Memoirs of a Small Town Boy is the unpublished reminiscences of Philip Harvey Davis, a professor of English at the North Carolina State College of Agriculture and Engineering (later North Carolina State University). The 1984 manuscript covers his childhood in Coshocton, Ohio; undergraduate and graduate life at Miami University in Ohio, Harvard University, and the University of North Carolina in the 1920s and 1930s; work history and social life in the Depression; service in the United States Navy during World War II; social and family life in Raleigh, North Carolina, from the 1940s to the 1960s; and bird watching and nature lore in North Carolina during the same time.
Philip Harvey Davis (1908-1992), a native of Ohio and graduate of Miami University, began teaching technical writing and business correspondence at North Carolina State in 1939. After serving in the United States Navy during World War II, Davis was an associate professor of English at North Carolina State from 1951 until his retirement in 1973.
Philip Harvey Davis was born on 1908 February 22 in Coshocton, Ohio. He was educated at Miami University in Ohio, receiving a bachelor's degree in 1930 and a master's in English in 1936. After pursuing doctoral studies at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina, Davis taught technical writing and business correspondence at the North Carolina State College of Agriculture and Engineering (later North Carolina State University), beginning as an instructor in 1939. He served in the United States Navy during World War II, and became an associate professor at North Carolina State in 1951. An avid bird watcher, Davis was a member of the Carolina Bird Club, and president of the Raleigh Bird Club. He retired as associate professor emeritus in 1973, and died in Raleigh, North Carolina, on 1992 June 3.
Memoirs of a Small Town Boy is the unpublished reminiscences of Philip Harvey Davis, a professor of English at the North Carolina State College of Agriculture and Engineering (later North Carolina State University). The typewritten manuscript, from 1984, is in two volumes of four parts each. Davis's memoirs begin with his boyhood in Coshocton, Ohio. Davis then recalls his training in an Ohio National Guard field artillery battery; undergraduate and postgraduate years at Miami University in the 1920s and 1930s; and year as a doctoral student at Harvard University, from 1931 to 1932. The memoirs next move through Davis' varied work history during the Depression, and social life in Coshocton during the time; two years of doctoral work at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, from 1937 to 1939; engagement and marriage in 1940; and social and new family life in Raleigh, North Carolina, when Davis was an instructor at North Carolina State, beginning in 1939.
The second volume of Davis's memoirs begins with his experiences in the United States Navy during World War II, as an instructor of English at the Naval Academy Preparatory School at Bainbridge, Maryland, from 1944 to 1945. Davis then chronicles social life in Raleigh again; bird watching in the city and elsewhere in the state; his interest in astronomy; co-authorship of a textbook, Handbook of English, which was published in 1951; and various travels in the United States, as well as local nature excursions, in the 1940s and 1950s. In the next part of his memoirs, Davis details his five summers as director of the nature lore program at Camp Sea Gull in Arapahoe, North Carolina, from 1956 to 1960. The final part of Davis's reminiscences consists of notes on bird watching, astronomy, nature lore, and family travel and other activities from 1954 to 1963.
This collection is arranged sequentially.
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This collection may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations. Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which North Carolina State University assumes no responsibility.
[Identification of item], Philip Harvey Davis, "Memoirs of a Small Town Boy", MC 00199, Special Collections Research Center, North Carolina State University Libraries, Raleigh, NC
Gift of Philip Harvey Davis, 1990 December 18 (Accession no. 1990-0011).
Processed by Will Andersen, 2006 November
Encoded by Will Andersen, 2006 November
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[Identification of item], Philip Harvey Davis, "Memoirs of a Small Town Boy", MC 00199, Special Collections Research Center, North Carolina State University Libraries, Raleigh, NC
The nature of the NC State University Libraries' Special Collections means that copyright or other information about restrictions may be difficult or even impossible to determine despite reasonable efforts. The NC State University Libraries claims only physical ownership of most Special Collections materials.
The materials from our collections are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study, pursuant to U.S. Copyright law. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Any materials used for academic research or otherwise should be fully credited with the source.
This collection may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations. Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which North Carolina State University assumes no responsibility.
