Descriptive Summary

Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

An appointment for research is required. No restrictions to access. No Interlibrary Loan.

Copyright Notice

Standard federal copyright laws apply.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], Collection 366. David Reid Hodgin Papers, W. L. Eury Appalachian Collection, Appalachian State University, Boone, North Carolina, NC, USA.

Acquisitions Information

James Eidson, a graduate assistant of the University Archives, processed and created a finding aid for this collection in 1985. This collection was subsequently transferred to the W.L. Eury Appalachian Collection and reprocessed. An accession number was not assigned. It was opened to the public in April 2008.

Processing Information

Processed by Kathryn Staley, Freddie Blue, Rachel Critzer, 2007

Encoded by Kathryn Staley, 2007; Rachel Critzer, March 2008; Ashleigh Rayman, March 2008

Biographical Note

David Reid Hodgin was born in Spout Springs, North Carolina and was raised in Southern Pines and Greensboro, North Carolina. He was educated at Westtown School in Pennsylvania and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and had special interest in theater and plays. He did advanced work at Johns Hopkins University, Columbia College, and the University of South Carolina.

Hodgin was raised in a Quaker community and received his early education at Westtown School, a Friends boarding school; however, he was never an active Quaker. He adopted atheism at an early age and maintained it throughout his life.

Hodgin married twice. His first marriage to Elva Anne Timberlake ended in permanent separation in 1941. Timberlake was an active and successful interior designer. They had two children, Andora and David. His second marriage to Allie Austin in 1947 lasted until her death in 1984. Austin worked for many years as a reference librarian at Appalachian State Teachers College. They did not have any children.

Hodgin first came to Boone, North Carolina, in the early 1930s, and he bought a large tract of land from the Eggers family. He built a cabin on the property. He taught at various colleges until his divorce when he left Buffalo, New York. He worked briefly at a defense plant in Columbia, South Carolina in 1941 before returning to live permanently in Boone, North Carolina. He lived very primitively and privately on his farm on Rich Mountain. During this time, he worked on his plays, Young Dan'l Boone and Yon Tater Hill and one uncompleted novel, Home to My Mountains. The conception of "The Ballad of Tall Tom Wolfe," a tribute to his former classmate, also took place at this time.

Hodgin served as a full-time faculty member of the English department at Appalachian from 1946 until 1965. His interests were diverse (theater, religion, psychology, politics, race and sex differentiation, and English literature). He taught many courses in literature, speech, advanced composition, and oral interpretation. He wrote several plays and produced them as part of the Appalachian Playcrafters group. He also had a number of key roles in productions of the Playcrafters during his long career at Appalachian State Teachers College. He received an award in a North Carolina poetry competition for "The Lower Animal," a social statement on the evolutionary process.

In the early 1950s, Hodgin's rational and objective philosophy embroiled him in controversy with the Boone clerical community while he was on the ASTC faculty over his stance on religion, evolution and other philosophical issues. Hodgin retired professor emeritus of English in 1965. Despite his progressive humanist opinions, he held fairly traditional views on gender and sexuality.

Hodgin had a following of loyal students who later became successful academics: Dr. Stanley South, an archeologist on the faculty of the University of South Carolina; H.G. Jones, the curator of the North Carolina State Archives; Dr. John Idol, a Thomas Wolfe specialist on the Clemson University faculty; and Walter Boone of Valdese were students of Hodgin. A leader of literature and advanced writing, Hodgin exerted influence on hundreds of North Carolina elementary teachers and high school English teachers.

Hodgin remained active in retirement as a sought-after speaker for book clubs, reading societies and organizations interested in social problems and intellectual inquiry. He also regularly wrote letters to the editor of the Charlotte Observer, Winston-Salem Journal, and Watauga Democrat. He became a member of the Boone Unitarian Universialist Fellowship and held a membership to the American Humanist Association. Hodgin died in 1984.

Written by James Eidson (1985), edited by Kathy Staley (2007)

Chronology List

Collection Overview

The David Reid Hodgin Papers consists of various materials documenting the teaching career and interests of this distinguished ASTC English professor. From 1926-1965, Hodgin taught courses in English literature, advanced writing, and oral interpretation. He was also interested in social problems and intellectual inquiry.

The materials in this collection consist of manuscripts, published plays, diaries, journals, correspondence, student papers, student evaluations, extensive lecture notes, clipped newspaper and magazine articles, cassette tapes, reel-to-reel tapes, and phonograph records. The materials are arranged into sixteen series and then by subject.

Much of the material reflects Hodgin's interest in religion and Humanism. An avowed Atheist, he supported atheism through his teachings and writings. An example can be illustrated by his controversy with the Boone religious community and Appalachian State Teachers College on the liberal philosophies he espoused in his courses in 1952. However, Hodgin's students favorably supported his teachings as evidenced by numerous positive student evaluations. A master teacher, Hodgin generated an extensive amount of lecture notes.

In retirement, Hodgin continued his intellectual inquiry into a variety of subjects. He was a member of the Boone Unitarian Universialist Fellowship. He amassed a large collection of newspaper and magazine articles that reflect his interest in religion, politics/government, student unrest, counter-culture, women's liberation, business, and free enterprise. Some of these materials are unorganized. Hodgin kept a detailed diary on his activities and thought from 1982 until his death in 1984.

Hodgin compiled a large collection of taped media on cassette tapes and 5" and 7" reel-to-reel tapes. The tapes were labeled by Hodgin, and some tapes suffered physcial damage before reaching this repository. The topics of these taped materials include: social justice, philosophy, intellectual history, classical music, religion, Watergate, comedy and drama, biographies of noted personalities, class lectures, women's liberation, classical literature, mountain culture, scientific inquiry, politics, popular culture, and government.

The phonograph record inventory was compiled and annotated by Dr. Stanley South, a former Hodgin student. The records vary in size from 10" to 12", and some have been damaged by wear and improper storage. Many of Hodgin's original works are recorded on disk. These include: "Yes, Pioneers," "Tale of a Robin," "The People, Yes," "The Lower Animal," "The Ballad of Tall Tom Wolfe," "Home to My Mountain," "Lore," and Hodgin's speech and oral interpretation course materials.

Many articles are from Playboy, The Plain Truth, a monthly religious magazine, The Churchman: An Independent Journal of Humanistic, Religious, and Social Thought and The Reader's Digest. Included are many of Sydney Harris' columns. Playboy does not date its pages. Some cartoons and reverse pages from Playboy contain adult-themed images.

Written by James Eidson (1985), edited by Kathy Staley (2007)

Collection Arrangement

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