Thomas Pinckney Records

Collection

Identifier: UA 49

Staff Only
No requestable containers

Scope and Contents

As Director of Public Relations, Pinckney worked in a two-person office with office assistant Emily Sneed and includes much about campus experience from 1938-1942. The office did not cover sports publicity, which was handled by the Athletics Department. Pinckney and Sneed also oversaw the Wren Building Guides, a group of male students who interpreted and gave tours of the Wren Building. Pinckney’s records include correspondence with Deans Grace Landrum, J. Wilfred Lambert, and James W. Miller; the Colonial Williamsburg Restoration; and professors Althea Hunt and Martha Barksdale. Topics include admissions, alumni, guidebooks, honorary degrees, public inquiries, final exercises, reinternment of Thomas Roderick Dew, and World War II’s impact on William & Mary’s campus.

Press releases are compiled in Box 5, but researchers are encouraged to also look for them in individual subject folders.

Records are arranged alphabetically.

Dates

Creation: 1932-1942

Creator

College of William and Mary. University Relations. (Organization)
Pinckney, Thomas, 1903-1993 (Person)

Conditions Governing Access:

The collection is open to all researchers. Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, such as the Virginia Public Records Act (Code of Virginia. § 42.1-76-91); and the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (Code of Virginia § 2.2-3705.5). Confidential material may include, but is not limited to, educational, medical, and personnel records. If sensitive material is found in this collection, please contact a staff member immediately. The disclosure of personally identifiable information pertaining to a living individual may have legal consequences for which the College of William and Mary assumes no responsibility.

Conditions Governing Use:

Before reproducing or quoting from any materials, in whole or in part, permission must be obtained from the Special Collections Research Center, and the holder of the copyright, if not Swem Library.

Biographical / Historical

Thomas Pinckney (1903-1993) was the Director of Public Relations at William & Mary from 1938-1942. He and his wife, Charlotte Kent Pinckney (mentioned in the records), moved to Williamsburg from Richmond, Virginia. Pinckney resigned from his position in 1942 and joined the United States Navy during World War II. After the war, Pinckney continued to work in public relations for the Veterans Administration and the Defense General Supply Center.