Descriptive Summary

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Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], Earliest Existent College Catalogs, [Mary Livermore Library], [University of North Carolina at Pembroke], [Pembroke], NC, USA.

Acquisitions Information

Accession number(s): 167232

Local call number: Cage LD4881.P46 A1 1928-39

Processing Information

Processed by Anne H. Coleman, March, 2006

Encoded by Anne H. Coleman, March, 2006

Historical Sketch of UNCP

On March 7, 1887, the General Assembly of North Carolina enacted legislation that created the Croatan Normal School, founded to train Native American public school teachers. Local people constructed a building at a site approximately one mile west of the present location. The school opened with 15 students and one teacher in the fall of 1887. The school moved to its present location in Pembroke, the center of the Indian community, in 1909. The General Assembly changed the name of the institution in 1911 to the Indian Normal School of Robeson County, and again in 1913 to the Cherokee Indian Normal School of Robeson County.

For many years, the instruction was at the elementary and secondary school level, but in 1926, the Board of Trustees added a two-year normal program beyond high school and phased out the elementary school instruction. The first diplomas from the "normal" school were awarded in 1928, when the state accredited the school as a "standard normal school." Additional college classes were offered in 1931, and, in 1939, a fourth year was added, with the first four-year degrees conferred in 1940. In recognition of the school's new status, the General Assembly changed the name of the school in 1941 to Pembroke State College for Indians. Until 1953, it was the only state-supported, four-year college for Indians in the nation.

The scope of the institution was widened in 1942 when non-teaching degrees were added, and, in 1945, when enrollment, previously limited to the Indians of Robeson County, was opened to all federally-recognized Indian groups. A few years later, in 1949, the General Assembly shortened the name to Pembroke State College.

In 1953, the Board of Trustees approved the admission of white students up to 40 percent of the total enrollment, and, following the Supreme Court's school desegregation decision in 1954, opened the college to all qualified applicants regardless of race.

In 1969, the General Assembly made the institution a regional university and changed the name again to Pembroke State University. Three years later, in 1972, the General Assembly established the 16-campus University of North Carolina with Pembroke State University as one of the constitutient institutions. In 1978, the Board of Governors approved the implementation of master's programs and several new undergraduate programs at Pembroke State University. Over time, additional baccalaureate and master's level programs were added.

The institution celebrated its centennial in 1987, and, on July 1, 1996, Pembroke State University officially became The University of North Carolina at Pembroke.

Collection Overview

The institution was founded in 1887; however, for many years, the institution was geared toward elementary and secondary education. A two-year normal program that provided education beyond high school was not added until 1926. The first college catalog was not published until 1928 when the state accredited the institution as a "standard normal school".

These early catalogs contain much of the information found in current college catalogs, such as calendars, members of the boards of trustees, the school administration, faculty, institutional requirements and regulations, academic degrees offered, and course descriptions. However, these catalogs also contain such historically significant items as commencement programs, class rolls, alumni lists, student medals and awards, as well as photographs of athletic teams, graduation classes, and campus buildings.

Collection Arrangement

There are three catalogs arranged in chronological order and bound in one volume.

Online Catalog Headings

These and related materials may be found under the following subject headings in the Mary Livermore Library's online catalog.

Detailed Description of the Collection