Browse Exhibits (4 total)
Correspondence of Walter A. Groves
Walter A. Groves was a prolific letter writer, sending letters to his fellow presidents of colleges in Kentucky and beyond, and former Centre alumni. Many of his letters are inquires into the racial policies of other schools as he worked to determine the best path for Centre's desegregation.
This exhibit includes pages on correspondence with presidents of prestigious Northeastern colleges, with presidents of Kentucky colleges, and with alumni. Together they form a picture of a man who was working with a loaded issue in a small town in Kentucky. The responses Groves received and the letters he sent in return are included where available.
Requests for Application
During Groves' presidency, application requests also arrived from local students, in addition to the requests from the Nigerian students. Two of those requests are included here, one from Mr. Robert E. Harding, Jr., of Frankfort, KY, and another from Miss Martha D. Simpson of Danville, KY.
Their original letters are included with the responses from Walter A. Groves and Dean Jameson M. Jones.
Newspaper Articles
In the fall of 1948 Mr. Earl C. Davis, Centre College's Dean of Admissions, reached out Attorney General A. E. Funk about admitting Nigerian students to Centre College under the Day Law. Unbeknownst to Davis, by writing the Attorney General about this issue, he made it public and therefore open to general knowledge. Local newspapers in Danville and Louisville quickly found out about the issue and published articles, editorials, and letters to the editor. These articles caught the notice of a number of alumni, two of whom wrote Pres. Groves. Their letters can be found in this exhibit.
Surveys to Centre Faculty
In January of 1949 Walter Groves sent out a survey to Centre College faculty, annonymously soliciting their opinions on the integration of the college. Groves asked for basic identifying information such as gender, home state, marital status, and number of children, if any. The rest of the questions focused on faculty's experiences with Jews, Mexicans, and Negros, both as students and as fellow professionals.
Some of the surveys are completed in pencil, which makes individual Optical Character Recognition to produce a text difficult. The opinion of the faculty member is listed in the subject field.