The Oral History Program's mission is to record unique life histories, documenting historical events and memories of our time by preserving and adding these voices to the historical record. The Pettus Archives have been collecting and preserving stories, personal accounts, and recollections through recorded interviews as part of the Oral History Program since 1973. The Archives holds more than 800 interviews in audio, video and text formats, on a wide variety of subjects, including life at Winthrop, Rock Hill, SC and the Catawba Region and people, mill life and workers, American Wars and conflicts, Veteran History Project, women in politics and society, African American, and many other topics.
Disclaimer: The content of oral history interviews are personal and interpretive in nature, relying on memories, experiences, perceptions, and opinions of the interviewee. They do not represent the policy, views, or official history of Winthrop University and the University makes no assertions about the veracity of statements made by individuals participating in the Oral History Program.
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Interview with Bessie Louise Garison - OH 104
Bessie Louise Garison
OH 104
In December 1980, Anne Ledford interviewed Winthrop alumna and former faculty member Bessie Louise Garison (1892–1985). Born in Ridgeway, SC, Garison moved with her family to Rock Hill in 1895, the same year Winthrop relocated there from Columbia. In the interview, she recalls her childhood in Rock Hill, witnessing the construction of the Winthrop campus, and attending Winthrop’s kindergarten and Model School (later the Winthrop Training School housed in the Withers/W.T.S. Building). Garison enrolled at Winthrop College in 1908 at age sixteen and graduated in 1912. She later returned as an Instructor of Fine Arts, serving from 1937 to 1958. She reflects on student life during her college years, her experiences in the Model School, and her observations of campus buildings, uniforms, professors, and daily routines. Garison also shares insights into how Winthrop evolved between her time as a student and her later career as a faculty member.
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Interview with Bessie Louise Garison - OH 603
Bessie Louise Garison
OH 603
On April 21, 1981, Susan Rippy interviewed Winthrop alumna and former faculty member Bessie Louise Garison (1892–1985). Born in Ridgeway, SC, Garison moved with her family to Rock Hill in 1895, the same year Winthrop relocated there from Columbia. In the interview, she recalls her childhood in Rock Hill, witnessing the construction of the Winthrop campus, and attending Winthrop’s kindergarten when it began in 1899 when she was 7 years old and the Model School (later the Winthrop Training School housed in the Withers/W.T.S. Building). Garison enrolled at Winthrop College in 1908 at age 16 years old and graduated in 1912. She later returned as an Instructor of Fine Arts, serving from 1937 to 1958. She reflects on student life during her college years, her experiences in the Model School, and her observations of campus buildings, uniforms, professors, and daily routines. Garison also shares insights into how Winthrop evolved between her time as a student and her later career as a faculty member.
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Interview with Bessie Louise Garison - OH 606
Bessie Louise Garison
OH 606
On July 27, 1982, Ann Yarborough Evans and Doris L. Davidson interviewed Winthrop alumna and former faculty member Bessie Louise Garison (1892–1985). Born in Ridgeway, SC, Garison moved with her family to Rock Hill in 1895, the same year Winthrop relocated there from Columbia. In the interview, she recalls her childhood in Rock Hill, witnessing the construction of the Winthrop campus, and attending Winthrop’s kindergarten when it began in 1899 when she was 7 years old and the Model School (later the Winthrop Training School housed in the Withers/W.T.S. Building). Garison enrolled at Winthrop College in 1908 at age 16 years old and graduated in 1912. She later returned as an Instructor of Fine Arts, serving from 1937 to 1958. She reflects on student life during her college years, her experiences in the Model School, and her observations of campus buildings, uniforms, professors, and daily routines. Garison also shares insights into how Winthrop evolved between her time as a student and her later career as a faculty member.
Subjects include the Winthrop Kindergarten located at Tillman (Main Building), Mill Kindergarten, Minnie MacFeat visit to the Montessori school in Italy, Sarah Withers, the founding of the colleges, Winthrop Training School, the laying of the cornerstones at Tillman and Withers, the Little Chapel, uniforms, holidays, clubs, the Extension Department, and the Rural Schools Program
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Interview with Bessie Louise Garison - OH 614
Bessie Louise Garison
OH 614
This interview was conducted by the Bicentennial Committee for Ebenezer Presbyterian Church in Rock Hill, SC, with Bessie Louise Garison (1892–1985). Ms. Garison’s great-great-grandfather, Arthur Garison (1735–1822), and great-grandfather, Josina Garison (1779–1845), were among the early settlers of Ebenezerville, SC, and are buried at Ebenezer Presbyterian Church.
In the interview, Ms. Garison discusses her family history and genealogy, sharing family stories and recollections about her ancestors and their descendants in the area. She also reflects on the history and growth of Rock Hill, SC, and on the development of Winthrop College (now Winthrop University).
