New Exhibit in Special Collections

Congressman James “Jim” Broyhill waves to the crowd at a campaign rally, circa 1964. From AC. 100, James T. Broyhill Papers.

Now on display on Belk Library and Information Commons’ 4th floor is “James and Louise Broyhill: Public Servants for North Carolina.” Senator James “Jim” T. Broyhill and his wife, Louise, have devoted over half a century of their lives to serving North Carolina. This exhibit, based in archival material from the W.L. Eury Appalachian Collection and the University Archives, covers a variety of highlights of their active public careers. The exhibit runs through August 2017.

Initially elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1962, Mr. Broyhill represented western North Carolina in the 9th and later the 10th district (changed through redistricting) through 1986. In that year, he was appointed to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the death of John East.

Congressman Broyhill at his desk in Washington, D.C. http://omeka.library.appstate.edu/items/show/32829

After his congressional career, Mr. Broyhill served North Carolina as the chairman of the state’s Board of Economic Development, 1987–1989, Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Commerce, 1989–1991, co-chairman of the state’s Welfare to Work Business Council, 1998–2000, plus twelve years as a member of the Economic Development Committee of the North Carolina Chamber of Commerce, six of those years as its chairman.

Local to Appalachian State University, Mr. Broyhill served on the Board of Trustees of the University, 1993–2001 (1996–1997, chair) and on the Board of Directors of the Appalachian State Foundation, 1996–2003. In 2000, Mr. Broyhill was named an Honorary Alumnus of Appalachian State University, and in 2010, he received an honorary doctorate.

Through this long career and commitment to the people of North Carolina, Mr. Broyhill’s wife, Louise Robbins Broyhill, assisted in his campaigns, raised their three children, and served as a Trustee of Wake Forest University and Baptist Hospital, and as a board member of Friends of UNC-TV, among other service in North Carolina and in Washington, D.C.

Mrs. Louise Broyhill shakes hands with former California Governor Ronald Reagan at a campaign rally for Mr. Broyhill and Mr. Jim Gardner in 1978. From AC. 100, James T. Broyhill Papers.

This exhibit would not have been possible without the generous gift of Senator Broyhill’s political papers and Mrs. Broyhill’s speeches, which they gave to the W.L. Eury Appalachian Collection in 1989.