Campbell, John C. (John Charles), 1867-1919

John C. Campbell (1867-1919) was born in La Porte, Ind., on 14 September 1867 to Gavin and Anna Barbara (Kipp) Campbell, and grew up in Steven's Point, Wisc. He graduated from Williams College in 1892 and received a Bachelor of Divinity degree from Andover Theological Seminary in 1895. That same year, he married Grace H. Buckingham of Stevens Point, Wisc., who died in 1905. He married Olive Arnold Dame of West Medford, Mass., in 1907.

Campbell was a missionary teacher in Alabama, Tennessee, and Georgia. He was principal of a mountain school academy in Joppa, Ala., 1895-1898; taught in public school in Stevens Point, Wisc., 1898-1899; was principal of a mountain academy in Pleasant Hill, Tenn., 1900-1901; and was superintendent of secondary education (1901-1902), dean (1902-1903), and president (1903-1907) of Piedmont College in Demorest, Ga. Campbell received a research grant from the Russell Sage Foundation to study the mountain regions of the South in 1909 and soon became an expert on the economic and social conditions of the Appalachians. He was secretary of Southern Highland Division of the Russell Sage Foundation in Asheville, N.C.; author of the Foundation's survey of conditions in the Southern Appalachians; and organizer of the Conference of Southern Mountain Workers.

Olive Dame Campbell (1882-1954) assisted her husband; founded and directed the John C. Campbell Folk School and related cooperatives at Brasstown, N.C.; and participated in the formation of the Southern Highland Craft Guild. While working with her husband, she collected mountain ballads and, after his death in 1919, prepared the report of his survey for publication.

Through the Conference for Southern Education, the Campbells became interested in the Scandinavian folk school as an alternative to the church and independent settlement school. After her husband's death, Olive Campbell continued his work with the conference and visited Denmark and other Scandinavian countries to study folk schools, 1922-1923. Upon her return, she opened the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, N.C.

From the guide to the John C. Campbell and Olive D. Campbell Papers, 1836-2005, (bulk 1865-1950), (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.)