William S. Powell

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William S. Powell is a North Carolina historian, scholar and author of several important reference works on the state of North Carolina. Powell's titles include, The North Carolina Gazetteer (1968), The Dictionary of North Carolina Biography (1979-1996), North Carolina Through Four Centuries (1989) and the Encyclopedia of North Carolina (2006).

Bill Powell is widely considered the "dean" of North Carolina historians. Born in 1919 in Johnston County and raised in Statesville, Powell attended Mitchell College for two years before transferring to the University of North Carolina. He graduated in 1940, entered the U.S. Army, and served in the military intelligence branch in the Pacific Theater during World War II. He returned to Chapel Hill after the war to earn degrees in history and library science. After one year as a librarian at Yale University, in 1948 he became a full-time research historian at the North Carolina Department of Archives and History.

In 1952, Powell became assistant librarian at the North Carolina Collection at UNC, and in 1958, he was promoted to curator. In that capacity he helped build what is now regarded as the premier research collection on state history. In 1973, he became a professor of history at the university, teaching more than 6,000 students before his retirement in 1986. Many of his students and protégés have gone on to hold significant positions at the state's libraries, archives, colleges, and universities.

Powell has volunteered his service on nearly every important historical board or association in the state, including the North Carolina Historical Commission, the North Carolina Literary and Historical Association, the America's 400th Anniversary Committee, the editorial board of the North Carolina Historical Review, and the Historical Society of North Carolina.