R. B. House

Life and Orange County connections

Dated events connected with this person, earliest first. See these 20 dated events in the chronology →

1. 1926 Robert B. House becomes the university's first executive secretary The trustees created the post of executive secretary to carry part of the president's load, and House, class of 1916, came from the North Carolina Historical Commission to fill it. His first major task was a plan for better teacher training; he ran the office while Chase was abroad in 1927.Search the index · Howard 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. 353-355
2. 1927 The legislature allows $625,000 for a new university library Plans had called for a library costing as much as $862,000. After Chase's pleading, the 1927 General Assembly provided $625,000, just over half of all the capital money for the campus. Robert B. House kept the project on schedule with the Advisory Budget Commission while Chase was abroad. People: Harry Woodburn Chase, R. B. HouseSearch the index · Howard E. Covington Jr., Fire and Stone: The Making of the University of North Carolina under Presidents Edward Kidder Graham and Harry Woodburn Chase (2018), p. 371
3. February 20, 1930 Chase resigns to become president of the University of Illinois The evening before, a full-dress reception at the Carolina Inn marked ten years since Chase's inauguration, with Governor Gardner already holding his resignation. When the Illinois trustees elected Chase the next day, Gardner announced it from Raleigh. The Illinois post reportedly paid $20,000, twice his salary. People: R. B. House, O. Max GardnerSearch the index · Howard 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. 402-404
4. 1934 Janitors' Association president Elliot Washington asks for help joining a union In 1934 Dean Robert House wrote to President Frank Porter Graham about a request from association president Elliot Washington for help with union membership, since the janitors could not afford local union dues. People: Frank Porter Graham, R. B. HouseThe Daily Tar Heel: A history of housekeepers organizing at UNC
5. 1934 Robert B. House becomes Dean of Administration at Chapel Hill As part of consolidation, President Frank Graham chose Robert Burton House, confirmed by the trustees in 1934, as Dean of Administration for the Chapel Hill campus. His title became chancellor in 1945. People: Frank Porter Graham, R. B. HouseSearch the index · Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 153
6. Summer 1935 Graham refuses to move Albert Coates out of the law school In May 1935 Dean Van Hecke reported that Coates's teaching had failed again and, with the whole law faculty behind him, asked that Coates be freed from law school duties to run the Institute. Coates threatened to demand an academic trial; Graham declined the transfer and again refused Van Hecke's offer to resign, and Coates rejoined the law faculty in February 1936 and taught there for thirty years. People: Frank Porter Graham, R. B. HouseSearch the index · Howard E. Covington Jr., The Good Government Man: Albert Coates and the Early Years of the Institute of Government (2018), p. 165
7. April 7, 1935 The Chapel Hill Methodist church is dedicated once its debt is paid Nine years after the building opened, Bishop Paul B. Kern preached the dedication sermon during W. A. Jenkins's pastorate, and Dean Robert B. House presented the building for the official board. Former pastors Walter Patten and C. Excell Rozzelle took part. People: R. B. House, Walter PattenSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Methodist Church: A Centennial History, 1853-1953 (1954), scan p. 44
8. April 22, 1941 Charles E. Rush takes charge of the university library Charles E. Rush, head of the Cleveland Public Library and a former vice president of the American Library Association, took over as university librarian, succeeding Carl M. White, who had left for the University of Illinois. Assistant librarian Olan V. Cook had run the library in the meantime. People: Olan V. (Olan Victor) Cook, R. B. HouseSearch the index · DigitalNC: The Daily Tar Heel, April 23, 1941, page 4
9. November 26, 1942 A regimental review in Kenan Stadium honors Commander Kessing as he leaves for the Pacific With Admiral Halsey asking for him in the southwest Pacific, Commander O. O. Kessing was ordered to sea duty, and the Pre-Flight School held a regimental review in his honor in Kenan Stadium. Lieutenant Commander John P. Graff succeeded him in command. People: R. B. HouseSearch the index · Chapel Hill Weekly: "Kessing to Leave Here because He Is Wanted on Battle Front" (November 27, 1942), p. 1
10. 1945–1957 R. B. House becomes the first chancellor at Chapel Hill North Carolina created chancellorships for its three campuses in 1945, and President Frank Porter Graham turned to House, who had been executive secretary from 1926 and dean of administration from 1934. House held the post until 1957, the longest chancellorship at Chapel Hill. People: Frank Porter GrahamSearch the index · Carolina Alumni: History of the Chancellorship
