L. Eudora Pettigrew papers

Educator, administrator, community leader, and international emissary L. Eudora Pettigrew’s (b. 1928) pioneering academic career rose to a crescendo during her incumbency as the first female African American president in the State University of New York system (at SUNY Old Westbury) and as chair of the International Association of University Presidents/United Nations (IAUP/UN) Commission on Disarmament Education, Conflict Resolution, and Peace.

The L. Eudora Pettigrew papers document the academic and professional career of Dr. Pettigrew, chronicling over sixty years of her life as a student, educator, administrator, and global emissary. Spanning the dates 1900 to 2012, the collection also offers insight into the lives of three generations of Pettigrew’s family, for whom education and scholarship were clearly valued.

The collection comprises eight linear feet of speeches, essays, conference proceedings, certificates, awards, diplomas, photographs, books, VHS, ephemera, and realia. A large and central part of the collection consists of Pettigrew’s academic writing and speeches on topics of agricultural systems, urban environments, race and class, higher education administration, and international disarmament and peace education. The papers also offer insight into the work and activities of the IAUP, tracing Pettigrew’s functions and responsibilities within the organization. Additionally the collection brings together a substantial amount of awards, certificates, plaques, and objects given to Pettigrew by various universities, global institutions, and community organizations over the course of her career.

The collection is organized in four series: I. Family history; II. Academic and professional; III. International Association of University Presidents; and IV. Photographs, awards, and recognition.

Series I., Family history, consists of personal records collected by three generations of L. Eudora Pettigrew’s immediate family, and is divided into subseries chronologically by family member. Series I.A., contains items of Pettigrew’s father, Warren Cicero Williams (born circa 1896), who served in the United States Army before becoming a notable Kentucky agriculturalist. Items that belonged to Williams include two diplomas (1920, 1923) awarding expertise in agricultural and farm crop studies. The subseries also contains William’s wallet and tax documents from the 1920s and 1930s. Series I.B., comprises materials related to Pettigrew’s mother, Corrye Lee Newell, who became a teacher in Kentucky in the 1950s. Items in this subseries include a 1908 diary of bible study belonging to Newell’s father, Reverend C.M. Newell, and a New Testament Bible published circa 1900. Additional items include a 1959 teaching certificate for Corrye Lee Newell from Kentucky’s Department of Education and 1960 diploma from Kentucky State College. Series I.C., contains items related to Dr. Charles Warren Williams (circa 1926-1982), brother of Eudora Pettigrew, who became a surgeon in the late-1940s. Items in this series include Charles Warren Williams’ baby book and funeral record, as well as his yearbooks from Meharry Medical College. Series I.D., comprises school yearbooks that belonged to Jonathan Robert Pettigrew, son of L. Eudora Pettigrew. The Morehouse College yearbooks span three years (1978-1980). Series I.E., contains a small number of genealogical notes written by L. Eudora Pettigrew.

Series II., Academic and professional, spans the duration of Dr. Pettigrew’s career in academia and chronicles her time as student, educator, administrator, and university president through essays, speeches, press articles, conference and commencement proceedings, ephemera, and other materials. The series largely consists of L. Eudora Pettigrew’s academic essays, speeches, and drafts, thus offering insights into the path and pattern of Dr. Pettigrew’s research. After gaining her undergraduate degree in music in 1950, Pettigrew’s interests clearly shifted, and her inquiry turned toward social psychology, linguistics, education, urban affairs, metropolitan agricultural systems, sociology, higher education administration, and race relations.

The series is arranged chronologically beginning with institutions from which Pettigrew earned undergraduate and graduate degrees, II.A., West Virginia State College (B.Mu.); and II.B., Southern Illinois University (M.A. and Ph.D.). As the series continues, it follows the ascent of her professional career: II.C., University of Bridgeport (faculty); II.D., Michigan State University (faculty and administration); II.E., University of Delaware (faculty and administration); and II.F., SUNY Old Westbury (president).

Series III., International Association of University Presidents (IAUP) spans nearly twenty years of Dr. Pettigrew’s involvement with the international organization and is divided into five subseries: III.A., Speeches, essays, and drafts; III.B., IAUP publications; III.C., United Nations and UNESCO publications; III.D., IAUP related materials, and III.E., VHS.

Series III.A., contains a large number of speeches and essays created by Pettigrew in her role as co-chair, then co-chair, of the IAUP’s Commission on Disarmament Education, Conflict Resolution, and Peace. Pettigrew delivered the speeches at IAUP conferences in various locations around the world including Taiwan, Russia, China, Egypt, Spain, and Australia, among others, mainly on the topic of disarmament education. Series III.B., IAUP publications, consists of official pamphlets, press releases, reports, and bulletins created by the organization. Series III.C., contains United Nations and UNESCO publications that feature topics relevant to Pettigrew’s work with the IAUP, namely human rights and global peace studies. Series III.D., contains books and ephemera related to the IAUP and its global mission, but not published by Pettigrew or the organization. One highlight of this subseries is a typescript of a one-man play Ralph Bunch: A Warrior for Peace written by Charles Turner which was presented at the IAUP Triennial conference in 1999. The author noted that L. Eudora Pettigrew inspired the historical play about Bunche who was an African American Nobel Peace Prize winner in 1950. Series III.E., contains VHS tapes of IAUP conference proceedings and speeches by Dr. Pettigrew.

Series IV., Photographs, awards, and objects, comprises photos, photograph albums, awards, certificates, plaques, objects, and realia spanning the time of Pettigrew’s early career in 1965 through her post-retirement career work in the late 2000s. Many of the photographs, certificates, and plaques were framed or mounted items that Dr. Pettigrew kept in her home and office as keepsakes from various universities, global institutions, and community organizations. The series also contains sixteen photograph albums containing mostly images taken overseas during various IAUP events and conferences. Lastly, the series contains an array of objects that served as ritual and formal awards to Pettigrew in her presidential role which include academic robes (hoods), a ceremonial staff, plates, trophies, medals, coins, letter openers, and paperweights. Highlights of this series include Pettigrew’s three honorary degrees from Western Connecticut University, Holy Family University, and University of Pretoria, South Africa.