Ms. Garison had a lifelong connection to Winthrop. She attended kindergarten and the Winthrop Training School (when it was housed in Main Building), graduated from Winthrop College in the Class of 1912, and later taught Fine Arts at Winthrop from 1937 to 1958.
This interview is a valuable resource for anyone interested in the history and growth of Ebenezerville, Rock Hill, Winthrop University, Ebenezer Presbyterian Church, Ebenezer Presbyterian Academy, and the Garison family.
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Interview with Bessie Louise Garison - OH 616
Bessie Louise Garison
OH 616
On March 14, 1985, Louise Pettus interviewed Winthrop alumna and former faculty member Bessie Louise Garison (1892–1985). Born in Ridgeway, SC, Garison moved with her family to Rock Hill in 1895, the same year Winthrop relocated there from Columbia. In the interview, she recalls her childhood in Rock Hill, witnessing the construction of the Winthrop campus, and attending Winthrop’s kindergarten when it began in 1899 when she was 7 years old and the Model School (later the Winthrop Training School housed in the Withers/W.T.S. Building). Garison enrolled at Winthrop College in 1908 at age 16 years old and graduated in 1912. She later returned as an Instructor of Fine Arts, serving from 1937 to 1958. She reflects on student life during her college years, her experiences in the Model School, and her observations of campus buildings, uniforms, professors, and daily routines. Garison also shares insights into how Winthrop evolved between her time as a student and her later career as a faculty member.
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Interview with Debbie Garrick - OH 653
Debbie Garrick
OH 653
This interview was conducted for the as part of the 20th Anniversary of the September 11th Terrorist Attacks on the United States. This effort was to produce a history of the university’s, as well as the community’s, response in the days and weeks following the attacks. A key aspect of the project was a series of audio-taped interviews conducted with various members of the Rock Hill and Winthrop communities who felt their stories needed to be shared.
This interview is of Ms. Debbie Garrick, Development Officer at Winthrop University. In her interview with Andrew Russell, Debbie Garrick discusses her memories and thoughts of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Mrs. Garrick describes her experience during the events and the response of the Winthrop and Rock Hill communities.
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Interview with Debbie Garrick - OH 602
Debra Anne Garrick
OH 602
This interview was conducted for the as part of the Winthrop History Project spearheaded by Winthrop President Emeritus Dr. Anthony DiGiorgio and Rebecca Masters to “document the 24-year path of the original Winthrop College to becoming Winthrop University.” This effort was to produce a history of the institution and Dr. DiGiorgio’s tenure as president as a supplement to Dr. Ross Webb’s history of Winthrop (The Torch is Passed) that covered Winthrop history up to Dr. DiGiorgio becoming president. A key aspect of the project was a series of audio-taped interviews conducted with various members of the extended Winthrop community who participated in or helped guide the advancement of Winthrop over these years. That way, the Winthrop story will be told in an array of participants’ own words, own voices and from their own perspectives.
This interview is with Dr. Debra Anne “Debbie” Garrick. Debbie is a Winthrop graduate (Class of 1987 and 1989) who attended Winthrop from 1983-1989 while she completed her Bachelors and Master’s degrees. She then worked as a temp in the Career Services Department for a time until she was hired fulltime in 1996 in the Career Services Department. After roughly nine years she began working in the Alumni Relations Office and served nine years as the Director of Alumni Services and later becoming Associate Vice President of University Advancement. In all she worked at Winthrop from 1996 through 2014 when she left to become the AMI Administrator for the City of Rock Hill. In this interview she discusses her student years at Winthrop, her Winthrop career in her various roles, and her experiences and impressions working with Winthrop President, Dr. Anthony DiGiorgio.
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Interview with Linnea Garrison - OH 107
Linnea Garrison
OH 107
IN PROCESSING
Subjects include education in the Northwest, the Depression years, her philosophy of art, differences in educational levels between the South and other regions of the U.S. and the difficulty of moving to small southern towns.
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Interview with Pat Gates - OH 498
Pat Gates
OH 498
IN PROCESSING
Interviews with extension members and agents throughout the country documenting the history and development of the extension movement in the U.S. The interviews describe homemaking, child bearing and family management in the small towns and rural areas where they live. They also discuss the role of extension homemakers groups in their lives.
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Interview with Maria Gelabert - OH 662
Maria Gelabert
OH 662
This interview was conducted for the as part of the 20th Anniversary of the September 11th Terrorist Attacks on the United States. This effort was to produce a history of the university’s, as well as the community’s, response in the days and weeks following the attacks. A key aspect of the project was a series of audio-taped interviews conducted with various members of the Rock Hill and Winthrop communities who felt their stories needed to be shared.
This interview is of Dr. Maria Gelabert, Professor of Chemistry at Winthrop University. In her interview with Andrew Russell, Dr. Gelabert discusses her memories and thoughts of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Dr. Gelabert describes her experience during the events and the devastation that resulted from them while living in New Jersey and working at Wagner College on Staten Island.
