Dr. Jeffrey R. Willis

The Humanities CouncilSC is pleased to announce that two outstanding South Carolinians will be recipients of this year's annual Governor's Awards in the Humanities, Senator Ernest F. Hollings and Dr. Jeffrey R. Willis.
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Dr. Jeffrey WillisDr. Willis is the Andrew Helmus Professor of History Emeritus at Converse College and serves as the college archivist.Dr. Willis graduated from Furman University and earned his doctorate in British history at the University of Virginia.After teaching at Randolph Macon Women's College and The Citadel, Willis came to Converse in the 1960s.

As a devoted professor at Converse for more than 40 years, he established the popular "London Term" program where students live and study in London for a term.He has served on the board and as president of the Spartanburg County Historical Association.His prodigious research on the county and upstate have earned him the title "the go to guy" for questions about local history.

Dr. Willis has published three books of photographic history,"Spartanburg: A Postcard History," "Converse College," and "Remembering Greenville: Photographs from the Coxe Collection."He wrote a number of articles for the Hub City Writers Project,"Textile Town," a history of Spartanburg County's textile industry and its workers.Dr. Willis is being recognized for the enormous contributions he has made to the humanities and local history through his tireless efforts as a teacher and volunteer.

Jeffrey Willis

Jeff Willis, Spartanburg County Historical Association

Dr. Jeff Willis, a Brotherhood member and retired Converse College professor of history, spoke on the topic "Andrew the Apostle: From Fisherman to Patron Saint."He discussed the missionary journeys of Andrew during the early Christian era following Jesus'Crucifixion.Jeff also described some of the real and legendary travels of Andrew's relics after the apostle's own crucifixion.

Another local historian, Converse College Professor Jeff Willis, said he has seen the proposals come and go but added, "I've been following the most recent meetings and it seems as if, under the present city leadership, things might really go forward."

Among the principal authors of Textile Town are Jeff Willis of Converse College, Phil Racine of Wofford College, Kathy Cann of SMC, David Carlton of Vanderbilt University, textile author G.C. Waldrep, and Betsy Teter.

Jeffrey R. Willis, Spartanburg South Carolina : The Postcard History Series (Arcadia, 1999), 128 pp., $ 18.99 paperback

Converse College history professor Jeffrey R. Willis provides an entrancing supplement to Phil Racine's pictorial history of Spartanburg by painstakingly assembling over 200 picture postcards of the city, most of them from the golden era of postcards, 1890 to 1930.He organizes them around places-downtown Morgan Square, Magnolia and Church Streets, Midtown, schools and colleges, textile mills and cotton, resorts and parks and nature, and military camps.All of them are reproduced in black-and-white, so the sepia and artificial coloring we associate with cards are missing.Building dominate the collection.The over-all impact is more powerful than any single page, as one feels transported to sites faintly familiar but long since transformed.The sadness of loss of significant architecture and life-styles permeates the work, and one wonders what price progress exacts of communities.

Dr. Jeffrey R. Willis, professor at Converse College, will present a slide show on Spartanburg history

2:15 p.m.

Jeffrey R. Willis, author of "Remembering Greenville" will sign his book of photographs from noon-4 p.m. Nov. 14 at the Mast General Store, Downtown Greenville.He is a native of Greenville and a professor of history at Converse College.Call 235-1883.Gray Court Owings Historical Society Museum

Owings.Call 862-4133 or 876-2667.