By Alva Stewart
A Lifelong
Historian
William Powell may be retired, but he's still actively involved
in recording the history of the state.
A walking encyclopedia of Tar Heel
data. A historical missionary to
the people of North Carolina.
Both phrases aptly describe William
S. Powell, professor emeritus at the
University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill, who at 71 is still ac¬
tively editing and writing material
in the field of North Carolina history.
Powells works and awards are
too numerous to mention, but
some of his better-known accom¬
plishments include North Caro¬
lina Through Four Centuries, the
pre-eminent North Carolina his¬
tory book; The North Carolina
Gazetteer, a 549-page reference
book listing North Carolina place
names from Manteo to Murphy;
and the Dictionary of North Car¬
olina Biography, a projected six-
volume work with biographical
sketches of 4.000 prominent North
Carolinians.
Bom near Smithfield on April
28. 1919. Powell is of English de¬
scent from families whose roots
in North Carolina go back to the
late 17th century. His family
moved to Statesville when he was
just a few years old, and Powell
graduated from Statesville High
School.
His interest in the state's history led
him to UNC, where he was a student of
Hugh Letter and Albert Newsome, who
wrote one of the most comprehensive
books on North Carolina history in the
1950s. Powell’s 591 -page North Caro¬
lina Through Four Centuries, released
by UNC Press in 1989. would update
and expand on their work.
After earning a bachelor's degree in
history. Powell returned to Statesville,
where he completed a commercial
course at Mitchell College before serv¬
ing a brief stint as a reporter for the
Statesville Daily. Drafted in the Army
several months prior to the -Japanese
bombing of Pearl Harbor. Powell went
to armored school at Fort Knox, Ken¬
tucky. and served on active duty four
and a half years, including a year in the
Philippines.
When he was discharged as a master
sergeant, Powell returned to Statesville
and his newspaper job. But his love of
history took him back to Chapel Hill,
Where he earned two additional de¬
grees a master’s in history and a
bachelor’s in library science.
In 1947, he began his library career
as a reference assistant in the Rare
Book Room of Yale University Library.
Because of "severely cold weather and
my love for the Old North State," Pow¬
ell stayed only a year before returning
to his home state to become a re¬
searcher with the state Division of Ar¬
chives and History in Raleigh.
After three years spent editing a
guide to the states highway markers,
Powell moved to Chapel Hill to become
assistant librarian in the North Caro¬
lina Collection of the University Li¬
brary. From that day on, he has
resided in the UNC community.
Powell was appointed curator
of the library’s North Carolina
Collection in 1958 and re¬
mained in that position until
1973, when he replaced Hugh
Lefler as the leading authority
on North Carolina history in
UNC’s History Department.
For the past four years, he’s
been a professor emeritus.
Powell did take time from his
busy career to marry Virginia
Penn Waldrop of Raleigh in
1952. A Meredith College
graduate, Virginia Powell holds
a library science degree from
UNC. They have three children
John, Charles and Ellen —
and five grandchildren, ages 1
to 5.
Also interested in history, Vir¬
ginia Powell co-authored a book
with her husband in 1988,
called England and Roanoke: A
Collection of Poems, 1581 1987.
And she’s helped him with
other, more unusual projects as well.
For the last 38 years, the Powells
have kept a detailed record of their
daily expenditures. They do this not
for their own benefit, but for the
benefit of future historians. Powell
reasons that these records will pro¬
vide insight for future generations on
how a middle-class 20th century Tar
Powell at home, with one of his many
history boohs.
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