Thomas Wolfe- An Alumni Always on Campus

Hey guys, while I was walking to class I noticed a piece of art on my way to my afternoon class. I had some time to spare so wandered over to the winged piece of art that I never took time to pay attention to. Students were looking intensely at this piece of art, and I couldn’t let the opportunity to learn and talk to fellow UNC students slip by. So I stopped at the winged sculpture right in front of Murphy Hall to see what everyone was looking at. This sculpture I am referring to is actually a memorial in honor of the great American writer Thomas Wolfe.

After talking to some very intelligent UNC students, along with doing a little of my own independent research, I learned that the memorial was sculpted by Richard W. Kinnaird in 1966, and is made out of bronze and brick concrete. This structure is approximately 850 pounds which is a random fact, but is crazy to me considering that the winged structure does not look that heavy at all. The 850 pound Thomas Wolfe Memorial was moved to Murphy Hall fairly recently. It is fitting for the structure to be moved close to Murphy Hall because the area around the structure is the sight of one of this country’s most respected English departments. This awesome statue was moved to Murphy hall because this is where the great Thomas Wolfe studied while attending UNC. For me, this adds more significance to the sculpture because it is located exactly where Thomas Wolfe, one of America's all-time greatest writers polished his skills. It is also on my way to English and the sculpture gets me pumped up for English because this structure reassures me that I am learning from some of the best English scholars in the world.

To have alumni like Thomas Wolfe and James Polk adds great legitimacy to the University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill, and the education we are all fortunate to receive from this wonderful university. Not only is this sculpture in a prime location, but it also reflects this school's commitment to teaching and creating great citizens of the world.