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Interview with George W. Hynd - OH 740
George W. Hynd, Winthrop University, and COVID-19 Pandemic
OH 740
This interview was conducted by Abby B. Hieber with Dr. George Hynd, Interim President of Winthrop University (2020-22), as part of Project 2020: A Collaborative Oral History. Dr. Hynd discusses his experiences amid the COVID-19 pandemic from an administrative and personal point of view, often shedding light on the University’s response to the public health crisis. Dr. Hynd details the technological and logistical challenges the University faced following the shift to virtual learning. He also analyzes the emotional toll of the pandemic on students and young adults facing increased stress and social isolation. Other notable topics of conversation include the introduction of health protocols (vaccines, masks, social distancing, etc.) as well as the greater institutional hurdles Winthrop and higher education faced amid the critical year 2020.
George W. Hynd, Ed.D., (b. 1947) is a distinguished university administrator, academic, and child clinical neuropsychologist who served as Interim President of Winthrop University from March 2020 to June 2022. He previously held administrative, academic, and research positions at several universities including Oakland University, College of Charleston, Purdue University, and the University of Georgia to name a few. He and his wife, Dr. Alison Hynd, who is also a child neuropsychologist, reside in Mount Pleasant, SC. In 2023, Dr. Hynd joined AGB Search, a higher education executive search firm, as an Executive Search Consultant.
Spearheaded by Dr. O. Jennifer Dixon-McKnight, an Assistant Professor of History & African American Studies at Winthrop University, Project 2020 is best summarized in her words: “The goal was to conduct interviews that explored the various ways in which Americans were experiencing and being impacted by the various watershed moments that emerged during 2020 (the global pandemic, social unrest, financial challenges, issues with healthcare, etc.).”
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Interview with Past Presidents [of Georgia Homemakers Council] - OH 448
Georgia Homemakers Council
OH 448
IN PROCESSING
Interviews with extension members and agents throughout the country documenting the history and development of the extension movement in the U.S. The interviews describe homemaking, child bearing and family management in the small towns and rural areas where they live. They also discuss the role of extension homemakers groups in their lives.
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Interview with Mary White Gettys - OH 094
Mary White Gettys
VHP 094
In her October 14, 2009 interview with Miciah Bennett, Mary White Gettys relays her experience in the WAVES as a code breaker. Gettys details the equipment she used and the secrecy in her work. Gettys speculates what the WAVES did for women and provides her opinion on the wars in the Middle East. This interview was conducted for inclusion into the Louise Pettus Archives and Special Collections Oral History Program.
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Interview with Vernon Gettys, Callie Gettys, and Fravor Miller - OH 175
Vernon Gettys, Callie M. Gettys, Fravor Miller, Fort Mill Manufacturing Company, Springs Industries, and Nancy Biggs Thomas Wofford
OH 175
This interview with Vernon Gettys, Callie Gettys, and Fravor Miller was conducted by Nancy Thomas Wofford for her 1984 Winthrop thesis titled, Fort Mill: Transition From A Farming To A Textile Community, 1880-1920. Subjects include Fort Mill Manufacturing Co., Springs Industries, Ivey’s Mill in Fort Mill, Catawba Power Company, and the Evolution of the Early Cotton Textile Mills in York County, SC
Vernon Gettys (1900- 1985) was born near Santee, SC and came to Fort Mill after the flood of 1916 washed away the land he farmed. Mr. Gettys with his parents lived for a time near Red River Road and talks about the Carhartt Mansion and the area around it. He talks about his father drowning near the Carhartt mansion and talks a lot about the 1916 flood that devastated the area and prompted him to move to Fort Mill where he farmed for A. O. Jones before going to work for the Fort Mill Manufacturing Company. He discusses cotton farming, sharecropping, education, working on a dock, black and white relations especially in regards farms and working at the mill, life working at the mill, and pay.
Callie M. Gettys (1906-1985) was Vernon’s second wife and she worked for a brief time in the Fort Mill Manufacturing Company but spent most of her time working days as a cleaning woman in Fort Mill, SC. She discusses many aspects of her job as a cleaning woman and generally what life was like living in the area. She discusses a lot of her day-to-day concerns and experiences including during the Great Depression.
Fravor Miller (1906-1986) worked in the supply room at the Fort Mill Manufacturing Company for 27 years. He discusses his experiences at the mill and growing up. He talks about his father farmed at Gold Hill. He talks about the hungry and the poor and tells a story about a white man and his wife starving to death in 1919.
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Interview with Harold Brite Gilbreth - OH 148
Harold Brite Gilbreth
OH 148
Dr. Harold Brite Gilbreth (1908-1988) worked at Winthrop College from 1935-1974 as a professor of Business, Chairman of the Department of Business and Economics, and as the Director of Graduate Studies. In this interview Dr. Gilbreth discusses Winthrop College's move to Coeducation which became reality in 1974. He also discusses the Philosophy of Business and Vocational Education.
