Caroline Paul King Papers

Collection

Identifier: MU-PP-0067

Staff Only

The Caroline Paul King Collection Finding Aid

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Scope and Contents

The Caroline Paul King Papers contain materials related to Mrs. King’s career as a musician and music teacher (1928-1970), including programs, correspondence, news clippings, photographs, certificates, and adjudicators’ comment sheets from competitions and festivals. There is also a folder of newspaper clippings and programs relating to Mrs. King’s family, 1950-1998.

Dates

Creation: 1928-1998

Creator

King (Family)

Rights Statement

To quote in print, or otherwise reproduce in whole or in part in any publication, including on the World Wide Web, any material from this collection, the researcher must obtain permission from (1) the owner of the physical property and (2) the holder of the copyright. Persons wishing to quote from this collection should consult the reference archivist to determine copyright holders for information in this collection. Reproduction of any item must contain the complete citation to the original.

Biographical / Historical

Caroline Janet Paul (King) was a white woman born April 25, 1906, and raised in Port Royal, South Carolina. At an early age she began taking violin lessons in Beaufort, South Carolina, from Rita Crofut. After graduating from high school in Beaufort in 1923, she attended Due West Women’s College (now a division of Erskine College) and received a bachelor of music degree. In 1929, she graduated with a degree in violin from the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. She did graduate work at Julliard School of Music and Columbia University, both in New York.

Following her graduate studies, she taught music for five years at Stuart Hall in Staunton, Virginia. During this period, she roomed with Pauline Baptista (later, Coleman), a physical education teacher, and Margaret Thomas Rudd, a Spanish teacher, who became lifelong friends.

In the fall of 1934, Paul joined the faculty of Mars Hill College in Mars Hill, North Carolina. By Christmas, she was married to another new faculty member, Spencer Bidwell King, Jr. Mrs. King taught at Mars Hill for eight years, during which time her three children were born. In 1945, Spencer King received his Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina, and he moved his family to Macon, Georgia, in 1946 to join the faculty of Mercer University. Dr. King taught history at Mercer until 1973 and died in 1977.

In 1951, Mrs. King began to teach strings in the public schools in Macon in 1951 and taught until 1963. She taught in five elementary schools while also teaching privately from her home. She worked with the Macon Youth Symphony and played with the Macon Symphony Orchestra. She was devoted to encouraging young people to play and enjoy music.

As a homemaker Mrs. King was known to cook, clean, entertain, and make all of her and her daughters’ clothing. She was well known for her crafting abilities, specifically sewing.

Mrs. King continued to mentor young musicians throughout the community and within her church family at the First Baptist Church of Christ at Macon until her death on May 16, 1998.