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Local figure

Woodrow Wilson

Woodrow Wilson, later president of the United States, first spoke at the University of North Carolina in January 1909, as president of Princeton, on the virtues of Robert E. Lee. He came back in 1911 as governor of New Jersey to give the commencement address.

Source: 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. 111

1856–1924 · Dates from the Library of Congress · Library of Congress authority record ↗

3 works about Woodrow Wilson are indexed here.

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Life and Orange County connections

Dated events connected with this person, in date order. See these 4 dated events in the chronology →

  1. Woodrow Wilson speaks in Gerrard Hall on Robert E. Lee's centennial On January 19, 1909, the university marked the hundredth birthday of Robert E. Lee in Gerrard Hall, with Princeton president Woodrow Wilson as the speaker. People: Francis Preston Venable, Robert E. Lee, Woodrow Wilson Place: Gerrard HallSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 685
  2. Students nominate Woodrow Wilson for president after his campus speech Students impressed by Woodrow Wilson's speech on Robert E. Lee met in the YMCA building right afterward and nominated him for president of the United States. One of them, Frank Porter Graham, was in the floor demonstration when the Democrats nominated Wilson in 1912. People: Frank Porter Graham, Robert E. Lee Place: YMCA building, UNC campusSearch 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. 111
  3. Governor Woodrow Wilson gives the commencement address Woodrow Wilson, governor of New Jersey, spoke at the alumni luncheon and gave the 1911 commencement address in Memorial Hall, and the university made him a Doctor of Laws. People: Francis Preston Venable, Woodrow Wilson Place: Memorial HallSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 724
  4. University students favor Woodrow Wilson in a presidential straw vote Students at the university cast 492 ballots for their first and second choices for president in a straw vote held in the YMCA hall. Woodrow Wilson won by a wide margin, Oscar Underwood was second, and Roosevelt's backers outnumbered Taft's two to one. People: Woodrow Wilson Place: YMCA hall, UNC campus, Chapel HillSearch the index · The News (Chapel Hill), March 14, 1912, p. 5

People named in the same events

People named in the same dated entries as Woodrow Wilson, 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.

Indexed works

Works about or by Woodrow Wilson. Each links to the institution that holds or provides it. Background reading appears below.

Papers,

Craig, Locke · 1880

Papers of Locke Craig, Asheville lawyer who served in the North Carolina legislature from 1898 to 1903 and as governor from 1913 to 1917. The 126 items, beginning in 1880, include personal letters, political and religious speeches, an address on Freemasonry, and a chemistry notebook he kept as a University of North Carolina student. Kemp P. Battle, Henry G. Connor and Woodrow Wilson are among the names that appear.

Included because: Catalog heading in the Duke record: Wilson, Woodrow, 1856-1924.

Duke

Worth family papers,

Worth (Family) · 1844

Worth family papers, about 694 items beginning in 1844: letters, business papers and other material on family affairs, opposition to secession, North Carolina politics, fertilizer and textile businesses, Zebulon B. Vance, and federal patronage early in Woodrow Wilson's administration. Correspondents and subjects include Cornelia Phillips Spencer, Edwin A. Alderman, George T. Winston, Josephus Daniels and Robert Bingham of the Bingham School, with UNC students among them.

Included because: Their name appears in the record.

Duke

Link family papers, 1860s-2012.

Link (Family : Link, Arthur S. (Arthur Stanley), 1920-1998) · 1864

Link family papers spanning the 1860s to 2012, about 7,200 items in ten linear feet, in the Southern Historical Collection at UNC, collection 5527. Correspondence, love letters and personal narratives center on Arthur S. Link (1920-1998), Margaret Douglas Link and William A. Link. Other subjects include Davidson College and student life at Chapel Hill, Woodrow Wilson, civil rights and race relations, parenting and child rearing, and the care of relatives who were mentally ill.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Wilson, Woodrow, 1856-1924.

UNC

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, Orange County GIS, OpenStreetMap and a few other published sources named on each site’s page; town and community pins show approximate locations.

  • Gerrard Hall University buildings and grounds · Chapel Hill · 1 event here
  • University YMCA University schools and programs · Chapel Hill · 1 event here

All places and the county map →

Research sources

Sources and research tools for this person. For ready-made searches of other catalogs, see Search further. Research guide: Trace a family through historical records.

Background

Records of the time

Collections and databases

  • NC LIVE: prepared search for Woodrow Wilson Library card Search NC LIVE for this subject and Orange County. You can change the search terms. Sign in through your North Carolina library to access the materials.
  • Ancestry Library Edition In the libraryOrange County Public Library Census, birth, death and marriage records, and more, free on the public computers at OCPL libraries

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Books about Woodrow Wilson

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Photographs, papers, and newspapers

Historical records and collections

Catalog searches use the Library of Congress name heading: Wilson, Woodrow, 1856-1924. Historical-record searches use the person’s name and may include namesakes. Links open in a new tab.

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