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Interview with Alice Anderson Gill - OH 043
Alice Anderson Gill and Anderson Motor Company
OH 043
Ms. Gill discusses her education at Winthrop and recollections of her father, John Gary Anderson, owner of the Rock Hill Buggy Company and founder of the Anderson Motor Car Company. Subjects include recollections about Mr. Anderson’s childhood, his Rock Hill Plan for raising the price of cotton in South Carolina and his founding, development and closing of the Anderson Motor Car Company. Mr. Anderson also wrote his autobiography and another book about Rock Hill titled City without Cobwebs.
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Interview with Eva Gill - OH 425
Eva Gill
OH 425
IN PROCESSING
Interviews with extension members and agents throughout the country documenting the history and development of the extension movement in the U.S. The interviews describe homemaking, child bearing and family management in the small towns and rural areas where they live. They also discuss the role of extension homemakers groups in their lives.
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Interview with Rubie Gillion - OH 435
Rubie Gillion
OH 435
IN PROCESSING
Interviews with extension members and agents throughout the country documenting the history and development of the extension movement in the U.S. The interviews describe homemaking, child bearing and family management in the small towns and rural areas where they live. They also discuss the role of extension homemakers groups in their lives.
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Interview with Edith Gladden - OH 377
Edith Gladden
OH 377
IN PROCESSING
Interviews with extension members and agents throughout the country documenting the history and development of the extension movement in the U.S. The interviews describe homemaking, child bearing and family management in the small towns and rural areas where they live. They also discuss the role of extension homemakers groups in their lives.
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Interview with J. C. Glen - OH 688
J. C. Glen and Emmett Scott High School
OH 688
This interview was conducted by Dr. George Garrison with J.C. Glen for his History of Emmett Scott High School project. Emmett Scott was the segregated African Americans in Rock Hill South Carolina. It was named for Emmett Scott the former aid to Booker T. Washington and President Woodrow Wilson. Emmett Scott was opened in 1920 and closed in 1970 with integration in the school district. J.C. Glen is a Rock Hill native and alumnus of Emmett Scott. In this interview Mr. Glen discusses his experiences growing up in Rock Hill during segregation and his educational experiences. He details the impact Emmett Scott had on the black community and Rock Hill in general. Mr. Glen also discusses sports in the local area. He was very involved in baseball during his time at Emmett Scott and after. Mr. Glen details his experiences as a baseball player both locally and in semi-pro leagues. He discusses other local athletes and their accomplishments as well.
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Interview with Glenwood Homemakers - OH 479
Glenwood Homemakers
OH 479
IN PROCESSING
Interviews with extension members and agents throughout the country documenting the history and development of the extension movement in the U.S. The interviews describe homemaking, child bearing and family management in the small towns and rural areas where they live. They also discuss the role of extension homemakers groups in their lives.
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Interview with Gloria Mobley Brown - OH 780
Gloria Mobley Brown, Civil Rights Movement, and Educator
OH 780
This interview was conducted by Martin Jackson with Gloria Mobley Brown as part of Project 2020: A Collaborative Oral History. Mrs. Brown, 89, discusses her experiences as a Black student and educator, particularly during the segregated and civil rights eras. She sheds lights on the role of African American women in the Civil Rights Movement, notably her own participation in marches in her hometown of Rock Hill. Brown also reflects on issues such as racism and race relations spanning from her childhood in the segregated South to her later years amid the Black Lives Matter movement. She concludes by noting the importance of education to the African American community.
Gloria Jean Mobley Brown (1932-2023) was a native of Rock Hill and longtime educator in both Rock Hill and York School Districts. A 1950 graduate of Emmett Scott High School, Brown went on to earn degrees from S.C. State College (B.S., 1954) and Winthrop College (M.A.T., 1975). After 34 years of teaching, she retired in 1992 from Harold C. Johnson Elementary School in York, S.C. Brown was also a member of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.
Spearheaded by Dr. O. Jennifer Dixon-McKnight, an Assistant Professor of History & African American Studies at Winthrop University, Project 2020 is best summarized in her words: “The goal was to conduct interviews that explored the various ways in which Americans were experiencing and being impacted by the various watershed moments that emerged during 2020 (the global pandemic, social unrest, financial challenges, issues with healthcare, etc.).”
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Interview with Horace Goggins - OH 132
Horace Goggins
OH 132
In his April 29, 1981 interview with Viola Sherrill, Horace Goggins shares the story of how he became a dentist, his involvement in the Civil Rights Movement, and how he supports his wife’s political career. This interview was conducted for inclusion into the Louise Pettus Archives and Special Collections Oral History Program.
