Letters and ephemera (1926-1929) related to the life of Agnes Wadlington [Barrett], who was born in Trigg County, Kentucky in 1902, before she took a job at East Carolina Teachers College (now East Carolina University) as secretary to the president of the college. Also found with these papers are many photographs of members of the Putnam family of Murray, Kentucky. The only connection between Mrs. Barrett and the Putnam family appears to be that both she and Louise Vey Putnam Carter's husband Herbert Leland Carter both worked at East Carolina University. An 1982 engagement calendar kept by Mrs. Barrett documents her life during retirement in Greenville, North Carolina.
Agnes Wadlington was born on July 19, 1902, in Trigg County, Kentucky, to Benjamin Cotton Wadlington and Mattie Lora Cooper Wadlington. She graduated from Western Kentucky State Teachers College and Bowling Green College of Commerce. By the 1930 Census, she was boarding in Greenville, North Carolina, and the East Carolina Teachers College (later East Carolina University) 1930 annual Tecoan listed her as a secretary. She served as secretary to the school president from 1930 until her retirement in 1968 and as secretary to the Board of Trustees from 1934 until her retirement. She married Albert LeRoy Barrett of Farmville, Pitt County, North Carolina, in November 1937, and he died on May 1, 1945. Agnes Barrett died on March 19, 1987, and both are buried in Forest Hills Cemetery in Farmville.
Sources: Find A Grave, 1930 Census, 1930 Tecoan, and https://collectio.ecu.edu/chronicles/People/Agnes-Wadlington-Barrett.
Putnam Family: Leslie Ray Putnam was born May 6, 1885, in Bedford, Taylor County, Iowa, and he married Neva Vey Smith Putnam of Illinois who was born December 25, 1889. The 1930 Census has them and their children living in Fairfield, Jefferson County, Iowa, but indicates that their children had been born in Montana, Illinois, and South Dakota. Their children were Paul L. Putnam, Loren S. Putnam, and Louise V. Putnam. Both Leslie and Neva Putnam are buried in Murray City Cemetery in Calloway County, Kentucky. Their daughter Louise Vey "Put" Putnam married Herbert Leland Carter who was born in Mayfield, Kentucky. Herbert and Louise moved to Greenville, NC, in 1946 where he started working at East Carolina Teachers College (later East Carolina University), creating the band program there and becoming Chair of the Instrumental Music Department.
Sources: 1930 Census, Find A Grave, and Herbert Leland Carter obituary retrieved from: https://www.goldfinchfuneralhome.com/obituaries/Herbert-Leland-CarterJr-2403/#!/Obituary
This collection contains a small number of photographs and letters (1926-1929) related to Agnes Wadlington's life before she before she took a job at East Carolina Teachers College in 1930 (now East Carolina University) as secretary to the president of the college. Correspondence is from friends and her father B. C. Wadlington and Agnes is apparently living in Oklahoma (Bristow and Sapulpa) at the time. A 1928 letter from her father in Cadiz, Trigg County, Kentucky, discusses family activities, reminises about having attended a school in Cadiz as a boy that was in the old brick Seminary on Rock Castle Rd. along with a friend named John Tidwell (known as "The Deuchman"), mentions Agnes's male friend Carroll, and the fact that Agnes left to go work in Sapulpa two years ago. An August 7, 1929, letter to Agnes Wadlington is from a friend at R. K. Robertson Law Offices in Sapulpa, Oklahoma, who has invested in an oil well at Chandler which has started making 200 bbls an hour. There are poems by Carroll and a studio photograph of Carroll taken in 1927 or 1929. The final item related to Agnes is a program for a benefit play titled "The Union Station" held in 1926, possibly in Kentucky. Her name is pencilled in next to the name of one of the characters in the play.
Other material that came to this repository with the Wadlington material includes photographs (1929-1945,undated) of Putnam family members in Murray, Kentucky, and Fairfield, Iowa. The identified images are of Leslie Ray Putnam and his wife Neva Vey Smith Putnam of Murray, Kentucky, and their children Paul L. Putnam, Loren S. Putnam, and Louise Vey Putnam [Carter], and granddaughter Patricia V. Carter. There are pictures of Paul Putnam in 1929 (?) as a student at Fairfield High School in Fairfield, Iowa, and of him with his parents and siblings in Fairfield.
There are many unidentified shapshots and studio photographs that could be related to either Agnes Wadlington or the Putnam family. The studio photographs that have studio markings are all taken in Kentucky, usually the town of Murray. There is a photograph of the Billy Shelton Band but with no location mentioned.
Along with the Putnam family photographs are items (1938, 1939, 1941, undated) related to Murray State College in Murray, Kentucky. Included are an undated picture postcard of Eddie DeHaviland and the Kentuckians (a big band) at Murray State College, and programs for the First, Second, and Fourth Musical Revues held at Murray State College that were titled Campus Lights.
The only known connection between Agnes Wadlington Barrett and the Putnam family appears to be that both she and Louise Vey Putnam Carter's husband Herbert Leland Carter both worked at East Carolina University.
This collection also includes an 1982 engagement calendar kept by Agnes W. Barrett after her retirement from East Carolina University. Included is information relative to her continued relationship with events at and people connected with East Carolina University and her daily activities in Greenville, North Carolina.
March 12, 2021, 0.50 cubic feet; Letters and ephemera (1926-1929) related to the life of Agnes Wadlington [Barrett], who was born in Trigg County, Kentucky in 1902, before she took a job at East Carolina Teachers College (now East Carolina University) as secretary to the president of the college. Also found with these papers are many photographs of members of the Putnam family of Murray, Kentucky. The only connection between Mrs. Barrett and the Putnam family appears to be that both she and Louise Vey Putnam Carter's husband Herbert Leland Carter both worked at East Carolina University. Gift of John Stevenson "Steve" Smiley, Sr.
June 20, 2023, (addition 1) 0.01 cubic feet; 1982 engagement calendar used by Agnes W. Barrett. Includes information relative to her continued relationship with East Carolina University and her daily activities in Greenville, North Carolina. Transferred from East Carolina University Archives.
Gift of John Stevenson "Steve" Smiley, Sr.
Transfer from East Carolina University Archives
Processing completed 26 March 2021 and 23 June 2023 by Martha Elmore.
Literary rights to specific documents are retained by the authors or their descendants in accordance with U.S. Copyright Law.