Ernest McPherson Lander Papers
Collection
Identifier: Mss-0280
The papers include some of Lander’s correspondence, reports and other University committee records. The material related to Lander’s publications include correspondence with publishers and other researchers, drafts of the publication, and primary sources including photographs and photocopies of correspondence, diaries, wills, and land documents.
The original materials date from 1933–1988 with copies of material dating from 1581-1939. The bulk of the collection dates from 1955–1988.
The papers document Lander’s career in teaching, research and service as a professor of history at Clemson. Although there are gaps, Lander’s professional activities and research comprise the bulk of the papers. There are correspondence, memos, minutes and other materials relating to his participation in the American Association of University Professors, the South Carolina Committee for the Humanities, the South Carolina Historical Association, the South Carolina History Guidelines Committee, the South Carolina Tricentennial Commission, and the Southern Historical Association. The papers also document his service to the University as a member of the Faculty Senate, the Graduate Committee, an ad hoc committee selected to study a question of violation of academic freedom of another history professor. The papers also contain material related to Lander’s teaching duties, including serving on thesis committees for masters candidates, and some information regarding his two stints as a Fulbright lecturer in American history, one in India and another in Nigeria.
Lander’s vigorous support of academic freedom is documented from the Faculty Senate materials in the collection as well as the controversy surrounding the dismissal of another history professor. As a member of the Graduate Committee, he fought for higher academic standards, especially in the Education Department, as evidenced by the Graduate Committee papers. Lander’s interest in and support for justice for blacks is evident in his participation in the organization of a 1973 symposium examining the changes in the South since the 1954 desegregation decision.
Research material from several of Lander’s books and other writings are included and is arranged alphabetically by the title of the work. The material varies among the different titles but may include correspondence, diaries, wills, and photographs that are copies, not originals, unless noted in the container list. There is correspondence with publishers and with readers, requests for information or permission to publish, some research materials, clippings, and catalogs, book announcements, and/or reviews. The publisher correspondence for these books sheds light on many of the issues involved in the scholarly publishing process. The photographs are of a variety of images related to South Carolina history that Lander accumulated for his histories of that state. Most are copies from the collections of other repositories although there are some originals of places in South Carolina. There is one folder of miscellany from the Gary family 1861-1876 that Dean of Liberal Arts, Morris Cox, gave to Dr. Lander.
For Lander’s book The Calhoun Family and Thomas Green Clemson: The Decline of a Southern Patriarchy (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1983) there is his draft manuscript arranged by the fifteen chapters of the book, various research material including copies of letters, wills and obituaries relating to Clemson and several members of the Calhoun family and some book reviews. Research material for Lander’s book The Life and Times of Ella Lorton, a Pendleton, SC Confederate (Clemson: Clemson Printers, 1996), includes copies of letters, excerpts of diaries, wills, obituaries, and genealogies for the Lortons, Lee, Livingston and related families. Ella Lorton Lee, married Gideon Lee following the death of Lee’s first wife, Floride Clemson Lee, granddaughter of Thomas Green Clemson. There are approximately 200 copies of photographs related to South Carolina history and geography as well as approximately 30 original photographs collected for use in his book South Carolina: An Illustrated History of the Palmetto State (Northridge, CA: Windsor, 1988).
Ernest McPherson Lander, Jr. was born December 16, 1915 in Calhoun Falls, South Carolina. Educated in local school, he received an A.B. (Bachelor of Arts) degree from Wofford College in 1937, an Masters of Arts from the University of North Carolina in 1939, and a Doctorate of Philosophy, also from University of North Carolina, in 1950. He married Sarah Ray Shirley in 1947 and they have two daughters, Elizabeth and Caroline.
