Robert Digges Wimberly Connor (September 26, 1878 – February 25, 1950) was an American historian who served as the first state archivist of North Carolina from 1907 to 1921, and later as the first

Archivist of the United States The archivist of the United States is the head and chief administrator of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) of the United States. The archivist is responsible for the supervision and direction of the National Archives. The ...

from 1934 to 1941.

Life and career

Connor was born to Henry G. Connor and Kate Whitfield Connor on September 26, 1878, in

Wilson, North Carolina Wilson is a city in and the county seat of Wilson County, North Carolina, United States. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, 23rd-most populous city in North Carolina. Located about east of the capital city of Raleigh, North Car ...

. He graduated from the

University of North Carolina at 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 ...

in 1899. He married Sadie Hanes of

Mocksville, North Carolina Mocksville is a town in Davie County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 5,927 at the 2020 census. I-40 leads west to Statesville and Hickory, and east to Winston-Salem and Greensboro. Route 64 heads east to Lexington, and west ...

on December 23, 1902. In his role as the inaugural secretary of the North Carolina Historical Commission, Connor lobbied the

North Carolina General Assembly The North Carolina General Assembly is the Bicameralism, bicameral legislature of the Government of North Carolina, state government of North Carolina. The legislature consists of two chambers: the North Carolina Senate, Senate and the North Ca ...

for a building and funding for what became the

State Archives of North Carolina The State Archives of North Carolina, officially the North Carolina Division of Archives and Records, is a division of North Carolina state government responsible for collecting, preserving, and providing public access to historically significant a ...

. He served as the first state archivist of North Carolina from 1907 to 1921. Connor left the North Carolina Historical Commission to become the Kenan Professor of History and Government at the

. He held that position until 1934, when President

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

appointed him to head the

National Archives National archives are the archives of a country. The concept evolved in various nations at the dawn of modernity based on the impact of nationalism upon bureaucratic processes of paperwork retention. Conceptual development From the Middle Ages i ...

. Connor served as the third president 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 ...

between 1941 and 1943. He died on February 25, 1950.

References

External links

Connor in the Dictionary of North Carolina BiographyNorth Carolina Historical Marker
1878 births 1950 deaths American archivists 20th-century American historians National Archives and Records Administration University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill alumni People from Wilson, North Carolina Presidents of the Society of American Archivists Franklin D. Roosevelt administration personnel {{US-historian-stub