Creator: Ramsey, Ruth West.
Collection number: 5502
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Abstract: Ruth West Ramsey worked for the Wayne County (N.C.) Welfare Department in the 1960s and attended graduate school at the University of North Carolina School of Social Work, first for a masters in social work, 1961-1962, and then for a supervisory certificate, 1964-1965. The collection contains letters, graduate school papers, a lecture transcript, and newspaper clippings about the welfare program in North Carolina. Letters relate to both Ruth West Ramsey’s studies and to her professional work. Academic papers are from both her masters in social work program courses and supervision certificate courses; some are written in the first person and document her personal and professional experiences. There is also a copy of “Christian Maturity and the Helping Process,” lectures given in 1964 by Alan Keith-Lucas, social work professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and clippings, primarily from the Goldsboro News Argus, 1963-1972, that focus on the public image of welfare in the 1960s.
Repository: Southern Historical Collection
Collection Highlights: Correspondence include recollections of Ramsey’s childhood relationship with her African American housekeeper (Folders 1-5).