Alice Lindsay Tate papers

Alice Lindsay Tate was born in Charlotte, N.C. on November 29, 1916 to Robert Lindsay Tate (1874-1926) and Lois Holt Tate (1882-1968). She had two siblings, Robert Jr. (1908-1915) and Louise (1912-1978).

The Holts were a prominent textile family in North Carolina. In 1837, Tate's great-grandfather, Edwin Michael Holt, established the first cotton mill in Alamance, N.C., and, in 1853, he built the first dyeing plant in the South. Holt's business acumen enabled him to build a thriving textile empire. One of his sons, Thomas Michael Holt (Alice's great-uncle), served as lieutenant governor of North Carolina, 1889-1891, and as governor, 1891-1893. Another son, William Edwin Holt (Alice's grandfather), continued the family textile business, amassing a substantial fortune. This wealth was passed down through his children. The portion of the family wealth inherited by Alice Lindsay Tate provided the trust funds for the gifts she gave to The University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNC Charlotte).

The Tate family also had a long-time involvement with the textile industry in North Carolina. During the 1830s, Henry Humphreys built in Guilford County one of the first textile mills in the South to use power looms. Humphreys's son-in-law, Thomas Randolph Tate built, in 1848, the Mountain Island Mill, the first mill in Gaston County, on the Catawba River using the machinery from the Mount Hecla Mill. Tate's sons, F. A. and George K. Tate, assumed operation of the mill in 1872. Alice's father, the son of George K. Tate, owned the Mecklenburg Mill in Charlotte.

Alice Tate spent most of her life in New York City where she had moved in 1937 to study opera. She remained in New York until her death in 1987.

Beginning in 1968, Tate instituted several trust funds in support of UNC Charlotte. Although her earliest gifts were given outright, for the later ones she retained a life-time interest in the trust. By 1989, the worth of her gifts to the university totaled over one million dollars.

In 1968, Tate anonymously established the John Austin Tate-Lindsay Tate Culbertson scholarships for African-American students. In 1969, she established the William Edwin Holt and Robert Lindsay Tate Trust in order to provide additional scholarships. At the same time that she created the Tate-Culbertson scholarships, Tate also provided funding for the Frank Porter Graham endowed professorship in Black Studies (now African-American and African Studies).

In 1972, Tate provided money for the Judaica and Hebraica Library Fund to purchase library materials on the subject at UNC Charlotte. That same year she also established the Judaic Studies Endowment Fund in order to support the Isaac Swift Professorship in Judaic Studies.

In July, 1978 Alice Tate provided funding for symposia on the topic of Japan and its culture. In addition, she donated valuable items such as a collection of Himalayan paintings by Nicholas K. Roerich, other works of art, her grand piano, and her extensive personal library. [For additional information on her contributions to UNC Charlotte, see the University Archives, especially the Chancellor's Subject Files (RG 5-0-1) and the Library Director Subgroup--Major Donor Files (RG 14-1-3).]

In addition to supporting UNC Charlotte, Tate also provided financial and moral support to liberal social causes such as the case of the Charlotte Three, a group of civil rights activists imprisoned for allegedly burning down a riding stable in Charlotte. She had a particularly close connection with T. J. Reddy, one of the defendants. She also provided financial support to civil rights groups such as the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Tate's life-long spiritual quest led her from her origins as an Episcopalian to Eastern philosophy and religions. She began studying Buddhism in the 1950s. By the 1960s she became interested in Judaism and in the 1970s she converted to that religion.

Alice Lindsay Tate died in New York City on May 2, 1987 and was buried in Charlotte.