Spencer Hall, constructed in 1924, was the first dormitory for women at UNC. The letter above, signed in 1923 by alumnae of UNC-Chapel Hill, formally requested the construction of a Women’s Building on campus as there were limited areas for women in student housing.
To learn more about the experience of living in Spencer Residence Hall, listen to this oral history 
with Sharon Rose Powell, who lived in Spencer during her freshman year in the 1960s. There is also a public history project with more information about the building.
See exhibit page .
Like many public figures of the Reconstruction era, Cornelia Philips Spencer (1825-1908), the namesake for both Spencer Hall and the highest award UNC could give a female student, is a controversial figure at Carolina today. In 2004, graduate student John Kenyon Chapman led a campaign to disband the Cornelia Philips Spencer Bell Award due to Spencer’s blatant sexism and racism. The email exchange above, between Chapman and Spencie Love (Spencer’s great-granddaughter) reveals these tensions between legacy and the future of gender and race relations on campus.
Learn more about Spencer through the eyes of her granddaughter in this oral history conducted in 1975.
See exhibit page .