University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. General Alumni Association

The General Alumni Association of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill was founded in 1843 as the Alumni Association. It met each year during commencement until 1860, when it disbanded. The association reconvened in 1872 and resumed its annual meetings in 1878. The Alumni Association was reorganized in 1911 and again in 1922, when the name became General Alumni Association. The association's central office, headed by its director (formerly secretary), has always been located on the university campus and has been responsible for organizing reunions and other alumni activities, maintaining alumni records, raising funds for the university through appeals to alumni, producing periodic alumni directories, and publishing the "Alumni Review."

The General Alumni Association of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill was founded on 31 May 1843 as the Alumni Association. The founding members were a group of 31 alumni convened by Governor John Motley Morehead (Class of 1817) at the Commencement of 1843. The association continued to meet annually during commencement until 1860, when it disbanded. It reconvened in 1872 and has met annually since 1878. Until the turn of the century, alumni usually met at an evening banquet; but in the early 1900s, the Alumni Luncheon became the traditional annual meeting of the association.

In 1909 President Venable, recognizing the need for a more organized body, appointed a committee to find ways and means to improve the Alumni Association. The committee reported its findings at the commencement meeting of the association in 1910, and its report was adopted by the membership in 1911. The report recommended an appointive Alumni Council and a secretary to act as an administrative officer. The association was reorganized again in 1922, and its name became General Alumni Association. The association's central office has always been located on the campus and headed by the secretary (later director).

A major activity of the Central Office of the Alumni Association, in addition to organizing reunions and sponsoring other alumni social events, has been to maintain alumni records. The first published alumni directory of the university was the Alumni Catalogue, which was issued largely through the efforts of Cornelia Phillips Spencer in 1889. In 1924, under the editorship of Daniel L. Grant, the Alumni History of the University of North Carolina, 1795-1924 was published by the General Alumni Association. This was followed in 1953 by the Alumni Directory, compiled and edited by the Alumni Office of the General Alumni Association, with support from the Cornelia Phillips Spencer Fund. In 1975, an updated directory was issued by the Alumni Office with financial support from Cornelia Spencer Love, granddaughter of Cornelia Phillips Spencer. Updated editions were again issued in 1984, 1990, 1997, and 2002.

Another activity of the Alumni Association has been to provide financial support to the university. One of the stated reasons for the reorganizations of 1911 and 1922 was to provide a channel through which the university could appeal to alumni for funds. The Alumni Loyalty Fund was established in 1916 under President Edward Kidder Graham, but it lapsed during World War I and was not revived until the early 1920s. It lapsed again during the depression and was not reestablished until 1952, when it was organized as Alumni Annual Giving. The Alumni Annual Giving Office was renamed Carolina Annual Giving in 1978. It was not administratively part of the General Alumni Association and had a separate director and board of directors who worked cooperatively with the officers of the association.

A third activity of the Alumni Association has been the publication of news of interest to alumni. The first such publication was the Alumni Quarterly, which appeared in 1894 and was discontinued after its second issue in January 1895. In 1912, as a result of the 1911 reorganization, the Alumni Review began publication and has been published continuously since then.

Other activities of the association's central office have included marshaling alumni support for the university in its biennial effort to secure state funds from the General Assembly of North Carolina. During the 1930s the Director of the Alumni Office was also in charge of the Student Survey Office, which was organized to inform high school students about the university and to encourage them to enroll. That responsibility was later transferred to the Admissions Office.