fllntatjm of Artljln*# anb eUmnarrlfit*
&tate Sfparlmrnt of ArrbinfB and Utetorg
BaUtg Ij. Hortlj Carolina
Collection: CORBITT, DAVID LERCRf, PAPERS'
Р.С^Ш.,Л.-.423.
10
Raleigh, Wake County
1923-1966, n.d*
Physical Description: Ca. 750 items and 1 volume, including correspondence,
speeches and addresses, invitations, Christmas cards, theatre and concert,
programs, research notes and correspondence, newspaper clippings, auto¬
biography, and miscellaneous records.
Acquisition: 47 items, including letters and cards, 1942-1945, from
friends and relatives in the armed services, were given by Mr. Corbitt
and accessioned on September 14, 1962 (see folder in P.C. 423.1); ad¬
ditional materials, including several photographs and photographic
negatives, theatre and concert programs, early advertising handbills and
broadsides, were given by Mr. and Mrs. Corbitt on August 9, 1965, but at
the request of the donors, these were not accessioned at that time,
pending a further donation. This further donation, constituting the
bulk of the collection, was given by Mrs. Corbitt on June 25, 1969, and
was accessioned on September 26, 1969.
Description:
David LeRoy Corbitt was bom in Pitt County on May 3, 1895. He
received his bachelor of arts degree from the University of North Caro¬
line where he majored in history and education and minored in English.
He came to work for the North Carolina Historical Commission on April 1,
1924, and remained with the commission (renamed the State Department of
Archives and History in 1943) until his retirement on July 1, 1961. He
was retained as consultant and special editor until 1963.
Mr. Corbitt initially worked principally with the commission's
manuscript collections, during which time he edited a volume of Calendars
of Manuscript Collections (1926). From 1935 until I96I he was managing
editor of the North Carolina Historical Review and was head of the
Division, of Publications from its organization on August 1, 1945, until '
his retirement. He compiled a volume on the Formation of the North
Carolina Counties. 1663-1943 and edited the papers and addresses of each
governor from Cameron Morrison, 1921-1925, through William B. Umstead,
1953-1954.
Mr. Corbitt married Miss Alma Jordan in 1927. They had no children,
but Mr. Corbitt's niece, Dorothy Cox (Mrs. Pierre Elias) Awad came to live
with them in Raleigh in the 1940s and remained a close member of the
family thereafter.
Mr. Corbitt died in Raleigh on October 12, 1967. He was buried at
Mont lawn Memorial Park in Raleigh.