11. September 27, 1945 UNC holds a farewell assembly for the Navy Pre-Flight School As the war ended the university held a formal assembly to say goodbye to the Pre-Flight School; Chancellor R. B. House had told the Navy that any peacetime Navy program should fold into the NROTC and the regular degree. People: R. B. HouseNC State Historic Preservation Office: Navy Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC) Naval Armory at UNC-Chapel Hill, National Register nomination (OR1541), p. 35
12. July 30, 1948 Dean McGavran reports the school spread across the old Water Works building and four temporary buildings Asking Chancellor Robert B. House to put a new public health building first among the university's needs, McGavran wrote that one department sat in the old Water Works building halfway across campus and that four temporary buildings beside MacNider Hall were overfull. The Department of Health Education still kept its office in the Water Works building in the 1950s, and the school waited until 1961 to break ground for its own building. People: R. B. HouseSearch the index · Robert Rodgers Korstad, Dreaming of a Time: The School of Public Health, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1939-1989 (1990), scan p. 70
13. April 24, 1951 UNC admits Edward O. Diggs, its first Black medical student UNC mailed Edward O. Diggs of Winston-Salem, a pre-medical student at A&T College in Greensboro, his letter of admission to the School of Medicine under the trustees' April 4, 1951 policy. He enrolled in the fall of 1951. People: W. Reece Berryhill, Gordon Gray, R. B. HouseDaily Tar Heel (DigitalNC): A&T Student Becomes First To Enter UNC, April 25, 1951
14. May to June 1951 Dean Brandis handles the applications of Pauli Murray and three other Black students to the law school After the trustees left admissions to each professional school's dean, Brandis wrote Chancellor R. B. House about four Black applicants, Pauli Murray, J. Kenneth Lee, Harvey E. Beech and William C. Chance Jr., and on June 6 told Murray the school offered no graduate law courses. The UNC Libraries exhibit reads these letters as showing the law school resisting integration. People: Pauli Murray, R. B. House, J. Kenneth Lee, Harvey E. BeechSearch the index · UNC Libraries: Pauli Murray and UNC, 1951: Murray inquiry about law school admissions
15. August 5, 1951 Bethel Baptist Church marks its hundredth anniversary Bethel Baptist Church celebrated its centennial with an all-day program and picnic on the grounds. UNC Chancellor Robert B. House gave the morning address and Annie Strowd read notes on the church's history. People: R. B. House, Annie StrowdSearch the index · DigitalNC: Chapel Hill Weekly, August 3, 1951, p. 7
16. March 29, 1953 Orange Methodist Church dedicates three memorial stained glass windows UNC chancellor Robert B. House preached at the dedication. The windows remember the deceased members of the Women's Society of Christian Service, Samuel J. Brockwell, and the brothers Malcolm C. and John H. Blackwood. People: R. B. HouseSearch the index · A Brief History, Orange United Methodist Church, 1832-1989 (1989), scan p. 4
17. July 1, 1954 Charles E. Rush retires as the university's director of libraries Rush retired as librarian on July 1, 1954, after thirteen years. Andrew H. Horn, associate librarian at the University of California at Los Angeles, was chosen to succeed him as director of libraries. People: Andrew H. (Andrew Harlis) Horn, Gordon Gray, R. B. HouseSearch the index · DigitalNC: Chapel Hill News Leader, May 31, 1954, page 8
18. June 1957 Jerrold Orne is appointed University Librarian Chancellor Robert B. House announced Orne's appointment as university librarian, effective August 1, with the approval of President William C. Friday and the trustees. Orne came from the Air University library at Maxwell Air Force Base and succeeded Andrew H. Horn. People: William C. Friday, Andrew H. (Andrew Harlis) Horn, R. B. HouseIn the index: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill · DigitalNC: The Daily Tar Heel, June 7, 1957, p. 3 (Administration Announces Four New Appointments)
19. 1968 The undergraduate library named for R. B. House opens The building put up in 1964 was occupied by the university in 1968 as the Robert B. House Undergraduate Library, named for the former chancellor.Search the index · UNC Names in Brick and Stone: House Undergraduate Library
20. August 17, 1987 R. B. House dies in Chapel Hill House died at his home in Chapel Hill and was buried in the local cemetery. He had retired as chancellor in 1957 and taught in the university's English department until 1962.Search the index · NCpedia: House, Robert Burton