William T. Couch

Life and Orange County connections

Storylines this person is part of, in date order. Each opens its own page, with its events date by date.

Dated events connected with this person, in date order. See these 15 dated events in the chronology →

1. June 12, 1922 The University of North Carolina Press is founded On June 12, 1922, university librarian Louis Round Wilson, nine other faculty members and three trustees founded the University of North Carolina Press, the first university press in the South. Its first book, William C. Coker's study of water molds, appeared in 1923, and William T. Couch became director in 1932. People: William T. Couch, Louis Round Wilson Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: William C. CokerUNC Research: Local Ink, Inc. (July 20, 2020) · Also: The Daily Tar Heel, April 23, 1981, p. 2; The Daily Tar Heel, December 7, 1990, p. 1
2. 1926 William T. Couch joins the University of North Carolina Press as assistant director Couch, who had moved to the Chapel Hill area in 1917, began at the press in 1926 as assistant director under Louis Round Wilson and took over as director in 1932. People: Louis Round Wilson Place: Chapel HillIn the index: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill · UNC Libraries: William T. Couch Papers, 1926-1988 finding aid
3. May 1927 Press governors object to Paul Green's introduction to Congaree Sketches Called before Chase and the press's board, assistant editor William T. Couch heard Royster and the others condemn Green's introduction, which said neither race could leave the ditch until whites gave Blacks a hand. Couch pointed out that some 150 advance copies were already out, and the book went out as printed. Six months later, at Chase's order, unsold copies went to a commercial publisher, which reprinted it without Green's introduction. People: William T. Couch, Paul Green, Harry Woodburn Chase, James Finch Royster Place: University of North Carolina Press, Chapel HillHoward E. Covington Jr., Fire and Stone: The Making of the University of North Carolina under Presidents Edward Kidder Graham and Harry Woodburn Chase (2018), pp. 366-367
4. By May 1932 William T. Couch becomes director of the University of North Carolina Press By late May 1932 William T. Couch had been elected director of the University of North Carolina Press, succeeding Louis R. Wilson. He served until he resigned in 1945 to direct the University of Chicago Press. Place: Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina Press · Also named: Louis R. WilsonSearch the index · Internet Archive: "Historical News", North Carolina Historical Review 24 (1947), p. 276 · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, May 27, 1932, p. 1
5. May 14, 1935 Textile editor David Clark charges radicalism among UNC professors in a Gerrard Hall talk Invited by the new student branch of the American Liberty League, David Clark of the Textile Bulletin told a large crowd in Gerrard Hall that a small group of professors promoted 'atheism, socialism, and communism', naming W. T. Couch and E. E. Ericson, who were present, and Paul Green. Couch and Ericson answered in statements the next day, and the Weekly defended the University's tradition of free speech. People: William T. Couch, Paul Green, Dudley Dewitt Carroll Place: Gerrard Hall, UNC, Chapel Hill · Also named: David Clark, E. E. EricsonSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, May 17, 1935, p. 1
6. April 20 to 21, 1939 The University Press, the journalism department and the news bureau move into the rebuilt Bynum Gymnasium The University Press moved from the Alumni Building basement into the former Bynum Gymnasium, its interior completely rebuilt, taking the first and second floors, while the journalism department and the news bureau divided the third. The move cleared the Alumni Building for its interior reconstruction, which was to begin at once. People: William T. Couch, Robert W. Madry Place: Former Bynum Gymnasium, UNC campus, Chapel Hill · Also mentions: Alumni BuildingSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, April 21, 1939, p. 1
7. By May 1939 UNC Press publishes These Are Our Lives The University of North Carolina Press at Chapel Hill published These Are Our Lives in 1939, life histories gathered by Federal Writers' Project workers in North Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia, with a preface by W. T. Couch. Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · UNC Libraries: Federal Writers' Project Papers, 1936-1940 finding aid · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, May 26, 1939, p. 2; Chapel Hill Weekly, December 1, 1939, p. 1
