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Local figure

William Meade Prince

William Meade Prince lived in Chapel Hill from age five to fifteen with his grandfather, the Episcopal rector William Meade. A magazine illustrator, he moved back in the 1930s to lecture in the university's art department, headed it during World War II, and in 1950 published The Southern Part of Heaven, about his Chapel Hill boyhood.

Source: NCpedia: Prince, William Meade

1893–1951 as the Library of Congress records it · On the Friends’ Local Authors roster → · Library of Congress authority record ↗

10 indexed works are connected with this person, and the index includes 3 works by William Meade Prince.

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 William Meade Prince

The Southern Part of Heaven

Prince, William Meade · 1950

William Meade Prince's autobiography, published by the University of North Carolina Press in 1950 with illustrations by the author, 314 pages. Prince (1893-1951) was an illustrator who grew up in Chapel Hill, and the book recalls the social life and customs of the university town. The title phrase has since become a byname for the town.

Reviewed in The Journal of Southern History (1950).

The beautiful water

Prince, William Meade, 1893-1951 · 1947 · Sports Afield Publishing Co.

William Meade Prince's fishing piece ran in Sports Afield in 1947, printed across pages 44 to 45 and 82 to 84 with illustrations. The piece concerns salmon fishing on the Miramichi River in New Brunswick and travel to New Hope Creek, on the Orange and Chatham county line.

UNC

Christmas card by William Meade Prince

Prince, William Meade, 1893-1951 · 1950

Christmas card for 1950 with a drawing by William Meade Prince, the illustrator and author who lived in Chapel Hill. Prince and his wife, Lillian, sent it to the novelist Inglis Fletcher in Edenton, with a short printed holiday greeting.

About William Meade Prince

Descendants of Edward Boswell: Prince William County, Virginia and Orange County, North Carolina

1986 · Gateway Press ; Orders to J.B. Pippenger

A family history of the descendants of Edward Boswell, born about 1750 and died about 1830, whose line runs from Prince William County, Virginia, into Orange County, North Carolina. Published by Gateway Press in 1986 with orders through J.B. Pippenger, 294 pages with genealogical tables and illustrations.

Why this is here: Its title names this person.

World War II defense exhibit, UNC-Chapel Hill, circa 5 February 1941, P081

Morton, Hugh M. · 1941

Hugh M. Wilson, acting chairman of the UNC students' Committee to Defend America by Aiding Allies, staffs a defense exhibit outside Gerrard Hall about 5 February 1941. Its poster by William Meade Prince asks why, if Cornwallis came to Chapel Hill, Hitler could not. Hugh Morton photograph.

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

World War II defense exhibit, UNC-Chapel Hill, circa 5 February 1941, P081

Morton, Hugh M. · 1941

World War II defense exhibit at UNC-Chapel Hill, about 5 February 1941, with military men from the campus standing beside a William Meade Prince drawing that urged American aid to the Allies. A sign asks 'Cornwallis Came to Chapel Hill ... Why not Hitler?' Hugh Morton photograph on black-and-white sheet film.

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

William Meade Prince and Lillian Hughes Prince papers, 1890s-1996 (bulk 1890s-1962)

1894

Joint papers of William Meade Prince (1893-1951) and Lillian Hughes Prince (1893-1962), spanning the 1890s to 1996 with the bulk before 1962. Approximately 4,000 items in fifteen linear feet, part of the Southern Historical Collection at UNC, collection 3660. Subjects include his book 'Southern part of heaven', Paul Green's 'Lost Colony', Howard Richardson's 'Dark of the moon', the Carolina Playmakers, the Order of Gimghoul in Chapel Hill, and women in the theater.

Why this is here: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Prince, William Meade, 1893-1951.

UNC

Monogram Club Circus Parade, Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Colourpicture, Boston, Mass

Colourpicture postcard of the Circus Room, for many years a cafeteria at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. A long carved wooden circus parade runs along its wall, designed by William Meade Prince and carved by Carl Boettcher, and made for the Monogram Club. Undated.

