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Willie T. White papers

 Collection
Identifier: MSS-1548

Scope and Contents note

This collection contains the papers of Willie T. White, daughter of a Rockford, Alabama, physician. The first series, Personal, includes a large amount of Willie White’s correspondence, most of which is incoming correspondence. Significant portions of the incoming letters are from World War I soldiers with whom Miss White corresponded or from men who were romantically interested in Miss White. Additionally, some of Miss White’s financial materials, photographs, and other personal materials are also present.

The second series, Third-party Materials, includes materials which were not created by or addressed to Willie T. White. The series contains correspondence, Masonic materials from Rockford, Alabama, financial materials, artifacts, and miscellaneous materials.

Dates

  • 1860-1970

Biographical / Historical

Willie Theresa White (nicknamed “Cubbie”) was born on May 20, 1898, to a Rockford, Coosa County, Alabama, physician, Wilson White, and his wife, Kate White. She had two siblings, a sister named Myrtie and a brother named Drew. Wilson White died in 1908, and thereafter Kate White supported Willie and her siblings by running a boarding house. Willie lived in Rockford until the late 1910s, at which time she moved to Birmingham, Alabama.

During and directly after World War I, Willie White corresponded with a number of soldiers, some of whom she had never met. During the 1910s and 1920s she also corresponded with a number of men who were romantically interested in her. The most prolific of these men, in terms of volume of correspondence with Miss White, was Leonard P. Hughen, who wrote to her frequently between 1914 and 1920. Mr. Hughen made more than one reference in his letters to the possibility of a marriage between himself and Miss White, but she was to remain unwed for the duration of her life. As of 1920, Willie was employed as a stenographer at the Young Women’s Christian Association in Birmingham. By the late 1920s, Miss White had moved to Tuscaloosa, Alabama, where she would reside for the majority of her life. During the Great Depression, Willie and her mother, Kate White, were operators of the Blue Lantern Tea Room in Tuscaloosa. After World War II, Willie worked as an occupational therapist at the Veteran’s Administration Hospital in Tuscaloosa. Late in her life, Willie was a resident of Hatley Health Care in Clanton, Alabama. Willie White passed away on July 6, 1990, at the age of 92.

Sources:

1900 United States Census

1910 United States Census

1920 United States Census

1930 United States Census

Extent

2.8 Linear Feet

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

Contains correspondence, photographs, financial records, and other materials, the majority of which are related to Willie T. White, who resided in Rockford, Birmingham, and Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Deposit, 1984; anonymous donor, 2006

Processing Information

John Orr, 2007
Title
Guide to the Willie T. White papers
Status
Completed
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
English

Repository Details

Part of the The University of Alabama Libraries Special Collections Repository

Contact:
Box 870266
Tuscaloosa AL 35487-0266
205.348.0513