8. February 16, 1940 Chapel Hill organizes a branch of Fighting Funds for Finland At a meeting at the Carolina Inn on February 16, state chairman George Watts Hill appointed William T. Couch to lead a Chapel Hill drive for Fighting Funds for Finland, which bought arms, ammunition and airplanes for the Finns resisting the Russian invasion. Gifts reached $460 within a week and $750 by early March, and more than $200 was raised in Hillsboro. People: William T. Couch, George Watts Hill Place: Carolina Inn, Chapel Hill; HillsboroughSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, February 23, 1940, p. 1
9. March to July 1940 UNC Press editor William Couch builds a brick and stone house on Laurel Hill Road William Couch, editor of the University of North Carolina Press and brother of botanist John N. Couch, built a two-story brick and stone Colonial Revival house with a two-story gallery, designed by William Sprinkle. The Weekly reported in March 1940 that his excavation was done and building about to begin on a lot he had bought from Howard Mumford Jones, and in July 1940 that the Couches had moved in. People: William Van Sprinkle Place: William Couch House, 603 Laurel Hill Road, Chapel Hill · Also named: William Sprinkle, John N. Couch, William Couch, Howard Mumford JonesSearch the index · NC State Historic Preservation Office: Rocky Ridge Farm Historic District, National Register nomination (OR0303), p. 8 · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, March 1, 1940, p. 2; Chapel Hill Weekly, July 19, 1940, p. 1; Chapel Hill Weekly, December 20, 1940, p. 6
10. week of June 3, 1940 A Chapel Hill chapter of the Committee to Defend America by Aiding the Allies is organized Frank Graham and Durham banker George Watts Hill were among the first North Carolinians to sign on with the national committee formed in 1940 under William Allen White. The Weekly reported that a Chapel Hill branch was organized in the first week of June 1940, with Archibald Henderson as chairman, L. C. MacKinney as vice-chairman and W. T. Couch as secretary, and held a meeting in Gerrard Hall on June 6; it said the movement in North Carolina began in Chapel Hill. A chapter was also organized in Asheville. Covington describes Chapel Hill as a center of support for the Allies while both of the state's senators opposed involvement. People: George Watts Hill, Frank Porter Graham, Archibald Henderson, William T. Couch Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: Loren C. MacKinney, Frank Graham, L. C. MacKinney, William Allen White · Also mentions: Gerrard HallSearch the index · Howard E. Covington Jr., The Good Government Man: Albert Coates and the Early Years of the Institute of Government (2018), p. 194 · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, June 7, 1940, p. 1; Chapel Hill Weekly, June 14, 1940, p. 2; Chapel Hill Weekly, December 13, 1940, p. 5
11. by June 28, 1940 Chapel Hill citizens sign an appeal urging the United States into the war beside Britain A group of Chapel Hill citizens, among them professors J. M. Booker, Sturgis E. Leavitt, W. M. Dey and W. T. Couch, signed an appeal to President Roosevelt and North Carolina's members of Congress to place the United States beside Britain in its war on Hitlerism, arguing that the country would be drawn in anyway and that its sea and air forces might decide the outcome. Admiral Percy W. Foote and Archibald Henderson answered over the radio from Raleigh, urging immediate mobilization but opposing a declaration of war. People: John M. Booker, Sturgis E. Leavitt, William Morton Dey, William T. Couch, Archibald Henderson Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: Percy W. FooteSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, June 28, 1940, p. 1
12. May 24, 1941 Chapel Hill's Committee to Defend America polls its members, 210 to 10, for armed convoys to Britain The Chapel Hill Committee to Defend America by Aiding the Allies reported to President Roosevelt that its members had voted 210 to 10 for using American naval and air forces to convoy supplies to Britain, and reminded him that the chapter had asked for repeal of the neutrality laws in January and for a national emergency the summer before. The letter was signed by Archibald Henderson, Loren C. MacKinney and W. T. Couch. People: Archibald Henderson, William T. Couch Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: Loren C. MacKinneyThe Chapel Hill Weekly, June 6, 1941, p. 3