From 1937 to 1940, Lander was a teacher and coach at various high schools. From 1940-1941 he was a professor of social sciences and a basketball coach at Reinhardt College in Waleska, Georgia. He first became a member of the Clemson College faculty in 1941 and continued until his retirement in 1983, with interruptions for military service and sabbaticals. In December 1942, Lander was called into military service with the U.S. Army Air Forces, assigned to Fort Jackson. After a six-month return to Clemson to assist with a special need for teaching math to aviation students, he was called back into service and served in India from 1944 to 1946. He returned to Clemson in 1946 and resumed his teaching career. Lander was awarded tenure in 1958 and appointed Alumni Professor of History in 1969. He served as Visiting Professor at Western Carolina University in 1954 and 1957, at the University of South Carolina in 1958, at the University of Idaho in 1963, and at the University of North Carolina in 1974. Twice Lander was a Fulbright Lecturer in American history, at Jadavpur University in India, 1966-1967, and at the University of Lagos, Nigeria, 1970-1971. His service to the University included terms on the Faculty Senate, the Graduate Committee, and an ad hoc committee selected to examine a question of the violation of academic freedom of a professor in the History department. He served as thesis advisor and thesis committee member to many Master’s degree candidates.
Lander also participated actively in several professional organizations. He served on the Scholarly Activities Committee of the South Carolina Tricentennial Commission. He was active in the Southern Historical Association, serving on the board of managing editors for the Journal of Southern History from 1965 to 1969, the nominating committee, and as a member if the executive council from 1974 to 1977. He also participated in the South Carolina Historical Association, with a term as president in 1959-1960, and the American Association of University Professors. Other organizations in which Lander participated but are not documented in this collection are the Organization of American Historians, the South Carolina Historical Society, and Phi Beta Kappa.
In addition to his teaching duties, service in professional organizations, and service to the university community, Lander was a prolific researcher and author in the area of Southern history. Many of his publications are represented in this collection by research materials, correspondence with publishers, reviews and correspondence with readers of his works.
During his career at Clemson, Lander often found himself holding and expressing a minority view on many issues such as the construction of the Hartwell Dam, academic standards, academic freedom, and justice for blacks. Lander usually voiced these views in letters to newspapers and to public figures, and by speaking out at local club meetings. In expressing his views, he always tried to be factual, accurate and polite. In his memoir, Few Would Listen: a Clemson Professor’s Memoir of Dissent, Lander says that although he was occasionally regarded as a maverick, only once did the administration reprimand him for publicly expressing his views (concerning his opposition, on economic grounds, to the construction of the Hartwell Dam). Lander received promotions and tenure and retired as Alumni Professor of History where he was highly respected among his colleagues in the profession.
3.9 Cubic Feet (10 document boxes and 1 oversize folder)
English
Ernest M. Lander had a distinguished career in teaching, research and service as a professor of history at Clemson University. The collection contains correspondence, memos, minutes and other materials relating to Lander’s participation in various professional organizations. It also documents his service to the University community as a member of the Faculty Senate, the Graduate Committee, and other committees. The collection also contains material related to Lander’s teaching duties, and information regarding his service as a Fulbright lecturer in American history. Approximately half of the papers consist of drafts, research material and photographs related to Lander’s books, articles, a book introduction, speeches, and a book chapter. The research materials are usually copies, not originals.
The papers are arranged into an alphabetical subject file; material related to his published works is arranged alphabetically by title; restricted material is arranged alphabetically by folder title; and positive and negative photographs are arranged alphabetically by folder title.
Ernest M. Lander Jr. as accessions 83-25, 84-32, 84-36, 89-222, 91-64, 95-54, 96-148, 00-205.
Acquired from: Ernest M. Lander Jr. as accessions 83-25, 84-32, 84-36, 89-222, 91-64, 95-54, 96-148, 00-205.
Susan Wynne, a graduate student in the University of South Carolina’s School of Library and Information Sciences, prepared the register in 2003 as part of an Applied History course with further editorial work done by Michael Kohl in 2005-2006. Student assistants Salvador Jimenez and Emily Estes did further processing.
Part of the Clemson University Libraries Special Collections and Archives Repository