Search

On October 15, 1958 the Duke Gardens Foundation was incorporated with the purpose of "developing thereon agricultural, botanical & horticultural exhibits for the purpose of scientific experiments and of public inspection, instruction, education & enjoyment." Over the period of six years, Doris Duke was personally involved in the physical design of the Indoor Display Gardens, in which various gardens were carefully designed, planned, and developed from the point of view of authenticity. The gardens were opened to the public in 1964, and included 11 unique gardens for visitors to enjoy. Doris Duke continued her involvement with her gardens throughout her life, bringing designers with her to modify them during the summer season when they were closed to tourists. The Duke Gardens Foundation was officially dissolved November 13, 2001 and the gardens closed to the public in 2008. The collection documents the lifecycle of the Duke Gardens Foundation, beginning with the inception of the Duke Gardens Foundation and the design and creation of the various indoor display gardens that comprised Duke Gardens, including the associated purchases of plants and bulbs. The materials follow the daily operations of Duke Gardens, including modifications and general upkeep of the gardens, visitor and tour information, and operations of the Foundation itself. The materials end with the general management of Duke Gardens after Doris Duke's death in 1993 and the final dissolution of the Foundation in 2001. Materials include correspondence, inventories, specifications for various architectural projects at Duke Gardens, invoices and vouchers for repairs and reconstruction to the greenhouses, surveys and reports, financial ledgers, and a multitude of both black and white and color photographs and slides of the different gardens.

Duke University Press publishes both scholarly books and journals, primarily in the humanities and social sciences. In its early years, preference was given to works published by faculty, graduate students and alumni and to works focused on southern states. The records of Duke University Press span from 1812-2019 and consist of correspondence, annual catalogs, advertisements, annual reports, Board minutes, contracts and agreements, book and journal reviews, financial records, marketing files, the records of former director Steve Cohn, and facsimiles of the Carlyle letters.

The Gardens were a gift from Mary Duke Biddle in honor of her mother, Sarah P. Duke (Mrs. Benjamin N.). Construction began in 1932 and the site was open to the public in 1934. Ellen Shipman (1869-1950) designed the plans for both the construction and the plantings for the new gardens. Collection contains materials pertaining to the origins and activities of the Sarah P. Duke Gardens including planting plans, calendars, correspondence, feasibility studies, annual reports, a card catalog of plantings, and publicity. Materials in the collection date from 1926-2012.

Collection contains audio of sermons delivered at religious and ceremonial services in the Duke University Chapel by various ministers, professors, and guests of the University. Notable speakers include Howard Wilkinson, James Cleland, Waldo Beach, Thor Hall, Charlene Kammerer, Jon Laidlaw, Will Willimon, Robert Young and others. The collection consists of 7" reel-to-reel audio tapes, audiocassette tapes, VHS tapes, and digital audio tapes of sermons, programs and Lenten meditations delivered in Duke Chapel from 1954 to ongoing.

The Falcon Lair residence was purchased by Doris Duke in April, 1953 primarily for use on her occasional visits to California and for use while she was in transit to or from her residence in Honolulu. Compared to her other estates, the residence was not large, however, being located in the hills above Benedict Canyon overlooking Beverly Hills, it served as a retreat from public life. Soon after the home was purchased, Doris Duke hired Tony Duquette to supervise the entire redecoration and remodeling of Falcon Lair. The home was renovated again in the mid-1970s. Miss Duke lived at Falcon Lair until her death in 1993, and in 1998 the property was sold by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. The collection is arranged into two series: Administrative Records and Architectural Records. It spans the years 1937 to 1999, beginning with the purchase and interior renovation of the home and ending with maintenance and general upkeep of the home after Doris Duke's death in 1993. The collection primarily documents the expenses and daily operations of renovating, running, and maintaining the Falcon Lair residence, and includes invoices and receipts for services and repairs, correspondence, memoranda, and telegrams relating to routine matters of the residence, expenses, and photo inventories of furniture, fixtures, and other household items. A majority of the architectural records detail alterations and additions to the Falcon Lair residence.

