Winthrop University Oral History Program

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  Interview with Margaret Williamson - OH 065

  Margaret Williamson

  OH 065

  In her October 2, 2014 interview with Rebecca Nave, Margaret Williamson speaks of her time at Winthrop University during its transition into a coed institution. She talks of her involvement in various student organizations and athletics. She also talks of the changes in Winthrop, diversity wise, from when she was a student in 1974 to an employee at Winthrop today. This interview was conducted for inclusion into the Louise Pettus Archives and Special Collections Oral History Program.

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  Interview with Samuel Saye Williams, Jr. - OH 551

  Samuel Saye Williams Jr., Rock Hill Printing and Finishing Company, Bleachery, and Alexander Keith Windham

  OH 551

  In his May 16, 2017 interview with Alex Windham, Samuel Saye Williams, Jr. detailed his thoughts and memories of his time at the Rock Hill Printing and Finishing Company referred to locals as the Bleachery. Williams spoke of the time period of the 1960s through the 1970s. His discussions touched on the follow topics: Segregation; integration; race relations; plant management; day to day job responsibilities and actions; technology changes; worker attitudes; and his time as a mechanic at South Carolina Department of Transportation;

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  Interview with Thomas L. "Pookie" Williams - OH 550

  Thomas L. Williams, Rock Hill Printing and Finishing Company, Bleachery, and Alexander Keith Windham

  OH 550

  In his June 5, 2017 interview with Alex Windham, Pookie Williams detailed his thoughts and memories of his time at the Rock Hill Printing and Finishing Company referred to locals as the Bleachery. Williams spoke of the time period of the 1950s through 2017 and on the follow topics: Segregation, integration, race relations, plant management, day to day job responsibilities and actions, technology changes, the buyout of the Bleachery by Springs, worker attitudes, the decline of the Bleachery, family, and finally retirement to the year 2017.

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  Interview with Wilma - OH 506

  Wilma

  OH 506

  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 Clarence L. Wilson - OH 155

  Clarence Luther Wilson

  OH 155

  This interview was conducted with Clarence Luther Wilson (1917-1993) and his wife, Doris Griffin Wilson (1918-2006) regarding their experiences working in a local mill. They discuss family life, work attitudes, and experiences growing up in the area. Also discussed are mill villages, black-white relations, unionization, and mill prospects for the future.

  This interview was conducted by Victoria Hickcox who was a junior Sociology major at Wellesley College, Wellesley, Mass. The interviews result from her participation in an exchange program involving a study of mill villages. Dr. Jack Turner, Sociology Dept., helped coordinate the research at Winthrop. The original cassette contained three separate interviews conducted by Victoria for the project which included this one, an interview (OH 093) with Vera Taylor Johnston (1913-1988), and an interview (OH 096) with Calvin F. Stallings.

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  Interview with Elizabeth Moody Wilson - OH 371

  Elizabeth Moody Wilson, Fort Mill Manufacturing Company, Springs Industries, and Nancy Biggs Thomas Wofford

  OH 371

  This interview with Elizabeth Moody Wilson 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. The Evolution of the Early Cotton Textile Mills in York County, SC.

  Elizabeth Allison Moody Wilson (1895-1986) was born in Hall County, Georgia where she worked in the cotton fields. She began working for Springs in 1926 in the spinning room and moved to the weaving room one year later. She discusses going to work picking cotton at a young age and picking 300 pounds of cotton a day at 12 years old. At 14 she got her first mill job at 14 years old in the spinning room at the Pacolet Manufacturing Company. By 1926 she was working in the Fort Mill Manufacturing Company. She discusses many aspects of Mill life including working while having children at home and children working in the mills at age 14 with permits, costs of everyday items, union organizers, child labor laws, and how the Mill operated on a daily basis. She discusses mill village life living in Fort Mill generally and the flood of 1916.

  * The interview generally starts around the 5-minute mark. The audio has an echo of the same interview in the background.

