Manuscript Collection

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Identifier

Accession 1801

Inclusive Dates

1917-2022

Restrictions

Open under the rules and regulations of the Louise Pettus Archives and Special Collections

Collection Size

2.5 linear feet, 2000 pieces

Language

English;

Scope and Content Note

The Mary Phillips White Gettys Family Papers document multiple generations of the Phillips, White, and Gettys families of York and Chester Counties, South Carolina, with particular emphasis on family correspondence, military service, and commemorative remembrance spanning the early twentieth century through the early twenty-first century. The collection includes original letters, transcriptions, photographs, newspaper clippings, maps, printed materials, memorabilia, and personal artifacts that illuminate both private family life and broader experiences of war and civic engagement.

A substantial portion of the collection centers on Thomas “Tom” Henry White III (1925–1945), son of Wilson Carlisle White and Julia Phillips White and brother of Mary Phillips White Gettys. White served as a rifleman in Company F, 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division of the United States Army during World War II. Materials documenting his life and service include wartime correspondence, poems, daily officers’ reports describing troop movements and casualties, maps tracing the movements of the 4th Infantry Division, military records requests, and postwar newspaper coverage of his service and death. Personal artifacts associated with White include his World War II pocket Bible, carried throughout the war, later rebound by his mother and used by his sister in her wedding, as well as medals and decorations preserved in the Awards and Honors series. White’s prewar years are also represented through school records and letters written to his sister while she attended Erskine College.

The collection also documents earlier family correspondence from World War I through extensive letters exchanged between Wilson Carlisle White and Julia Phillips from 1917 to 1919, reflecting their courtship, marriage, and wartime separation. Both original letters and later transcriptions with annotations—prepared by their granddaughter, Sara Elizabeth Gettys Pierce—are included, providing contextual interpretation and genealogical insight. In addition, letters written by Mary Jane Wideman Phillips to her granddaughter Mary Phillips White between 1937 and 1944 offer a multigenerational perspective on family relationships, daily life, and the home front during another period of global conflict.

Later materials reflect continued family engagement with military history and remembrance, including reminiscences of Wilson Carlisle White, Jr.’s World War II service, collected articles on World War II topics, and a published history of the Fourth Infantry Division. The collection also preserves photographs of family members, friends, and military subjects, along with newspaper articles documenting service, recognition, and loss.

The Awards and Honors series brings together medals, badges, trophies, presentation objects, and commemorative items recognizing military service and civic involvement associated with Thomas Henry White III and Mary Phillips Gettys, extending the narrative into the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Together, the materials in this collection provide a richly layered record of one family’s experiences across two world wars, their personal bonds, and their efforts to preserve and interpret their shared history.

Provenance

The Mary Phillips White Gettys Family Papers were donated to the Louise Pettus Archives and Special Collections on May 26, 2022 by Beth Gettys Pierce, daughter of Mary Phillips White Gettys and Tom Gettys.

Copyright

For information concerning copyright please contact the Louise Pettus Archives and Special Collections at Winthrop University.

Mary Phillips White Gettys Family Papers - Accession 1801

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