A
different pace
In retirement Huff looks forward to writing, research
and (some) relaxing
Archie Vernon Huff grew up just blocks away from the state Capitol and Woodrow Wilson's childhood home.
He would often see former South Carolina Governor and U.S. Secretary of State James Byrnes walking the streets. And once he got a close up view of Franklin Roosevelt.
As a child Huff delighted in hearing the stories that Civil War veterans told of their exploits in battle. His grandfather fought in the Civil War, and his father owned a cotton farm.
"It was very easy for me to become interested in history," says Huff. "My early life was saturated in it."
Huff went on to attend Wofford College, then earned a Bachelor of Divinity degree from Yale and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in history from Duke University. He has been a Fulbright Scholar and Woodrow Wilson Fellow.
A specialist on the American South and South Carolina, he has written and edited a number of books, including The History of South Carolina in the Building of a Nation, Langdon Cheves of South Carolina and Greenville: The History of the City and County in the South Carolina Piedmont, a work that took him 10 years to research and write.
An United Methodist minister and a member of the Furman faculty since 1968, Huff still delights in research, writing and hearing people tell their stories. But since becoming Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean in 1995, he's had little time to pursue those interests. This June, though, after a 35-year career at Furman during which he has also served as faculty chair and chair of the history department, Huff will retire to a familiar haunt - the library.
"I will be living at a different pace, a pace that I can control," says Huff. "I am looking forward to it."
On his less cluttered day-timer this summer, he has already penciled in plans to travel and to conduct research on the pre-Civil War South and post-World War II South Carolina.
As a child, Huff's South Carolina was a sleepy state, a land of small farms and towns and burgeoning textile mills. He has lived through the industrialization and "smokestack chasing" of the '40s and '50s, the civil rights struggles of the '60s, desegregation in the '70s, the demise of the textile industry in the '80s and the suburban growth of the '90s.
"This has been such an incredible time of change for our state," says Huff.
He has seen change at Furman, too. When Huff arrived at Furman in 1968, the culture of the campus was shifting. Students and faculty members joined one another in protesting such issues as discrimination and the war in Vietnam.
"There was a good deal of camaraderie between the student body and faculty then. There was also a lot of debate," says Huff.
When asked what has changed the most about Furman since that time, Huff pauses, then mentions the growing diversity and excellence of the faculty and student body, expanded opportunities to study abroad and, more recently, the expansion of the physical plant.
Ask him about what's remained the same about Furman and there is no pause.
"Furman has always stressed the importance of interpersonal relationships," says Huff. "Long after you've forgotten the facts, you remember your teacher's attitude and view of the world. That's what stays with you. "That's why when we hire new faculty we don't just seek the brightest. We try to find people who can relate to others, who have personality. If that changes, then we might as well close the doors."
Inside Furman is published monthly during the school year by the Furman University Department of Marketing and Public Relations. For story ideas, e-mail John Roberts, editor.
