Alonzo L. Hook Collection
Scope and Contents
The Alonzo L. Hook collection documents multiple transitions, events, and aspects of life on the campus of Elon College from the early 1930’s until the early 1980’s. The collection is arranged alphabetically by type of material into twelve series, then chronologically within each series, where applicable. The series are: Artifacts; Books; Correspondence; Diagrams; Financial Documents; Lists; Literary Productions; Minutes; Photographs; Printed Material; Prints and Drawings; Recordings.
Specifically, the first two series offer a combination of Artifacts (1:1) and Books (2:1) that do not provide a wealth of contextual or informational value, in comparison to the contents of the remaining series’. Moreover, the Correspondence (3:1) series offers a plethora of information that relates to the following areas of interest: the all men’s fraternity Sigma Phi Beta, Elon College athletics, Virginia-North Carolina Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, North Carolina Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, Elon College centennial celebration, physics and aeronautics departments of Elon College, Elon College sports hall of fame, National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), Elon College athletic committee, and much more.
The Diagrams and Financial Documents series contain materials that do not necessarily relate to one another, but also do not directly relate to many of the other materials in this collection. However, the Lists and Minutes series incorporate materials that primarily pertain to the Elon College sports hall of fame, the centennial committee and celebration, and alumni. Furthermore, the Literary Productions series contains documents that include a wealth of biographical information about Dr. A.L. Hook. Most of the information found in this series is repeated in the Biography of A.L. Hook section of this finding aid.
The largest series of this collection includes the Photographs and Printed Material. The majority of the Photographs are of Dr. Hook individually or as part of a group. There are quite a few unidentified photographs in this series. The Printed Material series contains a variety of formats and contextual information. Most of the materials relate to the aeronautics and physics departments of Elon College, the sports hall of fame, and athletics at Elon College.
The last two series in this collection represent a few of the smaller ones in the collection. The Prints and Drawings series has only one item that relates directly to Elon College, which is a drawing of the field house on campus during 1976 (11:1). The other items in this series do not relate to Elon College. Furthermore, the Recordings series contains four small audio cassette tapes, in which the content and dates are unknown (12:1).
Primarily, most of the materials in this entire collection pertain to the aeronautics and physics departments at Elon College, intercollegiate athletics, the centennial celebration, and much more. Many of the documents help trace various events, decisions, transitions, and issues that Elon College faced over the course of about 40-50 years.
Dates
- 1891 - 2006
Creator
- Hook, Alonzo Lohr (Person)
Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open for research.
Copyright Notice
The nature of the Archives and Special Collections of Belk Library means that copyright or other information about restrictions may be difficult or even impossible to determine despite reasonable efforts. The Archives and Special Collections of Belk Library claims only physical ownership of most materials. The materials from our collections are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study, pursuant to the U.S. Copyright Law. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Any materials used for academic research of otherwise should be fully credited with the source.
Biographical / Historical
Alonzo Lohr Hook was born July 19, 1891 in Hanging Rock, Hampshire County, West Virginia. As he was entering high school, his family relocated to Winchester, Virginia, where he attended Curry and Handley High School. His parents were Robert C. and Sarah Hook, and he had four brothers and three sisters.
Dr. Hook married Jessie Irene Dawson on August 19, 1914. Jessie was born January 20, 1893, and attended Elon College from 1910-1913. The couple had four daughters: Mrs. Herbert Burton (Sara Virginia Hook); Mrs. M. Cade Covington (Irene Hook); Mrs. Daniel B. Harrell (Jeanne Hook); Mrs. Eugene S. Neal (Patricia Hook). All four daughters graduated from Elon College, and Mary Jeanne Harrell (Jeanne Hook) was the first woman at Elon to be elected President of the Student Body.
Hook entered Elon College in 1909, was residing in East Dorm as of 1911, and graduated from Elon College in 1912 with a A.B. degree in mathematics and science in 1913 from Elon. He went on to receive a M.S. degree in mathematics in 1914 from Elon, and later a M.A. degree in applied physics in 1926 from Cornell University. Hook completed graduate work at Johns Hopkins University (1919, 8 semester hours); University of Chicago (1929, 6 semester hours); Duke University (1932-33, 15 semester hours). During his time at Elon, Hook was Business Manager of the Phi Psi Cli yearbook in 1913 (first year of publication), served as President of the Self-Government Board (what is now Student Government Association), and acted as official campus photographer, especially during the 1920s and 1930s.
