Harrison Randolph papers

Collection contains biographical information, personal diaries, correspondence, writings, teaching notes and other miscellaneous items. Ten volumes of diaries are complete from the period from 1910-1941 except from mid 1928 to early 1931. Randolph began the diaries primarily as a list of the work he did each day, and during the first year, he limited himself to only one page per month and one line per day. By the second year he was using two pages per month and two lines per day. By the third year, his professional journal had turned into a comprehensive diary. Randolph's handwriting is minute, but generally legible, and his style is telegraphic, such as the entire entry for June 27th, 1911, "Married. Didn't go to office." Randolph noted everyone he spoke with each day, every place he went, the work he did, what he head, and the lectures, films, concerts, and social occasions he attended. In the early diaries there are few comments, but in later years he more frequently indicated his opinions about people and events. Occasionally, he records how events affected him and his wife personally such as the anti-German sentiment during World War I. His wife, Louise Wagener, was the daughter of one of Charleston's most prominent citizens of German origin, George Andreas Wagener. The diaries also provide a record of all the Randolphs' saw while visiting Europe and elsewhere on trips lasting from three to six months including Italy and Germany in 1913, Italy in 1920, France and Italy in 1924, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy and France in 1934, and Italy, Egypt, Palestine, Greece and Germany in 1936. They generally spent their summers in Highlands, North Carolina. The diaries also reflect his wide reading in English and German. He read books and articles on history, literature, travel, mathematics, and other topics. His interest in literature was primarily in writers such as Thomas Hardy, but kept up with what was being written and in 1916 read D. H. Lawrence's Sons and Lovers. He often read Goethe and Bismark in German. There are also frequent references to practicing the piano and to music he liked to play and listen to. In addition, he kept a meticulous record of how much sleep he got and of relatively minor health problems (until a stroke incapacitated him in 1942). Among the persons mentioned most frequently in the diaries are M. Rutledge Rivers (President of the Trustees of the College of Charleston) and many members of the faculty and staff including George Daniel Grice (Randolph's successor as Professor of Mathematics and as President), Thomas della Torre, James Harold Easterby, Horatio Hughes, Olin Burnham Chamberlain, and Williard Silcox (Sr.). Randolph occasionally mentions correspondents such as Mrs. Woodrow Wilson, but does not usually indicate the subjects of letters. During 1919 and 1920, he notes often about the sabbatical he took to work on foreign affairs in the State Department. Randolph's personal correspondence is largely with relatives in Virginia and elsewhere. His papers also include his writings on education and mathematics, teaching notes and grade books for his classes in mathematics, some annotated publications on geometry, and documents relating to his service on the Fort Sumter Memorial Committee to create the memorial in White Point Gardens to the defenders of Fort Sumter.