We are sad to share the news that Robert Franklin (Robin) Brabham, who founded Special Collections and University Archives, died on Sunday, August 11, 2024.
Robin joined Atkins Library in 1969, and four years later he was named the library’s first special collections librarian. Over the course of an incredible career, Robin built our rare book and manuscript collections from the ground up. He also developed the University Archives and oral history programs. He retired in 2010 at the rank of professor emeritus.
Robin harnessed support from early university administrators, along with benefactors and faculty members, to build a distinctive rare book collection that supports the university’s research and teaching missions. He focused on collecting in areas such as American literature, including African American literature; religion and theology; children’s literature; and 19th century Charlotte imprints.
The manuscripts he collected comprise a unique and invaluable archival record of the Charlotte region and are frequently consulted by students and faculty, community members, and scholars worldwide. Highlights of Robin’s legacy include strong collections relating to civil rights, busing, and desegregation; early Mecklenburg County families, including records documenting slavery in the region; municipal planning and development; architecture; motorsports; and politics and government.
The oral history program also provides a priceless record of university and local history, serving as a community and campus resource. Robin developed it with the participation of faculty and community members in the 1970s and accelerated its growth in the 1990s when he hired a librarian who collaborated with faculty and cultural heritage institutions on projects to conduct and preserve interviews.
The University Archives is the repository for the campus’s records of enduring value. Robin personally took the responsibility for these historical records until the mid-1990s when he hired a University Archivist to devote full time to these efforts.
We are forever indebted to Robin for his vision, expertise, and resourcefulness. To learn more about his remarkable career, we recommend these oral history interviews conducted by our recently-retired oral history interviewer Tina Wright; as well as the Special Collections Librarian Records and the J. Murrey Atkins Library Records in the University Archives. Also see his obituary and Professor of English Mark West’s August 18 post on his Storied Charlotte blog.
-- Dawn Schmitz