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

Prince, William H.: photographs (Chapel Hill Historical Society)

William H. Prince at work sketching a comic, caught in a candid photograph. Undated, from the Chapel Hill Historical Society's Prints and Photographs Collection.

Why this is here: Its title names this person.

Show 2 more about William Meade Prince

Prince, William Meade and Lillian (Chapel Hill Historical Society vertical file)

Greeting cards connected with William Meade Prince, the illustrator and Chapel Hill author, and Lillian Prince. Chapel Hill Historical Society Vertical File Collection, Individuals and Families series, box 7. Undated.

Why this is here: Its title names this person.

Prince, William Meade: photographs (Chapel Hill Historical Society)

Two candid photographs of the illustrator William Meade Prince at work, one painting four men and one painting an old woman. Undated, from the Artists binder of the Chapel Hill Historical Society's Prints and Photographs Collection.

Why this is here: Its title names this person.

Life and Orange County connections

Dated events connected with this person, earliest first. See these 8 dated events in the chronology →

  1. William Meade Prince moves back to Chapel Hill to teach art The illustrator William Meade Prince and his wife, Lillian Hughes Prince, moved from Westport, Connecticut, to Chapel Hill, where he became a lecturer in the university's art department. People: Lillian Hughes PrinceSearch the index · Open Orange: William Meade Prince
  2. Illustrator William Meade Prince and his wife Lillian build a house in Greenwood William Meade Prince, the illustrator who taught art at the university, and his wife Lillian were building a home in the Greenwood neighborhood at the end of 1941. He lived and worked there until his death in 1951. People: Lillian Hughes PrinceSearch the index · DigitalNC: Chapel Hill Weekly, December 5, 1941, p. 1
  3. William Meade Prince becomes head of the university's art department William Meade Prince took charge of the University of North Carolina's art department during World War II, while also making posters and drawings for wartime causes.Search the index · Open Orange: William Meade Prince
  4. Carl Boettcher carves the Circus Parade for the Circus Room University woodcarver Carl Boettcher carved the Circus Parade, a redwood frieze nearly 25 feet long based on William Meade Prince's drawings, for the Circus Room snack bar in the Monogram Club building (now Jackson Hall). People: William Meade PrinceSearch the index · The Daily Tar Heel: Remembering Carl Boettcher, UNC carver and WWI emigre (March 9, 2025)
  5. The Southern Part of Heaven is published William Meade Prince wrote and illustrated The Southern Part of Heaven, a book about growing up in Chapel Hill. Its title became a common nickname for the town.Search the index · NCpedia: Prince, William Meade
  6. William Meade Prince dies at his home in Greenwood William Meade Prince, illustrator, former head of the university's art department and author of The Southern Part of Heaven, died by suicide in the studio of his Greenwood home. The Weekly wrote that the village felt the loss deeply.Search the index · DigitalNC: Chapel Hill Weekly, November 16, 1951, p. 14
  7. Howell's The Kenan Professorships is named one of the best Southern books of The Kenan Professorships, written by UNC English professor A. C. Howell and published by the University Press with illustrations by William Meade Prince and Adrian Lamb, was chosen for design among 25 best Southern books of 1956. People: William Meade PrinceSearch the index · Daily Tar Heel (DigitalNC): January 13, 1957, page 1
  8. Carvings of Prince's circus parade move to the Alumni Center Carvings made from the circus parade illustrations in The Southern Part of Heaven, long displayed at the Carolina Inn, were moved in 1992 to the George Watts Hill Alumni Center. People: Carl BoettcherSearch the index · NCpedia: Prince, William Meade

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 them all.

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.

  • The Carolina Inn University buildings and grounds · Chapel Hill · 1 event here

All places and the county map →

Named with them in the chronology

People named in the same dated entries as William Meade Prince, 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.

Search further

The index lists works with an Orange County connection. To find everything else about William Meade Prince, search these catalogs.

Books about William Meade Prince

Books by William Meade Prince

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Photographs, papers, and newspapers

Searched with the Library of Congress heading Prince, William Meade, 1893-1951, so the results are about this person and not others with the same name. Each link opens that catalog’s own results in a new tab. The Friends have not reviewed what they return.

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