Hook joined the faculty of Elon in 1914, where he taught math and science from 1914-1922. He founded the Physics Department, served as Chair of the department from 1922-1957, and taught classes in that subject. Dr. Hook was qualified to teach general physics; mechanics; atomic and nuclear physics; electricity and magnetism; electronics; optics; and thermodynamics.
Hook served in the following roles while at Elon College: Secretary of the Faculty (1921); Dean of the College (1922-1935); Assistant to Acting President Barney for six months until President Leon Edgar Smith was President of the College (1931); Registrar of the College (1935-1957); Dean of Faculty (1964); Faculty Athletic Committee (1975); Chairman of the Pre-Centennial Committee (1975); served on the Faculty Athletic Committee (1975); and was Elon College’s first athletic director.
Hook Took pilot lessons under Dover Fogleman at Huffman Field in Burlington, NC before training civilians and students to fly for WWII at Elon College. During World War II, he served as instructor and coordinator of the Civilian Pilot Training Program for Elon College (1939-1943) and trained around 750 pilots. In 1978, Dr. Hook was the second oldest pilot in the state of North Carolina.
Dr. Hook was the resident beekeeper at Elon College, and maintained approximately 18 hives. He did the electrical work and wiring in the Alumni Memorial Gymnasium, and was in charge of the clock system on campus that signaled the changing of classes. He founded the Carolinas Conference. Dr. Hook was responsible for starting the oral history project that documented the history of Elon through important individuals that were related to Elon.
American Physical Society; American Association of Physics Teachers; North Carolina Academy of Science; Southeastern section of the American Physical Society; and Pi Gamma Mu.
Dr. Hook passed away from pneumonia following a broken hip, and passed away May 22, 1983 at the age of 91 on Commencement Day. He laid in state in the Alamance Rotunda from 5-9pm on May 23, 1983 and from 9am-12noon on May 24, 1983.
Dr. Hook received the following awards and recognitions:
Joined the Burlington Rotary Club (1928); President of the Burlington Rotary Club (1953-54); Paul Harris Fellow Burlington, NC Rotary Club (December 1978); member of the International Rotary Exchange Student Program for Burlington/Alamance District.
Commissioner of the Athletic Association of the North State Conference in 1951
Received an Honorary Degree of Science from Elon in 1960
Received an Alumnus of the Year Award from Elon College in May of 1963
First person inducted into the Elon College Sports Hall of Fame (October 21, 1972)
Nominated for the NAIA Hall of Fame(January 1975); NAIA Hall of Fame Meritorious Service Award (January 1980); inducted into the NAIA Hall of Fame (March 13, 1980 at the Continental Hotel in Kansas City, MO)
Extent
2 Linear Feet (3 archival boxes)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
The Alonzo L. Hook collection documents multiple transitions, events, and aspects of life on the campus of Elon College from the early 1930's until the early 1980's. The collection is arranged alphabetically by type of material into twelve series, then chronologically within each series, where applicable. The series are: Artifacts; Books; Correspondence; Diagrams; Financial Documents; Lists; Literary Productions; Minutes; Photographs; Printed Material; Prints and Drawings; Recordings. Primarily, most of the materials in this collection pertain to the aeronautics and physics departments at Elon College, intercollegiate athletics, the centennial celebration, and much more. Many of the documents help trace various events, decisions, transitions, and issues that Elon College faced over the course of about 40-50 years.
Arrangement
The collection is arranged alphabetically by type of material into twelve series, then chronologically within each series, where applicable. The series are: Artifacts; Books; Correspondence; Diagrams; Financial Documents; Lists; Literary Productions; Minutes; Photographs; Printed Material; Prints and Drawings; Recordings.
Physical Location
The collection is located in Belk Library Archives Satellite Shelving at Elon University. Please contact the Archivist and Special Collections Librarian for further details about the location.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Unknown. Files generated while Hook was employed at Elon College.
Accession Number
#2006.13.1
Processing Information
Processed by Katie Nash, May-July, 2006
- Aeronautics in education -- North Carolina. Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Elon College -- Centennial.
- Elon College--Athletics--History.
- World War, 1939-1945. Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- black-and-white photographs Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- correspondence Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Author
- Encoded by Katie Nash, July, 2008
- Language of description
- Undetermined
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
Repository Details
Part of the Belk Library Archives & Special Collections Repository
