Printed materials (1960-1990) received by Drs. Joseph and Lala Steelman related to the National Democratic Party and related organizations concerning social, environmental, and political issues (1969-1990), and Historical Organization Files (1960-1990) concerning issues related to North Carolina history.
Dr. Joseph Flake Steelman was a longtime faculty member of the History Department at East Carolina University where he was instrumental in creating the Master's Degree Program in History and the East Carolina Manuscript Collection. Born in Moravian Falls, North Carolina, to Joseph Sankey Steelman (1887-1983) and Gertrude née Edmisten (1982-1965), he was the eldest of three, his two brothers being Hoke Hayes Steelman and John Britt Steelman. His father was a farmer and his mother a schoolteacher. He completed his undergraduate education in history at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1943. He then was recruited into the United States Army Specialized Training Program for foreign language skills. After his honorable discharge from the US Army in 1946, Steelman returned to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to complete a doctorate in history. He then went on to teach at Cortland State College, now SUNY at Cortland, in New York. In 1959, he came to what was then East Carolina College as a professor of history; he retired in 1985 as Professor Emeritus of History. Dr. Joseph Steelman passed away on January 21, 2015 at the age of 92.
Dr. Lala Carr Steelman was born in 1926 in Milledgeville, Georgia, to Iverson Curry Carr and Ruth A. Hardie Carr. She attended Georgia State College for Women (now Georgia College) and received her M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in history for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In 1955 she became an assistant professor of history at East Carolina College (now East Carolina University) where she taught for the next thirty years before retiring as a Professor Emeritus of History. After a short illness, Dr. Lala Carr Steelman passed away on May 13, 1998.
Joseph Flake Steelman married Lala Carr on August 30, 1947. They had two children, both named for their parents. A daughter, Lala Carr Steelman II, and a son Joseph Flake Steelman Jr. known as Joey. Joey was killed in an electrical accident in New Bern, North Carolina, in 1969.
The Joseph F. Steelman Papers are divided into two series: printed materials for the National Democratic Party and related organizations concerning social, environmental, and political issues (1969-1990), and Historical Organization Files (1960-1990) concerning issues related to North Carolina history. The Steelman Collection contains all records from various organizations that Joseph F. Steelman and his wife Lala Carr Steelman were members of or supported.
Series I contains printed materials from the National Democratic Party, environmental, social, and political causes from the year 1969 through 1990. Printed materials include correspondence, pamphlets and fund-raising letters from various organizations. The main subjects include environmental issues and controversial topics, such as abortion, nuclear war, and the National Rifle Association. Democratice Party fund-raising pertains to national presidential races (including President Jimmy Carter) and also to state races such as N.C. Governor Jim Hunt.
Series II contains records of the North Carolina Literary and Historical Association and the North Carolina Cultural Resources Division of Archives and History. Among these are biennial financial reports, agendas, memorandums, and meeting minutes, organization by-laws, as well as correspondence, guides to research papers, and other printed materials including photos of historical exhibits, and photos of cabins.
The majority of topics discussed in meetings include relocations of various historical artifacts (including the Judge Thomas Ruffin statue), renovations of various museums, commissions of various archaeological sites in North Carolina, and memorials, including the Charlotte Hawkins Memorial.
Gift of Dr. Joseph F. Steelman
Encoded by Apex Data Services
Processing completed 3/14/2017 by Leah Powell Turner.
Literary rights to specific documents are retained by the authors or their descendants in accordance with U.S. copyright law.