Earl Dotter is a documentarian, photojournalist, and labor activist based in Maryland. Dotter's great-grandfather, Charles G. A. Thamm, also worked as a photographer in Pennsylvania and was employed by the Landreth Seed Catalog Company. This collection contains photographs in various formats - including negatives and prints - created by Thamm and his family in the 1890s and early 1900s. It also contains digital surrogate images of Thamm's work, adjusted by Dotter.

Youth Document Durham and Durham Works were programs sponsored by Duke University and the Center for Documentary Studies that brought together young people ages 12–16 from diverse Durham communities to document their lives, local history, and contemporary social issues through photography, oral history, and narrative writing. The Youth Document Durham and Durham Works project records span the years 1995-2008 and document the process of training young people in Durham, North Carolina schools to use photography and other arts, oral histories, and writing to record the history and members of their communities and the local issues affecting the students' lives. Many of the students are African American or Hispanic and their topics often highlight social conditions and race relations in African American and Hispanic communities in Durham neighborhoods and in a few other locations, including South Carolina. Topics explored by participants, both interviewers and interviewees, include crime, food cultures, jobs and education, music, racism, technology, teen violence, work cultures, and tobacco cultivation and its social context. The bulk of the collection is made up of hundreds of oral interviews conducted by junior high and high school students with community members, documented through audiocassette recordings, photographs, writings, and some transcripts, but there are also many program publications, project curricula, and administrative records for the program from its beginnings through 2008. There is also a database created by Center for Documentary Studies staff that records the complete information for each interview, including descriptive notes on certain interviews. This data also contains restricted information. For access to this database, please consult with a reference archivist. Acquired as part of the Archive of Documentary Arts at Duke University.

Advertising copy writer and artist who managed his own agency, Jean W. Yeager, Inc. based in Dallas, Tex. Later taught at several Waldorf Method institutions; director of the Anthroposophical Society in America. Collection spans the years 1959-2012 and includes correspondence, direct marketing printed materials, print advertisements and recordings of radio and television broadcast commercials and public service messages that document Yeager's career producing advertising primarily for companies based in Texas. Examples of Yeager's original art are also included. Formats include audio- and videocassettes, audio reels and 16mm films. Companies represented include 7-Eleven, Coca-Cola, Frito-Lay, Radio Shack, Republic Health Corporation, Schenley, Southland Corporation, and Sterling Optical. The collection also touches on Yeager's involvement with the Anthroposophical Society and related enterprises, including Waldorf Method schools such as the Kimberton Waldorf School in Detroit. Acquired as part of the John W. Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising & Marketing History.

Duke Photography, formerly called Duke University Photography, was the official photographic service of Duke University. The Duke Photography Records include many of the original photographs taken by the service from the 1960s through the 2010s.

Feminist and author. The Sallie Bingham Papers provide rich documentation of the personal life, literary development, and philanthropic activities of Sallie Bingham, feminist and writer. The papers, dated 1900-2011, with the bulk of the materials dating from the 1940s to 2011, are comprised of correspondence, speeches, writings, subject files, personal papers, diaries and notebooks, legal and financial papers, audiovisual recordings, and photographic media. Included also are some records of The Kentucky Foundation for Women, a philanthropic organization founded by Bingham; The American Voice, a literary journal founded by Bingham and published under the auspices of The Kentucky Foundation for Women; and Santa Fe Stages, a regional theater founded by Bingham. Arranged into the following series: Audiovisual Materials, Correspondence, Diaries and Notebooks, Kentucky Foundation for Women, Legal and Financial, Miscellaneous, Photographs, Poetry, Santa Fe Stages, Speeches, Subject Files, Writings, and Oversize Material, with the Writings, Diaries and Notebooks, and Correspondence Series composing the bulk of the collection. Multiple additions have been added since the collection was processed; these are represented at the end of this finding aid.