Henry Burwell Marrow Papers

Collection

Identifier: PC00002

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The collection contains items dating from Marrow's years in Chapel Hill (1912-1915) to his work on the state's public school laws following Brown v. Board of Education in 1954. Two letterpress books (PC 2.1 and 2.2) containing letters and memos sent out from the Superintendent's office from 1924 to 1941, provide an excellent source for studying the school consolidation movement of the 1920s and the subsequent impacts of the Great Depression in the 1930s.

Several county maps from the 1920s and 1940s are of local interest, particularly a circa 1921 map of the county's white schools and districts before consolidation (placed in Map Collection because of size). Also of local interest are the following pamphlets, booklets, and circulars: "A Select List of Public Speakers Who Offer their Services Free to the People of Johnston County" (1918); The Smithfield Schools: Annual Report of the Superintendent (1918); The Twenty-Fifth Anniversary, Short Journey School (1951). The latest items are speeches dealing with the Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Board of Education (1954) and materials relating to Marrow's work on the state's public school law revisions (PC 2.3).

Dates

Record Keeping: 1991 October 28
1912-1955

Creator

Marrow, Henry Burwell, 1887-1978 (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research. Please send requests to heritagecenter@johnstonnc.com or through the ArchivesSpace request form.

Conditions Governing Use

The nature of the Johnston County Heritage Center’s various collections means that copyright and other information about restrictions on the use of materials may be difficult or even impossible to determine. The Heritage Center claims only physical ownership of most materials.

The materials from our collections are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study, pursuant to U.S. Copyright law. The user assumes full responsibility in the use of materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Any materials used for academic research or otherwise should be fully credited with the source.

This collection may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal, state, county or municipal right to privacy laws and regulations. Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which Johnston County and the Johnston County Heritage Center assumes no responsibility.

Biographical / Historical

Henry Burwell Marrow (1887-1978) was an educator and civic leader of great note in Johnston County for much of the 20th century. He was born and reared on a farm in the Williamsburg community of Vance County, the son of Thomas T. and Carrie S. Burwell Marrow. Following graduation from Henderson High School at age 19, he attended King's Business College in Raleigh. From 1908 to 1912 he attended the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill where he earned an A.B. degree and also studied law. There he met his wife, Pearl Hildebrand of Hickory, whom he married in 1917.

He served as superintendent of Chapel Hill Schools from 1912 to 1915, Battleboro Schools in Nash County 1915-1917, and Smithfield Schools 1917-1921. Opening a law office in 1921, he was soon called back into the education field in 1922 when he accepted the position of School Superintendent for Johnston County, a post he held for 29 years. In the 1920s and 30s he was largely responsible for consolidating the county's 99 white schools into 17 large ones and 35 Negro schools into just six, a move that put rural schools on a more equal footing with those in towns.

Extent

3 Linear Feet (2 letterpress volumes, 1 legalbox, 1 long box)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Arrangement

The letterpress volumes (2.1 and 2.2) remain in the original order in which they were created. Clippings and various administrative records have been organized in folders by subject.

Other Finding Aids

The original finding aid is still hosted on the Johnston County Heritage website. From the main page navigate to the section titled "Image Archives" and follow the link to, "A list of digitized collections with "finding aids." which is titled "View the Online Collections". The finding aid for the Henry Burwell Marrow Papers can be found here: https://www.johnstonnc.com/heritage2/hc_archives_biopage.cfm?collectionid=7

Immediate Source of Acquisition

The Henry Burwell Marrow Papers is one of the original collections that were accumulated in the Johnston County Room of the Public Library of Smithfield and Johnston County. The library has put these collections on permanent loan and physically transferred the materials to the Heritage Center upon its creation.