Philip Harvey Davis was born on 1908 February 22 in Coshocton, Ohio. He was educated at Miami University in Ohio, receiving a bachelor's degree in 1930 and a master's in English in 1936. After pursuing doctoral studies at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina, Davis taught technical writing and business correspondence at the North Carolina State College of Agriculture and Engineering (later North Carolina State University), beginning as an instructor in 1939. He served in the United States Navy during World War II, and became an associate professor at North Carolina State in 1951. An avid bird watcher, Davis was a member of the Carolina Bird Club, and president of the Raleigh Bird Club. He retired as associate professor emeritus in 1973, and died in Raleigh, North Carolina, on 1992 June 3.
From the guide to the Philip Harvey Davis, Memoirs of a Small Town Boy, 1984, (Special Collections Research Center)
