Agnes Barrett: Served First Six Presidents
This article describes Agnes W. Barrett and her work at ECU. It has been edited.This and other articles may be found in the University Archives.
Citation for this article is: "Agnes W. Barrett: Served First Six Presidents," Pieces of Eight, April 1, 1987, page 4.
Agnes W. Barrett, a Kentucky-born lady who served as secretary and administrative assistant to the first six presidents of East Carolina University, died on March 19 at the age of 84.
Her career at East Carolina spanned 38 years, from 1930 until her retirement in 1968, and she had continued to make her home in Greenville as one of the best loved and most widely-known members of the university community.
She had written many articles on the early history of the college and its people including the presidents, members of the faculty and staff. She kept extensive files on the university's major achievements, developments and milestones.
She attended Western Kentucky State Teachers College, Central State Teachers College, Edmond, Oklahoma, and was a student in stenotypy at Bowling Green College of Commerce in Kentucky when she was recruited for the position as secretary to East Carolina's first president, Robert H. Wright.
In a memoir, she wrote that she arrived in Greenville late at night in January 1930, went to her room at Ragsdale Hall and almost overslept on her first day at work. President Wright was at his desk when she reached his office.
Wright died in office in 1934 and she served his successors, Leon R. Meadows, Howard McGinnis, Dennis H. Cooke, John D. Messick and Leo W. Jenkins. During her career, the name of the school was changed from East Carolina Teachers College to East Carolina College and in 1967 to East Carolina University.
On the first presidents, she wrote that "East Carolina was fortunate in that its five presidents who followed the first, Dr. Wright, seemed to agree with him that it was following the purpose for which it was founded, that of meeting the educational needs of the state."
Upon her retirement, she was honored at a dinner at which President Jenkins and Vice President F.D. Duncan presented her with a cash gift for a trip to Hawaii.
Archivist's note: It was only through the efforts of Agnes Barrett that the early records of the university were preserved. It has been said that she prevented President John Messick from destroying many documents and had those stored in the basement of Fleming. They were retrieved from Fleming in 1982 when the University Archives was created.
