Fannie Farnum Papers - Accession 1795 M849 (907)

The Fannie Farnum Papers document the World War II–era service and early professional career of Fannie Moseley Farnum Jackson (1925–2020), a 1945 graduate of Winthrop College. Fannie's mother Julia Dorothy Jeffords Farnum (1897-1976) was also a Winthrop College graduate (Class of 1917). The collection consists of a wartime employee punch card and two letters that relate to Farnum’s work as a cryptographer for the United States Navy during World War II. These materials provide limited but significant evidence of civilian technical labor performed by women in support of U.S. naval operations. Farnum was recruited to serve as a cryptographer at the David Taylor Model Basin, a major naval research and testing facility. The items in the collection reflect her employment in a classified wartime environment and illustrate the pathways through which Winthrop College graduates contributed specialized skills to the national war effort. Following the war, Farnum pursued a career in education, becoming a mathematics teacher at Wade Hampton Academy. While postwar teaching materials are not present, the collection contextualizes her transition from military service to civilian professional life. Overall, the papers offer insight into women’s wartime cryptographic work, the role of higher education in preparing women for technical service, and the subsequent reintegration of female veterans into educational professions.