University Archivist Bill King was researching past University presidents when he came across one overlooked by time. Marquis Lafayette Wood had led the University for a year and a half in the late 1800s, had started the school's first endowment while it struggled with debt and had been all but forgotten in history until King "discovered" him in the 1970s. The find was all in a day's work for King, who has served as Duke's only archivist since the post's 1972 inception.
"Each day you don't know what you're going to do," said King, who fields questions from a range of people. "Whether it's the president's speech writer or someone from sports information or a student doing a research paper... the variety is endless."
But King's time at the archives will end when the Trinity '61 history major, who later earned his Ph.D. in history from Duke, retires next June.
In the 40 years since he was a student, King has noticed many changes to the University. "It's just an entirely different undergraduate experience," King said. The school, he observed, has grown from a distinctly regional institution to one that attracts students from around the globe. "Probably eight of the top 10 states sending students are the same [today], but now the [overall] representatives come from everywhere."
As archivist, King oversees the accumulation of documents and artifacts dating from even before the University's existence. The collection is massive; currently, the office stores roughly 7,500 linear feet of records.
"Year in, year out, the biggest task is collecting records," King said. "We were taking in 230 to 250 linear feet of records [per year]. The Chapel is only 210 feet tall." King then uses those records for practical purposes--he receives roughly 165 requests for information each month. Just last spring, his office compiled a chronology of racial issues at Duke for President Nan Keohane's recent report on race. Keohane regularly relies on King's office for anecdotes and information, she said. "[He] has always been wonderful about helping in these and other ways," she wrote in an e-mail.
One of King's contributions has been to debunk myths that have circulated campus over the years, including the unsubstantiated one that Aycock Dormitory is haunted and another that Southgate Dormitory was a mental hospital. "It was just the most modern women's dorm when it was built," King said, laughing.
King's office is an archive in and of itself. Graduation robes hang in a corner, and on the wall hangs a drawing of an elaborate Gothic campus--a grander version of the West Campus that was eventually built. "Duke has always had dreams bigger than its pocketbook," said King, pointing to the sketch.
Other artifacts are displayed along his bookshelf, including several Bibles, one of which his father received along with his Trinity College degree on graduation day in 1924. King said that the distribution--documented back to 1853--is the oldest tradition at the school.
King's office has done much for the organization of historical institutional documents. Before they were unified under King's office, many University records were spread out in different buildings and among various department's offices. "It was a matter of helping clean out spaces and publicizing [the archives as a place to put them]," said King of centralizing the documents. "We've concentrated on records of the president, chancellor and provost and deans of schools, but we have things down to records of student organizations."
King is most proud of successfully pushing to get Benjamin Duke's statue on East Campus in 1999. "Now we have something for the father and the son," he said.
His family has further connected King--a Salisbury, N.C. native--to the campus. Five family members hold degrees from the institution, including his mother, who was part of Duke's first graduating class in 1925.
After he retires, King plans to pursue other interests. He suggested that he might examine the carvings on the walls of West Campus, write about the Woman's College or study the history of basketball.
Regardless of his future plans, King's impact on campus has already been felt. "He's the caretaker of Duke's history," said Gerry Eidenier, manager of the Gothic Bookshop. Several years ago, Eidenier suggested that King compile his many articles into a book; the result was the book If Gargoyles Could Talk.
For now, King will build on the collection he began. "You have student turnover... [and] continual changes in the faculty," King said. "The archives are constant."
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