Williams, Jack Kenny, 1920-

Jack Kenny Williams joined the faculty of Clemson University following World War II as an instructor. He taught history and government and moved through the ranks to become graduate dean. In 1960, he became the dean of faculty and vice president for academic affairs at Clemson. After leaving Clemson he held educational administrative posts in Texas and Tennessee, including Chancellor of the Texas A & M University System.

The collection consists of anecdotes, correspondence, publications, reports and theses which Dr. Williams gathered for a history of Clemson Agricultural College of South Carolina. There are alumni reminiscences of Clemson College in the form of 5 anecdotes and 5 letters written mainly in 1963. Also included is correspondence and reports about college and university consolidation in South Carolina during the period 1926-1950, consisting of a 1926 report by Dr. William Williams Long, chairman of the Committee on Organization and Correlation, to E.W. Sikes, President of Clemson Agricultural College; the 1932 "Report of Committee on Consolidation of State Offices" presented to the House of Representatives of the General Assembly of South Carolina; and correspondence on the subject of consolidation between President R.F. Poole and J. Strom Thurmond in 1946 and 1947 and in 1950 between President Poole and Edwin G. Seibels of Columbia, SC, as well as Dr. W.W. Ball, the editor of the Charleston, SC News and Courier. Publications contained in the collection are bylaws and extracts of bylaws of the Clemson Agricultural College Board of Trustees from the years 1929, 1937 and 1942. Other publications include "Findings of the Board of Trustees--The Clemson Agricultural College", March 15, 1920, as well as two small booklets: Epitome of the ordinances of the Clemson College Corporation (November 1921) and Agreement relative to Smith-Hughes and Smith-Lever Relations in South Carolina (December 4, 1931). The three undergraduate theses included in the collection are: "Occupational changes in the United States since 1910" by J.R. Davis in 1936, "The Secession of the Southern States" by Fred E. Pace in 1934, and "Religious belief as affecting the competency of witnesses in South Carolina" by Charles M. Page in 1934.