Charles Christopher Crittenden (December 1, 1902 – October 13, 1969) served as the executive head of the North Carolina Historical Commission and the North Carolina Department of Archives and History from 1935 to 1968. Crittenden was born in

Wake Forest, North Carolina Wake Forest is a town in Wake and Franklin counties in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located almost entirely in Wake County, it lies just north of the state capital, Raleigh. At the 2020 census, the population was 47,601, up from 30,117 in ...

. He studied at Wake Forest College, earning his bachelor's and master's degrees in history in 1921 and 1922. He later continued his studies at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

, and received his Ph.D. in 1930. He then joined the history faculty at the

University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC, UNC–Chapel Hill, or simply Carolina) is a public university, public research university in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1789, the university first began enrolli ...

, where he taught from 1930 to 1935. In 1935 Crittenden was selected to replace Albert R. Newsome as executive head of the North Carolina Historical Commission, and provided leadership to the organization until his death in 1969. Crittenden was also deeply involved the developing archival profession. He was the first president of the

American Association for State and Local History The American Association for State and Local History (AASLH) is a non-profit association for state and local history, with a primary focus on history professionals, history volunteers, museums, historical societies, and other history-related organi ...

(1940 - 1942). He was also a founding member of the

Society of American Archivists The Society of American Archivists is the oldest and largest archivist Voluntary association, association in North America, serving the educational and informational needs of more than 5,000 individual archivist and institutional members. Establi ...

in 1936, and served on the organization's Council and as its president (1947 - 1949).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crittenden, Christopher 1902 births 1969 deaths Wake Forest University alumni Yale University alumni American archivists People from Wake Forest, North Carolina