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Collection Number: 03881

Collection Title: Charles Edward Waddell Papers, 1914-1934.

This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held in the Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in our reading room, and not digitally available through the World Wide Web. See the Duplication Policy section for more information.


This collection was rehoused and a summary created with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities; this finding aid was created with support from NC ECHO.

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Size 1.5 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 20 items)
Abstract Charles Edward Waddell (1877-1945) was a consulting engineer for government and industry and a builder of steam and hydraulic power plants on the eastern seaboard and western North Carolina. The collection includes bound typescript reports containing project descriptions, correspondence, and other papers relating to municipal electric and water facilities chiefly in North Carolina, generating plants for industries, World War I defense and conservation surveys, and other projects in which Waddell was involved.
Creator Waddell, Charles Edward, 1877-1945.
Curatorial Unit University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.
Language English
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Restrictions to Access
No restrictions. Open for research.
Restrictions to Use
No usage restrictions.
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 Charles Edward Waddell Papers, #3881, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Acquisitions Information
Transferred from the D. H. Hill Library at North Carolina State University, Raleigh, N.C., March 1969.
Additional Descriptive Resources
A copy of the original finding aid for this collection is filed in folder 1a.
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.
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Processed by: SHC Staff

Encoded by: Noah Huffman, December 2007

Updated by: Kate Stratton and Jodi Berkowitz, July 2010

This collection was rehoused and a summary created with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

This finding aid was created with support from NC ECHO.

Diacritics and other special characters have been omitted from this finding aid to facilitate keyword searching in web browsers.

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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.

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Charles Edward Waddell (1877-1945) was a consulting engineer for government and industry and a builder of steam and hydraulic power plants on the eastern seaboard and western North Carolina. Waddell was the son of Francis Nash Waddell and Ann Ivey Miller Waddell of Hillsboro, N.C. He was educated at the Bingham School, the shops of General Electric Company, and had the degree of Doctor of Science conferred upon him by North Carolina State College in 1925. He was married to Eleanor Sheppard Belknap of Kentucky in 1904, and was the father of Charles E. Waddell Jr., and of Mrs. George M. Stephens. He lived and practiced in Asheville, N.C., from 1883.

Professionally, Waddell was designer and builder of the system for North Carolina Electric Power Company, 1903-1923; involved with United Electric Securities of Boston, Mass, 1912; consulting engineer to George W. Vanderbilt for "Biltmore"; involved with the State Board of Engineering Examiners, 1921-1926; member of Governor Morrison's Port and Ship Authority; State Ship and Water Transportation Committee, 1923-1924; commissioner of Biltmore Forest, 1923-1927; consulting engineer to the City of Asheville, N.C.; to the North Carolina State Corporation Commission, 1932-1934; and to the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), 1936-1938.

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Scope and Content

The collection includes bound typescript reports containing project descriptions, correspondence, maps, diagrams, and other papers relating to municipal electric and water facilities chiefly in North Carolina, generating plants for industries, World War I defense and conservation surveys, and other projects in which Charles Edward Waddell was involved. The clients include both private enterprises and government boards.

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Contents list

expand/collapse Expand/collapse Charles Edward Waddell Papers, 1914-1934.

Folder 1a

Original finding aid

Folder 1

Volume 1: Report, October 1914

Report to W. W. Wells, Chief Engineer of Construction, Southern Railway Co., Washington, D.C., on a study to determine the effect on the flow of the Dan River caused by the bridge at Danville, Va.

Folder 2

Volume 2: Report, March 1918

Report to the representatives of power companies in the southeastern states, who met in Atlanta, Ga., in March 1918, to be used in their report to the War Department and Council on National Defense, concerning the power available for war work needs an their plans for cooperation. Charles Edward Waddell was secretary of the group.

Folder 3

Volume 3: Report, January 1919

Report to R. C. Norfleet, State Fuel Administrator, from Waddell as state director of Conservation for the United States Fuel Administration. The report concerns conservation work undertaken in the state of North Carolina, efforts to enlighten the public to conserve fuel and to encourage use of hydro-electric power instead of steam power; includes information about power being used in individual industrial plants.

Folder 4

Volume 4: Correspondence, June 1919-March 1920

Correspondence relating to a project of Falls Manufacturing Co. of Granite Falls, N.C., namely, an arch dam on the Middle Little River in Alexander County near Hickory, N.C.

Folder 5

Volume 5: Contract and specifications, September 1919

Contract and specifications for the Falls Manufacturing Co. arch dam project on the Middle Little River in Alexander County, N.C.

Folder 6

Volume 6: Report, January 1920

Report to A. E. Watts, North State Cotton Mill Co., Taylorsville, N.C., The report is an evaluation of a power site on Lower Little River in Alexander County, N.C., for development.

Folder 7

Volume 7: Report, May 1920

Report to A. A. Shuford, Shuford Mills at Granite Falls, N.C., containing instructions and explanations for building a concrete road for motor transport system to serve the mills at Granite Falls.

Folder 8

Volume 8: Report, June 1921

Report to E. F. Watson, Secretary of Burnsville Electric, Co., Burnsville, N.C., on the power site on Cane River in Yancey County, N.C., the feasibility of completing the plant, and whether it can supply sufficient power for Carolina Felspar Mills.

Folder 9

Volume 9: Report, August 1921

Report to L. B. McBrayer on a proposed water system for the Sanatorium in Hoke County, N.C., including a report on the water supply and recommendations for a new mechanical plant.

Folder 10

Volume 10: Report, January 1923

Report to Charles Edward Waddell, consulting engineer, by W. J. Kline, contract sales engineer of American District Steam Co. of North Tonawanda, N.Y., and E. M. Jones of Waddell's company, on the feasibility of installing district steam heating in certain districts of Asheville, N.C., and proposed underground steam mains and central heating plant near the Battery Park Hotel.

Folder 11

Volume 11: Report, March 1924

Report to R. W. Rigsby, City Manager of Durham, N.C., on Flat River as a possible source of power and as a municipal water supply.

Folder 12

Volume 12: Instructions to Bidders, Specifications, Proposal, Contract, and Contract Bond, North Carolina State Highway Commission, 1926

Includes extensive manuscript revisions.

Folder 13

Volume 13: Report, June 1928

Report to R. M. Mead of Cleveland, Ohio, on the Blowing Rock (N.C.) Light and Power Company, including information about the specific property, with a view to establishing rural light and power, and information also to acquaint outsiders with facts and figures about this section of North Carolina.

Folder 14

Volume 14: Report, February 1929

Report to Buncombe County (N.C.) Commissioners from the Trustees of the South Buncombe Water and Watershed District, at the time that the system was being turned over to the County.

Folder 15

Volume 15: Report, December 1932

Report to the North Carolina Commission in connection with rate conferences, rate studies, reductions, and schedules.

Folder 16

Volume 16: Proposal, 1934

Proposal for water works extensions for the Town of Spruce Pine, Mitchell County, N.C., from information received from the town engineer and the Public Works Administration (PWA) engineer for North Carolina.

Folder 17

Volume 17: Report, October 1934

Report to North Carolina Utilities Commission related to Carolina Power and Light Company, including the history of the company, its organization, financial condition, rates, and other information.

Folder 18

Volume 18: Report, October 1934 continued

Continuation of Volume 17, report to the North Carolina Utilities Commission, mainly on the interchange contracts of Carolina Power and Light Company.

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