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  Interview with James Russell Wilson Sr. and Alan Whiteside - OH 084

  James Russell Wilson Sr. and Alan Whiteside

  OH 084

  This is a collection of interviews done in a series by students as an oral history project. Some of the interviews were used for the Bicentennial edition of the Lancaster News, April 9, 1976.

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  Interview with Lucy Wilson - OH 484

  Lucy Wilson

  OH 484

  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 Melford Wilson - OH 079

  Melford Alonzo Wilson

  OH 079

  This interview was done by Debbie Mollycheck for articles for the Johnsonian (student newspaper). Debbie Mollycheck is a Winthrop College graduate with a Bachelor of Arts in 1976 and a Master of Science in 1979. The Wilson interview concerns his run for a Rock Hill City Council seat. Dr. Melford Wilson (1939-2024) was a Winthrop professor of Political Science for over fifty years, started the Winthrop Model United Nations, and served at one time as the director of the International Center and Vice President for Academic Affairs. In the interview, Dr. Wilson describes his decision to run for Rock Hill City Council and also discusses his experience during the campaign. During the discussion, he talks about the amount of registered voters in District Six and explains the makeup of District Six. Dr. Wilson would go on to win the seat on the Rock Hill City Council in 1978 and ran for reelection in 1979.

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  Interview with W. H. Winborne - OH 331

  W. H. Winborne

  OH 331

  In his July 1984 interview with Michael Cooke, W. H. Winborne described his work with the Orangeburg Area Sickle Cell Anemia Foundation, the Family Health Center, and the outreach programs related to the foundation. Winborne discussed DHEC’s involvement with sickle cell anemia prevention, the foundation’s role, and the community’s response to the program efforts. This interview was conducted for inclusion into the Louise Pettus Archives and Special Collections Oral History Program.

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  Interview with Wade Hampton Witherspoon - OH 134

  Wade Hampton Witherspoon

  OH 134

  This interview was conducted with Mr. Wade Hampton Witherspoon (1908-1996) and his wife Emma K. (possibly Kershaw) Witherspoon (1915-1995). The first half of the interview is with Emma Witherspoon and she discusses her family and childhood growing up in South Carolina. She discusses her education and attending college and then her teaching career, as well as her experiences living in South Carolina. The second part of the recording beginning at the 1:02:32 mark consists of the interview with Mr. W. H. Witherspoon. Mr. Witherspoon graduated from the Colored Normal Industrial Agricultural and Mechanical College of South Carolina (now South Carolina State University) in 1930. He is a Rock Hill native attending Emmett Scott when it opened and later became principal on Emmett Scott High School from 1959-1967. In the interview Mr. Witherspoon discusses Rock Hill history, his childhood, his family, and his education. A large portion of his interview includes his discussion on the education of African Americans in South Carolina with a focus on secondary education. He touches on the Civil Rights movement in Rock Hill, SC towards the end of the interview.

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  Interview with William D. Wolfe - VHP 022

  William D. Wolfe

  VHP 022

  In his October 20, 2003 interview with Alan Garmendia, William D. Wolfe recollects about his time in the Navy during WWII, the Korean War, and Vietnam. Wolfe shares the details of his work in the Navy on an experimental destroyer testing new sonar. The interview concludes with reminiscences of the South Pacific and pastimes of soldiers. This interview was conducted for inclusion into the Louise Pettus Archives and Special Collections Oral History Program.

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  Interview with Mim Woodring - OH 333

  Mim Woodring

  OH 333

  Miriam L. “Mim” Woodring (1928-2012) was a member of Aiken County Council for 12 years representing District 4. In this interview she discusses her experiences with the Travelers (often referred to as “Gypsies”). She discusses how they were perceived by the community and the area.

  The Travelers (often referred to as “Gypsies”) are descendants of the Irish subculture of itinerant Irish men and women who emigrated from Ireland to the northern U.S. after the famine of 1840 and then migrated to the southeastern U.S. They settled in Aiken County, South Carolina in 1963 in an area referred to as the Village of Murphy’s Travelers.

