public domain. Carolina Digital Library and Archives, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (dc.lib.unc.edu,388); via Wikimedia Commons

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