James Thomas Broyhill was born August 19th, 1927 in Lenoir, N.C. to James Edgar (Ed) and Satie Hunt Broyhill. Broyhill attended the Lenoir public schools and continued his education at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill where he earned a B.S. degree in Business Administration in 1950. From 1945-1962 he was employed by the Broyhill Furniture Industries in a number of capacities including sales, production and personnel. Broyhill was active in the Lenoir Chamber of Commerce, serving as President for two terms, board member for two terms, and member of several committees. In 1957 he was the recipient of the Lenoir Jaycee Young Man of the Year Award. In 1951 James Broyhill married Louise Robbins of Durham, N.C.They have three children: Marilyn, Ed, and Philip. On January 3, 1963 James T. Broyhill was elected to the United States House of Representative from the 9th Congressional district of North Carolina. After the 1968 redistricting, Broyhill was elected from the 10th district which included Alexander, Avery, Burke, Caldwell, Catawba, Cleveland, Gaston, and Watauga counties. During his career in the House he served as the ranking member of the Energy and Commerce Committee and of the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee. Broyhill resigned as a Representative July 14, 1986 upon appointment to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the death of John East. Broyhill served as Senator from July 14, 1986 to January 1987. He was an unsuccessful candidate for election to the Senate seat in 1986. Broyhill served as the Chairman of the North Carolina Economic Development Board, 1987-1989 and as the North Carolina Secretary of Commerce, 1989-1991. In retirement, Senator Broyhill is still active in serving his community and state. He has served as a member of the Board of Visitors to the Bowman Gray/Baptist Hospital Medical Center (Winston-Salem, N.C.), the Board of Visitors of the Babcock MBA School of Management at Wake Forest University, and the Board of Directors of the North Carolina Food Bank (Winston-Salem, N.C.). He has also served as the Chairman of the North Carolina steering committee named “North Carolinians for Jobs and Progress” and served on the board of directors of three privately held companies. In November, 1993, the N.C. Republican party inducted James Broyhill into the North Carolina Republican Hall of Fame. In 2000, Senator Broyhill was named Honorary Appalachian Alumnus in recognition of his lifetime achievements and of his service to Appalachian State University. Broyhill served on Appalachian's Board of Trustees for eight years (one year as Chairman) and sits on the Appalachian State University Foundation Board of Directors. He has also been involved with An Appalachian Summer and the Alliance for Teaching Science project in the College of Arts and Sciences. Photographs from this collection are from the James Thomas Broyhill Papers, which are a part of the W.L. Eury Appalachian Collection. The James Thomas Broyhill Papers cover the twenty-three and a half years he served in the United States House of Representatives and the six months Broyhill served in the United States Senate. Also included are papers generated from his office as North Carolina Secretary of Commerce. The collection contains a total of 1132 boxes, measuring 535 linear feet. The bulk of the collection consists of constituent correspondence and legislative files. The papers are arranged in three series: Senatorial Papers, Congressional Papers, and Secretarial Papers. Arrangement of the collection generally follows the file arrangement established by Senator Broyhill's staff. Further details for each subseries are available in the finding aid, which can be found at http://www.collections.library.appstate.edu/findingaids/ac100.

Select items from the Broyhill, Senator James Thomas - Photographs Collection