O.C. Aderhold collection, 1950-1970

Summary

Creator:
Aderhold, O. C., 1899-1969
Date:
1950-1970
Extent:
2.2 Linear Feet 2 document boxes, 1 half box, 1 carton, and 1 walking cane
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

O. C. Aderhold collection, ms2127, Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, The University of Georgia Libraries.

Background

Scope and content:

This collection consists of a small amount of personal material including correspondence, clippings, and awards, photographs, and artifacts.

Biographical / historical:

Omer Clyde "O.C" Aderhold (1899-1969) was president of the University of Georgia from 1950 to 1967.

The son of a Lavonia, Georgia farmer, he graduated from the University of Georgia with an agriculture degree in 1923. Following graduation, he became a high school principal at the age of twenty-four in Jefferson County, Georgia. Three years later, he was chosen as the county's superintendent of public schools, a position he held until 1929, when he resigned to become associate professor of rural education at the University of Georgia. Here he devoted "a major portion of his time to the training of agricultural and rural teachers," according to one newspaper report.

In 1936-37, Aderhold took a leave of absence to work on his PhD degree in education at the Ohio State University, which he received in 1938. In 1946, he was named dean of the College of Education at the University of Georgia, and became president four years later. During seventeen years as president, the university's enrollment tripled, the research budget grew from $2 million a year to more than $13 million, and the value of the physical plant increased from $12 million to $100 million. He successfully led the university through court-ordered integration in January 1961 after admission of its first black students, Charlayne Hunter and Hamilton Holmes, came with first days of rallies and protests.

Access and use restrictions

Preferred citation:

O. C. Aderhold collection, ms2127, Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, The University of Georgia Libraries.