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  Interview with Zelma Wood - OH 474

  Zelma Wood

  OH 474

  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 Alice Spearman Wright - OH 025

  Alice Norwood Spearman Wright

  OH 025

  IN PROCESSING

  In this interview Mrs. Wright discusses her upbringing, her education at Columbia College and the University of Chicago, her trips to the Philippines and Russia in the 1920s and 1930s, her activities in the civil rights movement, her work with the South Carolina Council on Human Relations and her ideas on women's rights.

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  Interview with Marion Allan Wright - OH 020

  Marion Allan Wright

  OH 020

  This interview was conducted with Marion Allan Wright (1894-1983) who was a civil rights advocate and served as a member of the American Civil Liberties Union. South Carolina native, Marion Wright discusses his recollections and experiences growing up in Conway,SC, African Americans in Conway, Benjamin Ryan Tillman, influences on his life including August Kohn and Josiah Morse, his law practice in Conway, his student days at the University of South Carolina, Jesse Daniel Ames, Dorothy Tilly, the Commission on Interracial Cooperation and its successor the Southern Regional Council, Judge J. Waties Waring of Charleston, and Mrs. Wright’s experiences. This interview focuses on a discussion about Senator Ben Tillman, Senator “Cotton” Ed Smith, and Governor Cole Blease.

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  Interview with Marion Allan Wright and Alice Spearman Wright - OH 024

  Marion Allan Wright and Alice Norwood Spearman Wright

  OH 024

  This interview was conducted with Marion Allan Wright (1894-1983) who was a civil rights advocate and served as a member of the American Civil Liberties Union. Also interviewed was his wife Alice Buck Norwood Spearman Wright (1902-1989) who was a Civil Rights advocate and was an ardent supporter of racial equality and desegregation policies. She presided over the first integrated South Carolina Council on Human Relations. The interview with both Marion and Alice discusses their upbringing and influences and delve into the flowing topics: the Civil rights movement, interracial marriage, abolition of death penalty by Supreme Court, the ERA (commented on by Alice Wright also), and interest in education (Alice Wright).*

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  Interview with Catherine Wycoff - OH 491

  Catherine Wycoff

  OH 491

  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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  Dr. Mildred Anderson Hill-Lubin Lecture - Acc 186, No. 001

  York County Multiethnic Heritage Project and Mildred Anderson Hill-Lubin

  Accession 186, No. 001

  This recording features a lecture by Dr. Mildred Anderson Hill-Lubin, invited as a guest speaker by Dr. Joyce Pettigrew Berman, on the subject of African American heritage as reflected in folklore and music. Dr. Hill-Lubin explores the cultural foundations and historical influences of Black folk music and folklore, emphasizing their deep-rooted connections to African traditions. The discussion highlights the defining characteristics of contemporary Black culture in 1977 and examines the enduring significance of these African cultural elements.

  This lecture was conducted as part of the York County Multiethnic Heritage Project, an initiative led by Dr. Berman of Winthrop University’s English faculty. Funded by a $38,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, the project sought to document and analyze the contributions of diverse ethnic groups to the cultural heritage of York County, particularly within School District No. 3, the York County Nature Museum, and the City of Rock Hill Recreation Department. Running from July 1976 to June 30, 1977, the project focused on Southern Appalachian, African American, and American Indian communities, preserving their cultural narratives and traditions through research and public engagement.

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  Interview with Nellie Yost - OH 431

  Nellie Yost

  OH 431

  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 Vivian Zeiders - OH 552

  Vivian Zeiders, Rock Hill Printing and Finishing Company, Bleachery, and Alexander Keith Windham

  OH 552

  In her June 6, 2017 interview with Alex Windham, Vivian Zeiders detailed her thoughts and memories of his time at the Rock Hill Printing and Finishing Company referred to locals as the Bleachery. Zeiders spoke of the time period of the 1970s through 2017 and on the follow topics: race relations, day to day job responsibilities and actions, technology changes, worker attitudes, the decline of the Bleachery, family, her other occupations up until the year 2017. Zeiders also offered her opinions on the Bleachery compared to other textile jobs.

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  Interview with Saundra Zook - OH 430

  Saundra Zook

  OH 430

  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.