Restrictions to Access

This collection contains additional materials that are not available for immediate or same day access. Please contact Research and Instructional Service staff at wilsonlibrary@unc.edu to discuss options for consulting these materials.

Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the Nelson Ferebee Taylor Papers #5113, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Received from Nelson Ferebee Taylor of Chaple Hill, N.C., in February 2003 (Acc. 99416) and from Diane J. Taylor of Chapel Hill, N.C., in August and November 2005 (Acc. 100159, 100277).

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

Processed by: Brian Dietz and Nancy Kaiser, January 2006

Encoded by: Nancy Kaiser, January 2006

Updated by: Anne Wells, December 2017

The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

• Corporate lawyers--United States.
• Family--North Carolina--Social life and customs.
• Ferebee family.
• Ferebee, Nelson McPherson, 1849-1917.
• Lawyers--North Carolina--History--20th century.
• Sailors--United States--History--World War, 1939-1945.
• Taylor family.
• Taylor, Nelson Ferebee.
• Uniroyal, inc.
• United States Rubber Company.
• United States. Navy--History--World War, 1939-1945.
• United States. Navy--Sea life.
• University of North Carolina (1793-1962)--Students--History--20th century.
• University of North Carolina (1793-1962)--Students--Social life and customs.
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill--Administration.
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill--Faculty--History--20th century.
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Chancellor (1973-1980 : Taylor)
• World War, 1939-1945--Naval operations, American.

• Records of the Office of Chancellor: Nelson Ferebee Taylor Records (#40023)

Nelson Ferebee Taylor (1920-2004) of Oxford, N.C., was a corporate lawyer, university chancellor, and professor of law.

Taylor graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1942 with a degree in American history. While a student, he participated as a member or officer of Phi Beta Kappa, University Club, the student legislature, Zeta Psi, Order of the Golden Fleece, and the Order of the Grail. After graduation, Taylor enlisted in the United States Navy. During World War II, he served as a midshipman aboard destroyers in the Atlantic, Mediterranean, and Pacific, during which time he was awarded the bronze star, nine battle stars, and two commendations. After release from active duty, Taylor attended Harvard Law School, from which he graduated in 1949. Following law school Taylor studied at Oxford University on a Rhodes Scholarship.

Upon returning to the United States, Taylor joined the New York law firm of Arthur, Dry and Dole, as an associate from 1951 to 1958. He made partner at Arthur, Dry, Kalish, Taylor and Wood, where he stayed until 1970.

Taylor maintained close ties to North Carolina throughout his corporate law career. He served as president of the University of North Carolina Alumni of Metropolitan New York and as trustee of the North Carolina Society of New York. In 1968, he returned to North Carolina as a visiting professor. Two years later he accepted the position of vice president for administration, a position he held until his tenure as the university's fifth chancellor, from 1972 to 1980. His administration was marked by improvements to library facilities, endowment growth, and building on the campus. Taylor resigned as chancellor in 1980 for health reasons, but remained on the law school faculty until his retirement in 1991.

Taylor received many honors while at the University of North Carolina, including the Frederick B. McCall Award for teaching excellence in 1983; a Distinguished Service Medal in 1988 from the the UNC General Alumni Association; and honorary doctor of laws degrees from Elon College in 1973, Duke University in 1977, and UNC in 1993. In 2001, he received the William R. Davie Award from the UNC Board of Trustees.

Taylor married Louise Ellington in 1946 and with her had daughters Louise Ferebee Taylor, Sarah Taylor Peterson, and Martha Gregory Taylor. In 1986, he married his second wife Diane Jackson Taylor.

The collection consists of personal and legal papers of Nelson Ferebee Taylor (1920-2004), a corporate lawyer, professor of law, and chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1972-1980. Taylor's personal papers are comprised of correspondence; school writings, club records, and other materials from when he was a student at Oxford High School, the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, N.C., and Harvard University Law School; financial papers; newspaper clippings and other biographical materials; photographs; printed materials; and sound recordings. There are a few items relating to his service in the United States Navy during World War II and to his tenure as law professor and chancellor at the University of North Carolina. Also included are two unpublished memoirs, one by Taylor and one by his grandfather, Nelson MacPherson Ferebee. The legal materials chiefly concern Taylor's work as a corporate lawyer with Arthur, Dry and Dole (later Arthur, Dry, Kalish, Taylor and Wood) in New York, working on cases for Uniroyal, inc., United States Rubber Company, and other corporate entities. Included are correspondence, daily calendars, contracts, stock certificates, and other administrative and legal papers. The sound recordings found in the collection are presumably recordings of speeches given by Taylor.

• Audiodiscs (D-5113/1-3)
• Oversize papers (OP-5113/1)
• Photographs (P-5113/1)