Mary Elizabeth “Mamie” Jenkins (1875-1957) was one of the charter faculty members at East Carolina Teachers Training School. She served as an instructor in the English Department from 1909, the year the school opened, until her retirement in 1946. Apart from her many contributions to the growth and development of liberal arts instruction at East Carolina, Jenkins was a pioneer among women in higher education in North Carolina. A native of Leasburg, N.C. and the daughter of Reverend John Wesley Jenkins (1832-1906), founder of the Methodist Orphanage in Raleigh (now the Methodist Home for Children), Mamie Jenkins became, in 1896, one of the first women to receive a baccalaureate degree from Trinity College (now Duke University). She later earned a master's degree at Teacher’s College, Columbia University in New York City, and subsequently did graduate work at the University of Wisconsin and the University of Virginia. Prior to joining the faculty at ECTTS, Jenkins taught in the public schools of Durham and Wilmington, N.C., at Martha Washington College in Fredericksburg, Virginia, and at Grenada College in Mississippi. Jenkins was also one of the co-authors of Some Pioneer Women Teachers of North Carolina (1955), published by the Delta Kappa Gamma Society of North Carolina. That work includes biographical sketches of 113 women with emphasis on their contributions to education in North Carolina.
During her years at ECTTS, Jenkins served as the editor of the Training School Quarterly (1914-1922). Following the school’s growth and development into a teachers college, Jenkins served as a faculty advisor for the school newspaper, the Teco Echo, for fourteen years, and then directed the college news agency for eighteen years. Both the Training School Quarterly and the Techo Echo, two of the earliest publications sponsored by the school, are invaluable sources for the study of East Carolina’s history. Following the passing of the founding president, Robert Herring Wright, in 1934, Jenkins chaired a faculty committee that compiled and published a biographical study of the late-president and his contributions to East Carolina’s growth and development. That biography is one of the most important early studies in ECU history.
Jenkins was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Delta Kappa Gamma, and the American Association of University Women. One of the original buildings on campus, the old infirmary, was named in her honor. At the time of the naming, the building was the faculty-alumni building. It currently is the home of the ECU Honors College.
Sources
- “Book Sketches Careers of Pioneer Women Teachers.” Asheville Citizen-Times. May 22, 1955. P. 35.
- Bratton, Mary Jo. East Carolina University, The Formative Years, 1907-1982. Greenville, NC: East Carolina University Alumni Association, 1986.
- East Carolina University Campus Newspapers. UA50-05. University Archives, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC.
- Jenkins, Mamie E. Papers, 1920-1935. // Sec. A Box 157 items1-8 c.1. Rubenstein Library. Duke University. OCLC Number: 41571242. https://search.library.duke.edu/search?id=DUKE002586361.
- Jenkins, Mamie E., editor. “Robert Herring Wright, Educator, Executive, and Leader in Teacher Training, President of East Carolina Teachers College (1909-1934).” East Carolina Teachers College Bulletin, vol. 29, no. 4 (December 1938). Greenville, North Carolina. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/16841.
- Leonard, Teresa. “Raleigh Orphanages were important to the city. The News and Observer. February 20, 2014. http://www.newsobserver.com/living/liv-columns-blogs/past-times/article10294142.html.
- Mamie E. Jenkins Papers (#31), East Carolina Manuscript Collection, J. Y. Joyner Library, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina, USA.
- Nelson, Norman K. “Duke University Women’s College Observes 25th Year of Service to South and Nation.” The Rocky Mount Telegram. December 11, 1955.
- Records of Faculty Meetings, 1909-1965. UA04-01. University Archives, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina.
- The Training School Quarterly. UA50.03. University Archives, East Carolina University, Greenville, N.C.
Additional Related Material
Mamie E. Jenkins
Citation Information
Title: Mary Elizabeth "Mamie Jenkins
Author: John A. Tucker, PhD
Date of Publication: 5/1/2018