Donald Ray Lennon

Donald Ray Lennon (1938-2018) was the guiding force behind the founding of Joyner Library’s Special Collections, which are comprised of the Manuscript Collection, the Rare Book Collection, and the University Archives. In his honor, the Donald R. Lennon Fund for University Archives was established to assist with the preservation of materials documenting the history of the University and to commemorate Lennon's extraordinary record of service in building that collection. Without Lennon’s dedication to the development of an extensive collection of primary source materials related to the university, opportunities for archival study of ECU history would be meager. Following his retirement, Lennon was named emeritus associate professor of Academic Library Services.

After completing a B.S. and M.A. at East Carolina, Lennon served in the U.S. Army in the early 1960s. Subsequently, he worked as an archivist at the North Carolina State Archives in Raleigh. Lennon, a native of Brunswick County, was recruited by ECU to lead in the establishment of a succession of archival collections to be housed at Joyner Library. As director of the Manuscript Collection and coordinator of Special Collections, he secured for Joyner Library an impressive array of archival materials including the Elias Carr Papers, Robert Morgan Papers, Murfreesboro Historical Association Papers, the Walter Beamon Jones Sr. Papers, the Charles Laban Abernathy Papers, and the Moseley Map. He was also one of the founding members of the ECU Friends of the Library. It was during Lennon’s tenure that Joyner Library acquired its one-millionth book, The Principal Nauigations, Voiages, Traffiques and Discoueries of the English Nation, published in 1598, by Richard Hakluyt.

During his 34-year career at ECU, Lennon also served as an associate professor of history, teaching North Carolina history as well as graduate classes on archives and history. As a scholar, Lennon’s research work focused on the Colonial and Revolutionary periods of North Carolina history. He co-authored, with Charles Bennet, A Quest For Glory (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1991), a study of General Robert Howe, one of the Southern commanders during the Revolutionary War. He also edited The Wilmington Town Book, 1743-1778 (North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, 1973), on Colonial Wilmington. For the latter he received the Society Cup awarded by the Cape Fear Historical Society. Lennon also authored God’s Oakmont Idea: A History of Oakmont Baptist Church, 1964-2004 (Forgotten Books, 2017). He was one of the contributing authors of Tar Heel Junior Historian: Migration and Settlement in North Carolina (North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, 1995). Lennon also co-edited John D. Larkins’ Politics Bar and Bench: A Memoir of John Davis Larkins, published by Owen G. Dunn, 1980.

Sources

• “Civil War Records Are Given to ECU.” The Nashville Graphic. March 28, 1974. P. 15.
• Donald Lennon Oral History Interview. UA95-01. University Archives, East Carolina University, Greenville, N.C. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/special/ead/findingaids/UA95-01.
• “ECU Gets Rodman Family Papers.” Statesville Record and Landmark. March 10, 1977. P. 12.
• “ECU's Joyner Library announces $100,000 goal reached in support of the University Archives.” ECU News Services. 2017. http://www.ecu.edu/cs-admin/news/lennon.cfm.
• “Foundation, East Carolina University form Naval and Maritime Heritage Partnership.” U.S. Navy Memorial Newsletter. Spring 1993. P. 4.
• “Governor Elias Carr Papers Are Given to ECU Library.” Rocky Mount Telegram. Aug. 1, 1971. Pp. 1B, 3B.
• “Jones Gives Files to ECU Collection.” The Nashville Graphic. July 22, 1975. P. 9.
• Lennon, Donald R. “East Carolina University’s Manuscript Colllection: Preserving a Proud Heritage.” U. S. Navy Memorial Newsletter. Spring 1993. P. 4.
• “Obituary.” The Daily Reflector. May 2, 2018.
• “Preyer Donates Papers to ECU.” The High Point Enterprise. Feb. 17, 1975. P. 8.
• “Terry Sanford Speaks at Annual ECU Banquet.” The Nashville Graphic. Oct. 27, 1989. P. 2.

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