Dr. Warren Ashby, professor of religious studies at UNCG from 1949 until his death in 1985, gathered these materials for the purpose of writing a biography of Frank Porter Graham (FPG). His book, Frank Porter Graham: a Southern Liberal, was published in 1980 after more than twenty years of research.

William C. Link was a professor of history at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro. The collection includes research materials used by him in writing a biography of William C. Friday and materials used for the Southern Oral History Program's North Carolina Politics Project (The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill).