The bulk of the Lennox Polk McLendon correspondence begins in 1916 and deals primarily with McLendon's law practice and public service activities. Material, 1916-1918, concerns McLendon's military career both in the militia in Mexico in 1916 and with the American Expeditionary Force in France in World War I. There are also approximately 600 personal letters from McLendon to his wife. Most of the 1920s correspondence relates to McLendon's law practice in Durham, N.C. Similar correspondence continues to appear, although less frequently, through the 1930s. Approximately fifty items deal with McLendon's prosecution of Luke Lea, banker and former United States Senator from Tennessee, for bank fraud in 1931. Correspondence about Democratic party politics and state government in North Carolina begins in 1928 and continues through the 1930s. There is, however, no material relating to J. C. B. Ehringhaus's successful 1932 gubernatorial campaign which McLendon managed. Between 1932 and 1935 McLendon received a number of letters from various people seeking his assistance in obtaining state government jobs. In 1936 there are several letters from Clarence Poe, McLendon's brother-in-law, regarding the proposed revision of the North Carolina constitution. Items relating to North Carolina public schools also begin appearing in 1936.

Although there is scattered business and personal correspondence after 1940, material relating to McLendon's public service activities dominates the collection. Between 1941 and 1945 correspondence reflects McLendon's involvement with the Greensboro Community War Chest and other wartime projects, and his term as president of the University of North Carolina Alumni Association. In the 1950s and 1960s there is correspondence about plans for annual reunions of Battery C, 113th Field Artillery, American Expeditionary Force, which was McLendon's unit in World War I. The bulk of the post-1950 correspondence, however, deals with higher education in North Carolina, as McLendon served on the Board of Trustees of the Consolidated University of North Carolina, the State Board of Higher Education, the Medical Foundation of North Carolina, and the Governor's Commission on Education Beyond the High School. McLendon corresponded with William Carmichael, William Friday, Edward Kidder Graham, Frank Porter Graham, Gordon Gray, and others about proposed desegregation of state-supported colleges and universities in North Carolina, the medical and nursing schools at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and administrative problems at UNC and the Woman's College, Greensboro, N.C. In 1955 much of the correspondence relates to the failure of the General Assembly to reappoint McLendon to the university's board of trustees. There is one folder of material McLendon collected about life in the Soviet Union, including information about agriculture, living conditions for Russian workers, and education.

Correspondence, 1955-1962, includes some material related to McLendon's service on the North Carolina State Board of Higher Education (SBHE). Correspondence for this period also includes a few personal letters, mostly from Clarence Poe; some material relating to McLendon's business affairs; correspondence about the Medical Foundation; and a few educational items not connected with the State Board of Higher Education. The SBHE material comprises both correspondence and other papers related to the board's business, including board meeting minutes, reports, budgets, enrollment statistics, and similar information collected by McLendon while he served on the Board. Correspondence, with other SBHE members, college and university administrators, and state officials, reflects the Board's interest in a wide range of issues affecting state-supported educational institutions in North Carolina including budges, enrollments, faculty salaries, housing, admission requirements, community colleges, nursing programs, and the teacher shortage. A large portion of the 1958 correspondence deals with a controversy between the trustess of the consolidated university over the limits of the Board's jurisdiction. There are a number of items, 1961-1962, relating to McLendon's participation on the Governor's Commission on Education Beyond High School, also known as the Carlyle Commission.

The remainder of the papers, 1963-1968, includes material relating to Richardshon Preyer's unsuccessful campaign for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in 1964; items about Oak Ridge Military Institute, Oak Ridge, N.C.; and greeting cards. Most of the undated material consists of notes about politics and McLendon's law practice.

Legal papers include deeds, wills, depositions, court decisions and other material relating to the settlement of McLendon's parents' estate, his personal business affairs, and cases involving his clients. Also included are Articles of Incorporation for Greensboro Community Chest, 1925, and Greensboro Community War Chest, 1942.

Certificates, 1919-1966 and undated, include commissions, citations, awards, and membership cards. Printed material, 1912-1967 and undated, is composed of a variety of items, including programs and pamphlets. Programs are from a 1912 debate between the debating teams of the Univesity of North Carolina and Tulane University, commencement exercises, banquets, and meetings at which McLendon spoke. Pamphlets include a 1918 leaflet, "How to Stop the War," dropped by German planes over American encampments in France, reprints of articles and speeches by Paul F. Whitaker and D. Hiden Ramsey inscribed by the authors, and Wachovia Bank Annual Report, 1958. Newspaper clippings, 1916-1968 and undated, include obituaries, items about Lennox Polk McLendon, items about members of the McLendon family, and items about Clarence Poe.

Most of the material related to the Robert Gene Baker trial is printed, including transcripts of the Hearings Before the Committee on Rules and Administration, United States Senate, 88th Congress, Parts 1-27 and Report; H. R. 1035, introduced 16 April 1964, "A Bill to Establish a Commission on the Organization of the Congress;" and H. Con. Res. 288, introduced 16 April 1964, a concurrent resolution establishing a joint committee on ethics to draw up a Congressional Code of Ethics and investigate conflict-of-interest laws. There are also typed transcripts of McLendon's recorded diary entries, January-February 1964. One folder of miscellaneous material includes notes from magazine articles about the case and a copy of a student's research paper about the investigation. Finally, there are a few selected clippings, mostly editorials, about McLendon's role in the investigation.

Speeches and speech notes include addresses by Lennox Polk McLendon and others, including J. C. B. Ehringhaus, 1930; Frank Porter Graham, 1951 and 1965; Fred Cole, 1957; William H. Cartwright, 1957; Gordon W. Blackwell, 1958 and 1959; Paul A. Johnston, 1958; and Luther Hodges, 1959. Many of the speeches are political or patriotic, and after 1950 many of them concern education. There is one speech, 1951, about Charles Brantley Aycock; one, undated, about Josephus Daniels; and two about legal problems: "The Relationship Between a Lawyer and His Client," 1958; and "Constitutional Aspects of Congressional Investigations as Illustrated by the Bobby Baker Case," 1965.

Includes correspondence and notes about the Aycock, Bishop, Branch, Caraway, Cox, Liles, McLendon, Polk, Stanton, Williams, and Woodard families. The 1792 item is a deed of a tract of land in Wayne County, N.C., from Thomas Woodward to John Barden. Much of the correspondence is between Lennox Polk McLendon and various other family members about the sale and distribution of Rosalind McLendon Redfearn's book McLendons of Anson County. Redfearn, who was McLendon's sister, died before the book was finished. McLendon completed it and had it published.

Diary entries of Lennox Polk McLendon originally recorded on DictaBelts during the Congressional investigation of Robert Gene (Bobby) Baker.

Includes mostly unidentified and undated photographs of members of the McLendon, Aycock, and Woodard families and others. Most are studio portraits, with a few pictures taken at meetings and banquets.

Acquisitions Information: Accession 103734

Photographs of McLendon and Aycock family members.